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June 23, 2006
IT'S OVER
Reyna quits international soccer
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Claudio Reyna retired from international soccer on Thursday.
Linda Cuttone/Sports Vue Images |
By Michael Lewis
BigAppleSoccer.com Editor
Cologne, Germany -- For Claudio Reyna, the timing was right.
Realizing he would be 36 -- too old to be an impact player in the 2010 World Cup -- the U.S. captain decided to call it an international career Friday.
"It was clear that four years is too much time to make the next one," Reyna said at a press conference in Hamburg. "So it just makes sense to stop now. I think it's a good time, as well, to stop playing at a good level."
Reyna, who turns 33 on July 20, made 112 international appearances and performed in three World Cups.
"We don't really have a major, like a European Championship, in two years or something like that, where I felt in two years I could still be playing, but at four years I think is a little bit too much," Reyna said.
Asked if there was a successor for Reyna, U.S. coach Bruce Arena replied, "We'll see who shows up over the next four years. Four years ago, I didn't know Clint Dempsey."
In an interview earlier this year, Reyna said he would like to play in New York before he calls it a career. His contract with Manchester City runs through 2007.
"We'll just see how it goes," he said in March. "If I would plan everything and looking to the future, it would be nice to play back in New York.
"That would be a great way to go back and end my career."
Reyna realized that he probably would have to make his way back to the states in the next couple of years if he wanted to be an impact player in MLS.
"I would like to do it when I'm still at a young age," he said. "I'm getting older and I want to play in MLS at a good level and bring back what I've learned over here to the players to the young players coming through."
Arena's future of national coach was brought up at the press conference. Arena said he would meet with U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, with whom he is good friends, about his future soon. Arena's contract runs through December.
Arena, who directed the U.S. to a quarterfinal finish four years ago, said he hadn't made a decision about whether he would return, but he left a clue that he might not be back.
"I had a great time," he said. "If there's no more, I'm fine with that."
But there was no doubt as to his state of mind compared to four years ago.
"Four years ago I was completely burnt out," he said. "I was a zombie for two weeks. Right now, I'm just an idiot."
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