SAN SALVADOR — If there were any lingering questions about what weird, wild habitat the U.S. men’s national soccer team had entered Thursday, they were put to rest anytime Gio Reyna prepared to take a corner kick.
Police officers in dark uniforms stationed on the edges of Estadio Cuscatlán’s field formed a semicircle with their backs turned to the 18-year-old attacker, shields raised to intercept projectiles tossed over tall fences.
“When he’s playing in Dortmund,” captain Tyler Adams said, referencing Reyna’s German Bundesliga club, “he’s not getting hit with water bottles.”
Far from the meticulous environs of Europe, detached from their big clubs and well-oiled leagues for 10 days, many U.