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Bornstein to face Honduras for first time since “The Goal”

 Jonathan Bornstein 1 (ISIphotos.com)

Photo by ISIphotos.com

By ADAM SERRANO

When the U.S. men's national team takes on Honduras at Home Depot Center on Saturday night, there will be plenty of Honduran fans in attendance and the player they are most likely to cheer the loudest for won't be wearing a Honduran uniform.

That player is Jonathan Bornstein.

The U.S. national team defender has become a hero to Hondurans since his last-second equalizing goal in the U.S. team's 2-2 tie vs. Costa Rica helped give Honduras its first World Cup berth in 27 years.

Bornstein's goal has become the stuff of legends in Honduras, earning Bornstein newspaper headlines such as "Bornstein, Honduras te ama" (Bornstein, Honduras loves you) in one local newspaper and a personal invitation from Honduran President Roberto Michelleti to vacation in Honduras' Bahia Islands.

"I'm expecting a real positive reaction (on Saturday), but when we step on the field, it'll be the United States vs. Honduras and I'm not expecting any leeway there," said Bornstein. "However, maybe after the game or before the game, the fans have been very appreciative and I'm expecting them to stay the same way."

Bornstein receives regular reminders on Facebook of just how much Hondurans adore him, with daily friend requests and messages from people looking to share their appreciation. Bornstein's impressive reception in the Honduran community has also become a running joke for members of the U.S. team.

"Rumor has it, they may want (Bornstein) to play half of the game for Honduras," joked American midfielder Robbie Rogers.

Despite the adoration that he receives from Honduran fans, Bornstein and the rest of the United States squad understand the threat of a Honduran squad that played them very tough in four matches in 2009. Honduras will be fielding a primarily domestic squad with players looking to help their chances of making the Honduran World Cup team.

"Their guys are really playing at a high level and obviously when they come to their national team, they raise that level," said Bornstein. "We've played them plenty of times and we know what they're about and you have to expect the best from them, they're a real quality side."

Although Bornstein is focused on helping the United States win its first match of the year,  he has not forgotten Michelleti's generous offer.

"I've obviously got to vacation somewhere and Honduras could be a definite possibility," said Bornstein. "I'll just keep (the option) open and hopefully it stays open."

Comments

  1. Josh Richardhead,

    Have you ever done anything that has made so many people in one nation so happy? Even if he was boasting so freaking what.

    Reply
  2. Who put Paco in the game to make that spectacular play?

    If Paco gets no props from Bradley, why has Bradley been taking such great pains to include him in the squad as much as possible?

    Paco has twice turned down the US for the personal reasons, never a great idea no matter the reasons. Yet Bradley keeps calling him up. Your notion that Bradley doesn’t like Paco isn’t consistent with Bradley’s behavior.

    I don’t think Castillo is being looked at as a left fullback. By his own admission he has defensive liabilities. If this is so then all you get if you replace JB with him is a JB who has better offensive skills. I’m sure he’ll get a shot there but more likely, he is being considered for attacking left mid, a position that has been vacant since DMB, Bobby Convey and Eddie Lewis went over the hill. Donovan has, of course, made it his own but he may be shifting to the right side with Deuce going up top. Spector or Boca are more probably going to be the LB vs. England.

    Reply
  3. Jozy hasn’t done diddly squat at the club level since he left New York 2 or 3 years ago yet you seem to get all moist about his US performances. So, why do you give a damm how Pearce plays for his club team? All that matters is how he plays for the US. I don’t see him making the World Cup squad but, while he’s no Ashley Cole or Patrice Evra, he wasn’t anywhere near as bad as you say in the Gold Cup.

    If you don’t want to give credit to Bornstein for that goal, who should you give the credit to? If he doesn’t score it, we lose and Honduras is out of the World Cup. They have every right to give him plenty of credit. As for the US, the goal gave us the first in the the group and maybe you don’t care about that but some people do. You really are taking this all too personally and getting worked up over nothing.

    Reply
  4. 30 guys were called in(and there will always be people beggin off or coming up hurt).

    If the 10 guys you say have no business there were not called in how are you going to hold full scale practices to evaluate the 20(minus a couple of injured people) who you deem worthy of your approval?

    Bradley needs to get a look NOW at Findley, Cunningham, Marshall, Conrad and Cameron at something vaguely approaching real live game conditions. Do you want the assistant coaches pitching in and Bradley himself in goal? Pretty low rent for a World Cup year.

