"Fluency is defined as being able to speak and write quickly or easily in a given language" Gonzales had learned to speak it well, but he just admitted in as interview he can't write it. He is fluent in English, his native tongue.
Did we discuss if Lynden Gooch was fluent in Gaelic. Did we all if Miazga wad fluent in Polish. Can Pulisic speak any Croatian? They were all immediately cap tied after starting for their club's first team. Miazga in a matter of days.
I'd argue these days very few people can write in any language. Writing will be obsolete as soon as we get computers to understand speech a bit better. Then, they'll do all the writing for us. Vive la paresse!
Miazga was cap tied on November 13, 2015 against St. Vincent and the Grenadines in a crucial, must win WC qualifying match. At the time he was signed with NYRB and had just been one of MLS's 3 best defenders after doing very well at the U-20 WC. Jonathan Gonzalez was called up to our 2017 U-20 qualifying team (up a cycle) and played well in his limited minutes. He then won a starting job in part because a player for his club's first team, in a position he didn't play, got called up to the Gold Cup. He had played 5 career 90 minute first team matches by the time of our last opportunity to cap tie him. Then, after he had fully locked down a starting job, at our next chance to call him up our coaching staff contacted his club (who had 2 games, including a cup semi-final, that he would have to miss) to see if he should be available to play a friendly on another continent for a team not looking to build a WC roster. His club did not respond. Nobody working for the Fed contacted him directly. Then in preparation of our next international match we called him up and he turned us down and then filed a one-time switch.
FFS. When it rains it pours. Spoke to Tab Ramos, Thomas Rongen and Jonathan Gonzalez’s father, and despite claims of multiple in-home visits, I can confirm no #USSF official EVER visited the Gonzalez household. All the details on today’s #MaxAndHerc. #USMNT #ElTriEng @mbretosESPN @SebiSalazarFUT Rongen is a rat.
Can't agree with last graf. If he's getting second half news on where he stands with US program, he has every right to argue, credibly, that the program was not all that interested, especially since he didn't make the finals of u20's in Korea. Remember also that USA has a "cap at any cost and worry about quality later" philosophy so even if he were contacted, how credible would the contact be? USSF currency is about as valuable as Confederate dollars at this point.
Jonathan’s rise to being a starter was fast, as it sometimes is for a young player covering for an injured player (Hector Herrera, Chucky Lozano both got sudden and circumstantial PT). I doubt the USSF had any idea he was going to mature this fast and in any case i suppose they were dealing with bigger issues at the time. IMO a player like him who’s suddenly an integral part of Monterrey at 18 is going to choose whoever he wants. I think anyone spreading the idea that this is all on the federation is being dishonest. After all, why wouldn’t they want him? Might pain some here but seems to me that as soon as he saw he might be good enough for MX he changed his mind about the US.
He doesn't fit the mold. Discovered at a tournament where US scouts cannot attend, developed in Mexico and threatens players like Bradley and McCarty. Kid's a walking nightmare for Garber/Gulati.
Does this surprise you? As a Crew fan, I can tell you MLS/USSF/SUM has no problem spewing massive piles of bullshit out of their mouths.
Well some do make the case that Liga MX style doesn’t suit USMNT but I’d say that the very few MX developed players who have played for the US just sucked. Most Mexicans who have gone to Europe and played would have made the US team better.
Nobody ever called Monterrey, that is a fiction put out to shift blame. Nobody visited his home in California three times. Another lie meant to shift the blame. Sarachan said he WASN"T called because Arena's staff, for whatever reason still in charge, didn't think he was ready. Tab Ramos contacted Gonzales but told him he couldn't tell him if he would ever get senior team minutes. First time he had really talked to him since the U20 WC roster was announced. Which contradicts him in the Summer saying he talks to him daily. On the Total Soccer Show, Ramos just said that McKennie and Adams and Acosta are better so it is ok he left. Monterrey cannot refuse to release a player in a FIFA date. So, the story that they were never called makes sense. More so than they refused to take the call and break FIFA regulations. Which is in itself a change from the old story where USSF called Monterrey and told them we wouldn't call JonGon if they didn't want them to. When a story is changing or inconsistent, usually means a lie. The myths around this have to end. Gonzales made a business decision with the best information he had. That information basically included the idea that the USMNT didn't really see a future with him. We will see down the road if the USSF was correct to not rate him that highly or Mexico was correct to go all out to get him.
