In all honesty, that doesn't reflect well on Gonzalez (and why I don't really believe it either). Every single camp involves players who don't get called who probably should make it. At 18, Gonzalez can't handle one snub under an interim manager in a meaningless game? https://t.co/Yu17Ul5dLw— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) January 8, 2018 Disagree. Should Gonzalez have been called up for November? Of course. But I doubt this is going to a factor that drives him from the US program for life. No one is going to base the decision on an interim manager in an meaningless friendly. https://t.co/3ekvYLIuZn— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) January 8, 2018 I think so. Mexico never showed any interest in him until a few months ago. Mexico in a sense snubbed him his whole life & only showed interest when he obviously proved he was good. Outside of one meaningless friendly, the U.S. has been interested in him since the U-14 level https://t.co/YLlrPHRbtV— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) January 8, 2018 @bshredder hits the nail on the head with his tweets. I wish Gonzalez well, his heart apparently was somewhere else. Next man up!
Not to mention allegiance to a country that has presumably afforded his family and himself greater opportunity, success and stability? Not the place for a political statement...
Yes, we have plenty that do the same thing he does in MLS Massive failure on USMNT, if this is true. Especially loosing a talent that was already within our program, to our most hated rival. If he went for Australia or Egypt, it would make this a little less hurt. But Mexico, DAMN!!!
Spoke to @ussoccer_mnt reps. Ramos and Sarachan have both attempted to contact Jonathan Gonzalez over last few weeks, w/ limited response. He WAS invited to #USMNT Jan camp.Still a blunder ... Wrote more on it for @FourFourTwoUSA; should be up soon— Steve Davis (@SteveDavis90) January 8, 2018
I like you Dave. But I feel like this is a bit of a stretch. Not many Germans gave a Sh*t about Julian. They probably would have helped pack his bags. The US cannot afford to lose players like JoGo. Germany can.
Monterrey did what Borrusia Dortmund and Shalke would have done if CP and WM would have been requested. It was such a stupid attempt, it is in the middle of their season.
I can't say I care that much. I want all players to remain in our player pool, but I've long pushed back at the claims that Gonzalez was one of our best young players. He got early playing time and he did fine, but he also looks like a low ceiling player. He's good at reading the game defensively and is physical, but he's really only at best an average athlete and passer for a #6, and doesn't have offense to his game. I view his natural footballing ability as considerably lower than some of the up and coming CM's we have (McKennie, Durkin, Parks, Booth, etc.). Could he have played a role? Very possibly, he's not a bad player, but I don't see him as terribly high ceiling, and I'm not convinced this is a huge loss to the US program. Yeah, he got early playing time and did decently well, but I think any quality player his age should be able to play about as well as he did. Most of them don't get the chances though at the age he did.
Welp, as has been said a couple times ... next man up. Got to move on now. After my initial shock about this, it makes no sense to cry about someone who chose not to play for us, as is his right. Onward and upward.
Not sure how I feel about JoGo personally. On one hand, I recognize the tough decisions dual-nationals have to make and typically try to respect their decisions. If they have a legitimate change of heart or choose the option they feel is best (especially when situations have changed), then no worries. However, if they misrepresent their intentions and take up valuable training resources from others, then I have an issue with it. We'll never know for sure what happened. I agree with @bshredder that the optics don't look very good given that he jumped at the first legitimate interest that Mexico showed. It's actually a bit pathetic on some level.
The point was that these were two very young players who didn't feature in qualifying and were nevertheless tempted by the opportunity, at the least, to compete for a World Cup roster spot, perhaps earlier than they might have otherwise expected. The differences between the situations are, like I said, obvious.
One friendly and he jumps ship....lol. Mexico didn't give a crap about him until 5 months ago. Ciao! Oh come on. Gonzalez personally knows the talent of the young American players his age - Pulisic, McKennie, Adams, etc. He knows things will get better soon for the #USMNT. He just didn't want to be part of that.— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) January 8, 2018 I think so. Mexico never showed any interest in him until a few months ago. Mexico in a sense snubbed him his whole life & only showed interest when he obviously proved he was good. Outside of one meaningless friendly, the U.S. has been interested in him since the U-14 level https://t.co/YLlrPHRbtV— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) January 8, 2018
So they aren't even going to give him a token WC call up? Good luck, his decision, I can't say I'm all that bothered. Some will argue Gonzalez might feel a rush to join Mexico to help his World Cup 2018 chances. He's a long shot for that team at best, and my understanding is he has been told as much (though that doesn't mean some FMF officials aren't making hollow promises to convince him)— Ives Galarcep (@SoccerByIves) January 8, 2018
I see a lot of posts saying that the lack of communication in November couldn't possibly be the reason for him choosing Mexico. No reasonable poster is saying that. We're saying that it was likely a contributing factor. My maxim in business/life is that you try to be more right, more of the time in what you can control (e.g. contacting him, making the World Cup, etc.) and accept what you can't. What's disappointing is that once again our Fed, and those that represent it, didn't give us the best possible chance for success.
More like "one World Cup and jumps ship." He could die in a car crash next year. Hard to blame a guy to take a shot at the goal of every soccer player on earth.
Wasted too much time watching this dude's matches. From now on think I'm going to make a policy to not commit to dual nationals until they commit to us. Did a similar thing for cfb and am better for it.