    Besides Bradley needs as long a list of inury alternates as he can develop for his injury alternate list. So he needs to see where a lot of these guys are NOW, not where they were when they were unfortunate enough to have offended your elite sensibilities.

    You seem to be personally offended by these 10 so tell me who you suggest should be brought in in their place?

    Reply
  5. That’s an interesting point. I think the US team’s performance as a whole may have improved the perception of America in Honduras. The team could have given up at 2-0 down since they had already qualified, but they played honestly until the last minute. Who needs diplomacy when we have soccer?

    Reply
  6. There’s about 10 guys that make very little to no sense of having in this camp

    They’re not going to make it to SA, and some are too old to make an impact as they are still developing to be stars in MLS!

    4 Goalies to try to look at our potential 3rd keeper or future keepers? Really? I can understand Rimando, but even he is a strech without the MLS Cup performance

    Hartman got called 4 or 5 years too late, Thornton was great due to his saves but mainly an amazing defensive regiment!

    Heath Pearce I’ve already explain how much he sucks, and all I have to do is mentioned how he got owned with Jay Heaps in the Gold Cup last summer by Mexico & the rest of Concacaf but only B teams from Concacaf. If he can’t cut it with Mexico, how can he play vs England, Slovenia & Algeria?

    Clerance Goodson is another Gold Cup scrub that has no business on this team

    In midfield, Gaven? What did he do, Columbus was all GBS, Evans, again why? Sacha Kljestan- have we not learned from Confederations Cup? Beasley at least improved his game before going down with an injury, Sacha was getting back to salvage his MLS season to almost make it on par with the previous one but then missed a PK in the last minutes of stopage AT HOME vs New York in the last games of the season, could of ended up higher on the playoff table.

    Dax McCarty, this scrub has no business when we have Dempsey, Holden, Feilhaber, Torres, Donovan, Bradley and other young players who can play there!

    Justin Braun I’ll digest but seriouslY? Why

    We better not see Casey on the starting line up or this kid, now that Tracy is out with the Tendinitis, Findley and Cunnigham BETTER start, we already know what Casey can do wich is sketchy as it is, we don’t know what Findley can do or Cunningham?

    Reply
  7. Why on earth are you guys willing to give credit to Bornstein? Yes he scored in DC vs Costa Rica, guess what, he also literary backed off and watched as Costa Rica scored that demoralizing goal!

    Before that he got completely owned by the Salvadorian players, both tactically and physically, and I’m sorry but little Savadorian midgets who don’t have the nutrition or stamina to stay in a full game shouldn’t do that to player who plays in MLS where physical conditioning and presence are demanded day in and day out for every game, specially with the travelinga and different weather and altitudes you have to get used to.

    He did pretty good to improve on during the confeds, then comes back to LA and sucks with Chivas, I had tickets to about 8 games for the Goats last year, and then he pulls that crap in SLC against ES, he literary was single handedly responsible for letting the Salvadorian team gain possesion on OUR side of the field in order to score!

    Who IN THE HELL, can teel me why Heath Pearce is still even considered? I’m not talkin about Bob, I know he has his favorites, I’m talking about a few of you, I didn’t get to read EVERY single comment but early on, Pancho Miguel Moreales something something, said Pearce is his favorite?

    Why bro? Are you from Honduras or Mexico and you like to see him mess up?

    He sucked vs Mexico in Columbus sending wanna be crosses up to try to kill pigeons, he TOTALLY sucked in El Salvador and Bob had to replace him by improvising with DAMARCUS FREAKING BEASLEY who pretty much had never played that position, certainly not in a WC qualifier.

    As soon as he, and his teamate/fellow MLS Scrub YEAH I SAID IT, Sacha Kljestan came out of the game, Jozy AND Torres made sure we didn’t lose that game, it almsot broght the entire team back to life

    Donovan, Bradley, Ching, Heydude although he sucked all started pushing forward to ES’s throat in order to score.

    Then in the Gold Cup Pearce once again sucked ass!

    We already have one guy from MLS who is fringe, I don’t mind him as a back up, but Pearce? Hell no

    He got cut from a team in GERMANY’s 2nd, count it SECOND division and not top or middle of the table his club barely escaped relegation in the 08-09 season and is now on their way to 3rd division, and Pearce couldn’t even stay on the team there, let alone get on the bench or play!

