FRISCO - He’s the youngest player on FC Dallas’ roster and he’s the least seen player in Frisco, but for good reason.
Homegrown Bryan Reynolds is about to embark on the culmination of an entire year’s work as the U.S. U-17 National Team begins the FIFA U-17 World Cup on Friday morning.
“I think it’s one of the best feelings being selected to this roster,” Reynolds said by phone from New Delhi, India, ahead of the opening match against the host nation. “Knowing that you are one of the best in the country, and especially making the roster, means a lot. It’s just an honor.”
The forward spent the entire spring semester of the school year at the U-17 Residency Camp in Bradenton, Fla. with some the best players from around the country in his age group. He returned to Dallas and got his first real taste of professional life with FC Dallas in late May, but left again for National Team duty just 10 days later.
In fact, Reynolds has spent, by his estimate, more than 70 percent of his time away from home in the calendar year 2017. When not in Bradenton, he’s been to Honduras, Panama, Argentina and Japan, as well as camps across the U.S. as the U-17s prepared for their chance on the world’s stage in India.
Not only is the 16-year-old playing in a World Cup, he’s doing so as the youngest on a team of players a full year older than him.
“I think that our group has worked really hard and we’ve been through a lot,” Reynolds said of the opportunity in front of them. “Now that we finally made we can’t really feel relieved. We’re not here just to make it to Quarters or Round of 16, we’re here to win it all.”
“I can see he’s playing with a lot of potential, he is physically growing and I think mentally as well,” head coach Oscar Pareja said of the Homegrown’s growth each time he’s back home for a brief period. “This is obviously what we want to see. He is still in that on going process with the national team and this event, and being in the World Cup and all this, matures a lot. Hopefully just playing and being in a high competition feeling like they are competing among the best in the world, and hopefully this can be very nursing for him.”
Pareja and FC Dallas are hoping the young Reynolds can benefit the same way another Homegrown did at the 2011 U-17 World Cup.
“It was a great experience,” Kellyn Acosta said of his four games with the U.S. side in 2011’s tournament. “[It was] cool kinda just to see how I compared to players across the world internationally. It was definitely a great learning experience…definitely the experience of a lifetime.”
“Bryan has worked very hard to get tot his spot,” Pareja said. “Just waiting to get that experience of playing [on that level] - not just belonging, but playing and competing - that is going to help him a lot.”
The FIFA U-17 World Cup kicks off as the Americans play India in their first group stage match on Friday at 9:30 a.m. CT, before playing Ghana at 6:30 a.m. on Oct. 9 and Colombia at 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 12. All U.S. games during the tournament will air on FS2.
