Love to hear US media reactions to this, or do they dare to react? I am also interested in hearing what the USSF Presidential candidates has to say about this. I think Martino, Wynalda, etc. can use this to really put a nail on the those candidates backed by MLS/USSF/SUM.
He's gone. Obviously wish he would have stayed, but I can understand it given the opportunity of a WC and the contrast between the two federations.
lol three years from now Gonzalez will be playing at a Barca, Juve, Man City type club and i am going to shed a tear.
I agree he has every right to choose any country he's eligible for but he literally is less American by chosing to play for our biggest rival. By choosing a team that will play against us in our biggest games. If he doesn't get picked by them I will have a big belly laugh.
All I can hope now is that he rues his decision one day. I can't blame him for making the choice that he did. The US is a dumpster fire from a soccer perspective. Missing a second consecutive World Cup in 2022 is not one bit unlikely at this point with no coach, no clear sense of a team ethos, and no leadership guiding us on any path, right or wrong. We may have one or two really promising youngsters in Puli and Leiblingspanzer, but beyond that, the quality is really scarce. Mexico is really in a good place right now and has no evidence of falling off the pace internationally. He might or might not get on the '18 WC squad, but if he keeps up his play, he'll likely be on it, and if he continues his trajectory, for sure in '22. I don't blame the kid one bit. There are too many people and the entire system to blame in the US, so I won't even go there. That being said, none of that will stop me from disliking the kid and booing vociferously each and every time I see him play. You turn your back on the Red White and Blue for our hated rivals, you suck and I hope you fail and flail. I don't hate his decision to run from the US System, but I do dislike him (now).
But imo this is not necessarily the best move for his financial career. The real money is in a move to MLS as an established member of the USMNT. He could have played out his contract in Mexico and signed on as a DP in MLS for more money than he will likely ever earn anywhere else. This decision is not made for financial reasons. This move is all about him doing something he always wanted to do, but was never honest enough to admit to while he didn't think it was likely.
This hurts but whatever, I'll have to wait a little longer to see another world class Hispanic American USMNT player.
From the little I've seen of him, I think Adams is a better prospect than Gonzalaz, who's a better prospect than McKennie. Of course that's just my opinion, and I'd imagine a lot of people disagree that that.
I didn't want him to leave the player pool, but this is not as big of a deal as some are making it out to be, IMO. He was LigaMX best XI because it was a nice story. If his team was in last place, I don't think he would've even been talked about. Its similar with the Tyler Adams discussion in MLS. He was good towards the end of the season, but the media went totally overboard and gave him credit for playing better than he did. I watched some of Gonzalez's matches and watched every touch videos of the others. If what I saw was a best XI player in LigaMX, its like a USL level league. He was okay, really not much better than that. I'm not even sure he had a better season than Tyler Adams just had in MLS, and I'm not convinced Adams had such a great season either. I don't really care if we have players make the LigaMX best XI, whether its unprecedented or not. Who was the last LigaMX player who was good for the NT? Also, the "grit and work-rate" talk is all thats wrong with our NT. People here (and our NT decision makers) overvalue "grit and work-rate", as if thats what win football matches, instead of possession and skill. We didn't qualify for the World Cup for many reasons, but probably the biggest problem with our NT was how poor it was in possession and how unskilled it was. It was better than T&T, but if you keep getting worse in the key areas of the game, you shouldn't expect it to be a formality to beat the CONCACAF minnows. We gotta get back to being better in possession and more-skilled. You are exactly right that Gonzalez comes from the grit and work-rate mold, of which we have plenty of, and don't need more of. Maybe he could've replaced some of the lesser "grit and work-rate" players, but he's not part of the possession and skill mold, which needs to make up the majority of our NT.
Exactly. He can make Bradley and Altidore money in MLS if he was a member of the USMNT. The more you look into this, and the more that things begin to come out, you come to the realization that he was just waiting for El Tri to come calling. if his heart was with the US as he claimed, this decision would have never happens, not right now, not at 18 years old. He still have plenty of WC ahead of him, there are still many many opportunities to be called in by the US. If he was Germain Jones age, and his was his last WC chance, then sure the decision makes sense. I am beginning to think, he was an "El Tri" all along, and the US just got fooled.
I don't believe it is the case that this is the first time Mexico has shown interest in him. I'm pretty sure there are articles out there saying he has turned down Mexico YNT callups at multiple levels. It's the first time the full El Tri senior team have invited him, true, but he's chosen USYNTs over Mexico YNTs in the past.
It's a very pro-MLS view so you're likely not alone at all but have many detractors. For my money McKennie>JoGo>Adams at this stage. And if Adams stays in the MLS he won't climb above either IMO.
Wow, he went through his twitter and deleted that tweet? Unreal, I guess it really is happening. Fu!k. It just said that he was speechless the day we failed to qualify.
I can't call the kid a liar so easily. He said it, I believe it. He said it as a young kid playing in the US youth pipeline. He's a young man now and I don't know about you but I waffled a bit on my youth stances when I became 18. Your view changes.
You're talking salary. I'm talking q-rating and social impact. I mean, John Wall and LBJ make the same NBA salary. JoGo could be a star in Mexico, not just a high earning player.