Ever since the Red Bulls brought over Andre Reyes from Orlando City, he has been a booking or a red card magnet that gets him into trouble with the referee. We have seen him make several poor decisions out on the pitch as the centerback partner of Sean Nealis. A bad tackle or a lack of discipline has gotten him into a predicament to see the referee for an issue. There is no question, that Reyes is a big talent on the backline, either under Chris Armas, interim manager Bradley Carnell, Gerhard Struber, and Troy Lesesne. But under the watch of Sandro Schwarz, it looks like it has ended.
On Saturday, April 13th, against the Chicago Fire, Reyes attempted to play the ball on a free kick toward the Chicago Fire net when he raised his right hand and smacked Tobias Salquist in the face very hard. Originally the referee didn’t see the infraction, but VAR caught it on their monitors and informed the referee to take a look, that’s when the red card came out and kicked out Reyes with several minutes remaining in the first half, forcing Schwarz to take out Dante Vanzeir and put in Sean Nealis to keep the backline intact.
Since that game when Reyes was penciled in as the starter, he has behaved and played solid defending as a centerback for the club. His tackles are cleaner, his concentration is sharper, and he has scored a goal this season. Because, Schwarz must’ve given him the riot act, or a very stern conversation to never put the club, behind the eight ball again. To be honest it was about time that someone had a strong talk with Reyes, we all know how talented he is, but when he puts himself into a bad situation that’s when he suffers and the club suffers during a game. Then he is suspended for the next one.
Once Noah Eile was brought over from Sweden, that was the first signal for Reyes that he needed to be better. Yes, Eile has done well for the club, and when either he or Sean Nealis has been given a night off or could be away on international duty, Reyes has been used and so far he’s done well. Back on May 15th at DC United, Reyes got into a tussle with Christian Benteke, but never raised his arms, or attempted to fight Benteke. He played the innocent victim and no card was issued at all.
I’m happy Reyes has finally understood what he needed to do and grow up a bit. He has plenty of talent, and maybe one day he will go to the Colombian National Team, his discipline was the only thing missing in his game. He needed the tough love from Schwarz to snap him back into attention and stop the mindless decisions earlier in his career. The centerback department is solid and now there is no more worry with Reyes at the moment.