Sunday's matchup between the two USMNT players paints a portrait of Tillman's rise, Reyna's fall under Mauricio Pochettino

This shouldn't be happening. The soccer matrix is broken. Something in the wiring, the deeply-mathematical calculations which we all use in order to predict player pathways and career moves, has misfired. Reality be damned, this just feels wrong.

Gio Reyna should not be playing for Borussia Monchengladbach against Malik Tillman's Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday. Such a declaration all sounds rather dramatic, but this fixture is the polar opposite of the way things would have been just two years ago.

Reyna, of course, was supposed to be the shining light of U.S. soccer. Sure, Christian Pulisic is the guy, but in terms of raw, unadulterated talent, Reyna runs him very close. Tillman, meanwhile, is a tier below on that scale - and remains as such. The narrative was that he was never going to be good enough. He would be just out of the spotlight, the guy who was perhaps national team quality, but would have no place in the squad.

Reyna, in fact, was supposed to be the one blocking him.

But now, things are the opposite, the roles reversed. Reyna is the guy on the way down, stuck in mid-table mediocrity. Tillman - even if Leverkusen have endured a rocky start - is very much a player on the rise. They both moved this summer. One has reached new heights. Another was shut out at his previous employer, and left grasping for a new home. This game is, in effect, a microcosm of how things have all gone wrong for one, and simply soared for another.