NEWARK, N.J. -- It is one of the great puzzles of American soccer.
Here was one of the greatest, if not the best, U.S. soccer player, who made a 13-year career in Europe and made 112 appearances, many as captain, for the U.S. national team.
Yet, he was never truly appreciated by the American soccer fan, not the way he was across the pond.
Perhaps these fans didn't realize what Claudio Reyna brought to the game.
Reyna's game wasn't about filling the net with tons of goals and assists (although there is certainly nothing wrong with that). It was about displaying a calming influence on the field, with ball possession, vision and skill not many, if any U.S. players have possessed.
He might not have done the most spectacular thing, but he did more than enough of the important little things to make himself quite effective, thank you.
Let's have someone who has been there -- former MetroStars and national team midfielder Tab Ramos talk about Reyna, who announced his retirement from the New York Red Bulls Wednesday.
"Claudio has been the leader of the national team for a long time," said Ramos, who attended Reyna's press conference at both the former players' high school, St. Benedict's Prep. "He was probably the first American player I've ever seen that actually played calm.
"He knew that he belonged there. I think that was a big step in soccer. I guess for some fans he's not the flashy guy you're looking for, the guy who takes somebody on, takes a shot and hits the crossbar. But he brought something different to the table and that something different obviously was good enough for the teams overseas. The fact that somebody may say and not give him credit, I think it's just crazy."
While the "modern" version of Reyna certainly wasn't an offensive juggernaut, a younger man wearing his boots certainly had his moments.
While researching his career, more than a few of them came to light:
• Such as the time Reyna, playing in a withdrawn center forward role, scored one goal and created two others as the U.S. stunned Mexico -- yes, the Mexicans' first team -- 4-0 at the 1995 U.S. Open. When Reyna left the game late in the match to a rousing ovation by the RFK Stadium faithful, he was replaced by Ramos, of all people, in what many observers felt was the changing of the guard on the national team. • He connected 31 seconds against Argentina -- the homeland of his father, Miguel -- 31 seconds into the match at the 1996 Olympics (the U.S. went on to lose the match, 3-1). • With a World Cup berth at France '98 on the line, Reyna masterminded the U.S. victory with a goal and two assists in a 4-0 CONCACAF qualifying win against Canada in Vancouver in November 1997.
• There was that World Cup goal that Brian McBride scored that started off the U.S.'s 2-0 win against archrival Mexico at the 2002 World Cup. Reyna raced down the right flank, beat a defender and dribbled toward the endline, drawing two more defenders. Reyna laid the ball off to forward Josh Wolff at the corner of the goalkeepers' box. Wolff tapped the ball back to McBride in the middle of the area, where he fired a shot through three defenders and past goalkeeper Oscar Perez.
• When Reyna became the seventh U.S. player to reach 100 international appearances in a 4-0 rout of Honduras in Foxboro, Mass. June 2, 2004, he played a role in three of the goals.
Of course, there were some games Reyna would prefer to forget -- when he was fouled by Germany's Jens Jeremies 21 seconds into the U.S's opening match at France '98 (he was never the same player for the rest of the tournament) and when he had to be restrained from going after referee Peter Prendergast after a controversial handball call cost the U.S. the game on an 11th-hour penalty kick at a World Cup qualifier in Costa Rica in 2000.
Several weeks after the Red Bulls had made Reyna their first designated player, he played during several scrimmages in Bradenton, Fla. in February 2007.
Scrimmages are light-years away from the real thing, but you can discover the playing personality of a player quite quickly. In a close examination of Reyna in certain situations, in two games, he made maybe -- maybe -- one bad pass. The most impressive part of his game was when he had a man literally on his back, trying to make him cough up the ball in a pressure situation.
Using his patience, calmness and skill, Reyna made sure he did not lose the ball before finding an open teammate.
Then there were the subtle things off the field.
When Peter Philipakos, a player on trial with the Red Bulls, stepped onto the practice field for the first time at the IMG Academy in February 2007, Reyna went up to the midfielder, welcomed him and shook his hand.
After one training session, Reyna made a coffee run for teammates.
"He's the captain," Philipakos said. "That's something that comes from being a captain. But I feel that if there was another player on the team who was the captain, he would still do that. From watching him, that's just his character. Some people are just born leaders. He's like that."
Reyna's take? "The respect definitely has to be earned. It wouldn't be right for me to come in here and just take it easy and not do what everyone else does because of what I've done before," he said.
Of course, his time with the Red Bulls and MLS was way too short for him to showcase his talent (on Wednesday, Reyna said "I wish I was playing here in my prime"). His tenure was a disappointing one, especially for so much money spent on a designated player.
Slowly, but surely, Reyna's body betrayed him.
It seemed he experienced the entire spectrum of injuries.
A hamstring injury that kept him out of the 1994 World Cup.
A groin injury in March 2001.
A torn left ACL in October 2002.
A quad injury in the fall of 2003.
Another quad injury in September 2004 (re-injured in November).
A torn MCL during the 2005-2006 season.
A stress fracture in his right ankle in December 2005.
A series of leg injuries last year, including a sprained left toe that kept him sidelined for the three remaining games of the regular season.
A hamstring injury and a herniated disc this year.
There are likely few more missing here and there.
We'll never know how good he really could have been.
But you know -- 112 international appearances, U.S. national team captain, playing with five European teams over 13 years, three World Cups and two Olympics -- that ain't too shabby.
Just wondering if there is another American ready to step up to match that record or even surpass it.
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