    Why WHY WHY?

    And stop giving Bornstein so much freaking credit for one goal that tied a game, all it did was give us the lead for the group because Mexico couldn’t beat T&T, if Casey wasn’t such a scrub Jozy would of had an assist and they would of provided the best homage to Charlie Davies by scoring in the 9th minute to go up and validate Jozy’s tremendous hustle and hard work on a perfect counter!

    Reply
  8. “there will be plenty of Honduran fans in attendance and the player they are most likely to cheer the loudest for won’t be wearing a Honduran uniform.

    That player is Jonathan Bornstein.”

    that’s funny, but you forgot to put a smiley face after… 😀

    Reply
  9. And by “seize the moment” I mean being there with the team, not being put on with one minute to go and scoring the winning goal. The youth don’t need to play to gain something from being there. I can’t say the same about a 30 year old.

    Reply
  10. Paquito deserves a little bit of the credit, but Borns was the guy who headed the ball in, so to be fair, Borns can go and play for the Honduren national team. I think Casey,marshall,cooper,had something to do with the ball going in, so they too can go and play for the Honduran national team.:)

    Reply
  11. Any word on how this camp is doing in regards to potential roster additions? How does Findley and Cunningham look? Any quality defenders really step their game up? I only remember seeing articles about injuries in the camp and care packages people get (on another blog). I can’t find anything on how these guys are grading out in camp. Any word?

    Reply
  12. Thank you! Bornstein has kind of endeared himself to me. He’s not lighting the world on fire, but I don’t see how his play is some kind of crime against humanity. He’s serviceable, plays hard, has improved, scored the goal that put us top of the Hex. Why bash this guy?

    Reply
  13. The Bornstein bashing is boring and most of the time quite uninformed. His performances with the USMNT have steadily improved, and he provides some speed that our other backs just don’t have. The fact is, Spector is absolutely not in good form right now, Boca has been seeing way to much of the bench, and Dolo is getting up there in years. Bornstein gives his all, and has gotten better. I, for one, am glad we’ve got Bornstein on the squad.

    Reply
  14. Jon Bornstein: legend in Honduras
    Josh D: legend in his own mind?
    golfstrom: legend to intelligent conversations via his extremely funny lines

    This is a place to discuss US soccer, there’s no need to write jibberish. I have no problem being told I’m wrong with backed up claims (Spectra, angler23, Adam R.) but don’t waste the five seconds of my life it took to read your post; it benefits no one but the little man inside your head who fell off his tiny stool laughing at something a 5th grader would write.

    Reply
  15. John D is an uncle of mine, I’m Josh, Spectra.

    And I never mentioned the Confed Cup. This is the problem when you don’t read a post – I said the camp and those on the team who have been there past their due date. And if we compare cups I would point toward the Beckerman, Pause, Ching, Heaps, Arnaud, Busch, etc. Beckerman and Ching can make a difference against less teams but can you honestly say the third keeper (Busch) couldn’t have made way for a 21 year old future starter? Are you saying Arnaud couldn’t have made way for a dynamic striker who would of gotten a lot more out of the Cup and done the US a lot better looking at the bigger picture?

    In my own opinion we don’t develop our youth for the bigger picture. We rely too much on the hierarchy of u-17, u-20, etc and the process goes (usually) you bounce from one to the next to the next. When if you’re good enough, you should also move up the men’s team and learn.

    Would you rather have the painting apprentice who paints little landscapes take on a whole wall mural or the apprentice who still paints little landscapes but has the chance to watch the master paint whole wall murals? Being there and watching and learning is what A. prepares you for your time B. gives you motivation to improve and C. gives you confidence that you’re on the right track.

    And I said 24 year olds – by 25 we 9 times out 10 know what you can and can not do (though with anything there are exceptions).

    How can you not want more youth in a team to take up the roster spots of 3rd keeper, 5th striker, 8th midfielder? Guys whose odds are ultra-thin to see playing time. Does it really do a lot for a 28 year old keeper to sit on a bench or 30 year old striker to as well “just in case the 4 other strikers comes down with the flu and we have to call him up?” Or is he taking up space where someone can really seize that opportunity? Someone young, with talent, and a drive to one day earn that starting position. It’s a teaser but for any player or ex-player knows, you can learn a lot from someone experienced, from being in intense situations, and from getting a peak at what one day you can achieve.

    Reply

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