One of the closest watched storylines heading into the CONCACAF Gold Cup may be settled before the U.S. Men’s National Team begins camp in Nashville on June 25.
FC Dallas goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez, who is wanted by the USMNT and Mexico has officially submitted the paperwork for his one-time switch to the American side according to Fox Sports.
https://twitter.com/stuholden/status/874419690415828992
If Gonzalez is good to go for the July competition, USMNT boss Bruce Arena could bring him into the squad as one of three goalkeepers. The goalkeeper previously featured for Mexican youth teams, making the one-time switch required for him to play for the U.S.
Gonzalez’s switch will also reignite the goalkeeper of the future debate. Ethan Horvath appeared to be first in line to the throne once Tim Howard and Brad Guzan retired from the international game, but that could be Gonzalez’s role moving forward if he lives up to all the hype.
I will always like to see players choose the US over Mexico….but what I’ve seen of his play does not IMO, elevate him above Horvath or even Steffen. All are part of the same age bracket….and all have talent, but at this point none have really distanced themselves from the others.
Yes Howard is aging….Guzan has stumbled….Rimando is OLD….and the generation behind them hasn’t risen to the challenge to knock any of the 3 out of the conversation. Hamid can’t stay healthy, S. Johnson has been inconsistent, Bingham & Yarbrough have been shaky.
So we’ve basically moved on to Horvath, Steffen, Horton, and now Gonzalez.
We’ve got a year for someone (anyone) to make a claim. All of them (except Horvath & Yarbrough) are in the same league so should be easy to evaluate/compare their performances to select the best 3 for the WC. Should make for a very interesting January Camp in 2018.
Jonathan Klinsmann
Horvath, Gonzalez, Yarbrough, Steffen and Hamid. Very solid group of GK prospects for the future. The US has always been blessed with great talent at this position, it seems this will continue for the next decade as well. Great so see.
Big get! Kinda changes the US depth situation at GK from too few young prospects coming through the ranks to some nice depth. Horvath, Steffen, and Gonzales can all be special . Then with guys like Cropper and Hamid providing solid depth… Klinsman is another to keep an eye on
Nothing to be excited about. His first choice was Mexico and just because he feels that he cant get passed Guillermo Ochoa or Alfredo Talavera or Rodolfo Cota, now he wants to play for USMNT? He is no better than Hamid or Johnson……and if he is not willing to bleed red, white and blue he should play where his heart WAS and stay with his first choice.
http://www.espnfc.us/major-league-soccer/story/3137331/fc-dallas-keeper-jesse-gonzalez-to-represent-mexico-rather-than-the-united-states
He will certainly add depth to the ‘next generation’ of American keepers. I would still point to Horvath as the potential successor to the Howard throne, so to speak, and Steffen seems like a very interesting prospect as well, not to mention a known yet still youngish quantity like Hamid. Adds more intrigue to the post-Russia roster turnover that seems inevitable.
Really happy he changed his mind. We need Americans of Mexican descent playing for the U.S. I have always been of the mindset that their parents/grandparents came here for a reason and they should represent this country. Now if we can get the Americans who cheer for Mexico to start switching over maybe we can play some USMNT games in South Texas.
Hopefully some more games in San Antonio, as that’s a close drive from Corpus.
I like it. Dude can play, others are having trouble taking over, give him a chance at Gold Cup.
He isn’t better than Hamid. If he’s so good, why aren’t Mexican teams clamoring for his services. Don’t forget about William Yarborough at Leon.
He isn’t better than Hamid.
He’s never consistently healthy. Until you can stay as such, you’re not in the conversation (see: Aron Johannsson).
Yeah, I am no fan of the pecking order apprenticeship we’ve set up where #2 automatically becomes #1 upon his retirement or injury. We have historically been competitive at keeper and simply picked the ones who played well. Stand on your head and earn the job.
It’s odd because with the 3 spot we have always been competitive and punished poor performance. Robles had that Haiti nightmare and he disappeared for years. Every keeper spot should be treated that way.
Heck, every spot on the field should be. Only thing I didn’t like was Klinsmann playing head games with people who were doing fine.
Good point though, in my memory I don’t remember a time when we had a solid #3 or a time as the #1 got old there wasn’t an already established #2 and #3 ready to fill in…..no one has really stepped up like Brad and Timmy (like Casey and Brad before them) playing top flight ball week in and week out…
Am I wrong in that assessment?
Hmmm…I never even heard him mention that he wanted to play for us. Out of the blew.
Rumors he was going to represent Mexico at Gold Cup started to spring up a few weeks ago. I’d be curious if that was him trying to get the USA to commit. Once we indicated he would be on our Gold Cup roster he then committed here and filed the one time switch. I think like Green or Johannson before him, he wanted some degree of commitment that he would be selected here — that becoming a soccer American would pay off — before making the switch.
I would contrast his being in demand with someone like Dwyer who wasn’t playing for England any time soon.
Cool. Timmy on the downswing… Guzan never was up to that level…
Timmy is certainly aging and is highly unlikely to continue after WC18, but I’ve never seen a downswing in his form at the international level.
Howard has been pro since 1998. Think about that a sec.
You can look at the ages of rosterees and know who should be cresting the hill, and part of the defensive midfield problem earlier in this cycle was the degree of continued reliance on Jones and Beckerman in spited of their age (and some would argue Bradley despite the goal and the post last game). It has taken years — until now with Nagbe and Acosta — to figure out the new plan going forward.
So even if I accepted the theory that Timmy remains solid as ever, one would be wise to be implementing Plan B now rather than struggling for a long time with old player vs unsure replacements.
Imperative Voice… I give you Gigi Buffon. Timmy can play for a while yet.