The Daily Bee (November 13, 2020): Gio Reyna Makes USMNT Debut, Sancho Scores for England

Good morning, Fear the Wall.

Giovanni Reyna, son of USMNT legend Claudio Reyna, born in Sunderland but raised in the Big Apple, made his first official appearance for the senior United States Men’s National Team yesterday in a friendly against Wales. Not only did he make his first appearance, but it was his first start as well. He played about 79 minutes before he was subbed off for Timothy Weah. While the game ended in a 0-0 draw, the real milestone was simply that Gio was able to make his first start at such a young age.

Meanwhile, over in London, Jadon Sancho and the English had a field day against Ireland, winning 3-0 in front an empty Wembley Stadium. Sancho grabbed himself an assist and a goal. He looped in a cross to Harry McGuire for England’s first goal, and then expertly curled a low shot into the far corner from a wide angle for England’s second goal.

Both of these youngsters have additional matches coming up where they might feature. The Americans play Panama on Monday, and England have two Nations League matches approaching: one on Sunday against Belgium, and another next Wednesday against Iceland.

Aubameyang-Kroos Drama

I don’t really have a stake in this, but it’s the international break, so I’ll take what I can get. We had a bit of inter-league sniping going on today, with former BVB striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos jawing back and forth with each other on Twitter. It all started when Toni Kroos criticized Aubameyang for his trademark mask celebrations. We all remember when Auba whipped out a batman mask after scoring against Schalke in the Revierderby, and when he donned a Spiderman mask in the 2014 Supercup:

Photo credit should read PATRIK STOLLARZ/AFP via Getty Images

He’s repeated his trademark celebration at his new club Arsenal at least once. He once pulled out a Black Panther mask after scoring against SC Rennes in the Europa League. Well Toni Kroos has apparently had enough: he called Auba’s mask celebrations childish. Aubameyang responded by pointing out that he did the celebration for his son. At this point, the banter devolved into arguing about each players’ respective parental statuses:

So they traded jabs back and forth, and Mesut Ozil, who I guess has plenty of free time sitting on Arsenal’s bench, joined in at some point. I tend to think that Aubameyang came out looking better, and that Kroos kind of looks like a stuck up fun-hater.

The Daily Buzz

I feel like we haven’t done any conversation starters in a while. Here’s a fun one: let’s say that through one of the most insane coincidences of all time, each BVB player has independently crashed-landed on a different desert island and now needs to use nothing but the wreckage and their wits to survive. Who lasts the longest, who lasts the shortest, and who gets off the island?