I have no idea how Gonzalez thought about this. He very easily could have always dreamed about playing for Mexico. That wouldn’t pain me at all. What our federation could have done is call him into the September and October camps and be willing to cap tie him if the opportunity presented itself. Which it did in the game against Panama. He’d have accepted and been cap tied or we would turned down the invite and we would know for sure that he wanted to let things play out with Mexico.
Agree with that 2nd graph. But to me that's like saying "Arena was 10-15% too conservative!" when I was okay with us being conservative and super focused on qualifying - rather than experimentation and cap-tying - post Klinsmann.
You have no idea how he thought about what? Again the NT was rightfully focused on qualifying. Apparently the only effort it took on Mexico’s end was for Osorio to tell him he’s a good player that could be called to the NT if he continues to progress. I think that’s pretty telling.
This makes absolutely no sense to me. Who in their right mind would think like this? What does Mexico have to loose if he turns out to be a dud? Nothing, but maybe a few phone calls, a couple visits to his home, a few sweet words and promises. As soon as they cap tie him, they got him forever and if he turns out to be a stud, they have lots to gain for many years to come. If he somehow turn out to nothing more than hype, the worse they have to do is never call him up to the their NAT team again. We should have been in that position, but we were run my morons.
just listened to max and Herc. Herc called US Soccer, Rongen confirmed that he never went to Jonathon’s house. Now says he went Monterey 3 times and “met with officials”. Thomas Rongen is a liar, the USSF is a godamn clown show and they totally screwed up the handling of Jonathan Gonzales. I hope the people most betrayed by these liars, those people who have been defending the USSF officials that have been lying, will now join the rest of us in getting these incompetent clowns out. I can’t believe this.
I thought my second sentence clarified. I have no idea what he thought about playing for the the US or Mexico at any point in time. I’d think we would have learned that focusing on qualifying doesn’t mean only calling in veterans and not considering integrating new players is not a great approach. Our rosters weren’t balanced in terms of age and many players had no competition. I’d think you’d always want young players on your roster for general energy and possibly their naïveté of not understanding the importance of the situation. Maybe it’s telling, maybe he just realized that next summer’s WC could further raise his profile and put him on an even higher trajectory either with Monterey or a big transfer. That was my initial point. It might be really telling and we could have known for sure (or prevented Osario having that chance) by calling him into a 26 man camp and subbing him in against Panama up 4 goals instead of Dax fricken McCarty.
1. Understood 2. For better or worse most coaches will stick to their current system or will chose vereran players over very young players in this particular situation. It’s really only in reteospect that it seemed to be a bad decision. Relying on young uncapped players in such a short timeframe and near the end of qualifying hasn’t to my knowledge ever proven to be a consistently good strategy for a team at risk of not qualifying. 3. I don’t know how well you know the MXNT but his chances of being called and playing any considerable time at the WC are pretty small. He could just as likely have played whatever friendlies the US for the next 2 years and gotten somewhere as well. It’s much harder to get on the MXNT than on the USMNT. It took Lozano 4-5 seasons of Liga MX before he was playing consistently with the NT, and he was a top Liga MX player. Jonathan isn’t.
Fair enough... I still disagree with #2. The national team is an evolving thing and always needs to be bring new players in or there is a big risk of becoming stale. The US used to use young, inexperienced players out of necessity. I wish it never stopped and the supposed view that a bunch of players were going to be integrated before the WC is a bit of a stretch.
I couldn't agree more. Even if he is #4 on the depth chart, it would be worth whatever effort. The more prospects you have the better the odds some pan out. It is very strange when Ramos talks about this situation.