BY ADAM SERRANO
United States or Mexico?
For one American born player, the decision is not as simple as just choosing a national team.
Chivas de Guadalajara's American-born defender Miguel Angel Ponce has an interesting choice ahead of him. Born in America and raised in Mexico, the left back has risen through the ranks at one of Mexico's largest clubs. If the Sacramento native were to play for the United States, he would immediately lose his position with Chivas, a team that only accepts Mexican citizens.
Read the story linked above for the full details of his story.
What do you think Ponce should do? Should Bob Bradley call up the young left back?
Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
He’s talking 2014.
At the moment smart money would be on the team with the player on the ManU squad; not the team featuring coach’s favorite/RSL bench player Findley.
you need to be in and around the community to get it. This mentality is very common Especially with the political Climate. I dont blame them for raising their kids so ethnocentrically. Its not like being american has a history of being very inclusive as well.
I think you missed the point.
he already plays for the red white an blue =P
haha, this made me laugh. But yah, we should try to go for him
This is whats wrong with that
ETHNOCENTRISM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocentrism
I dont think its an exaggeration to say that 99% of Chivas fans would want the US to be more inclusive of their people.
another word would be Hypocrisy
Mexican media is starting to notice the US recruiting in Mexico.
http://www.mediotiempo.com/futbol/mexico/noticias/2010/09/16/deja-mexico-ir-jovenes-para-estados-unidos
Hmm. How can we keep these kids from playing for the US?
Pretty fair statement?
In the last 5 years the only players I remember leaving for Europe are:
Pavel Pardo and Ricardo Osorio both whom are back in FMF at America & Monterrey
Carlos Salcido & Francisco “Maza” Rodriguez went to PSV Endhoven, Salcido is now at Fulham
Hector Moreno is now at AZ Alkmaar
Andres Guardado is still at Deportivo La Coruña. Omar Bravo came back from them.
Carlos Vela is at Arsenal after being loaned out to Salamanca and Osasuna
Guillermo Franco went from Villareal to West Ham.
Now after SA Barrera went to West Ham, Juarez went to Celtic and Hernandez is at Man Utd.
From what I can remember Holden, Clark, Jozy, Bradley, Dempsey, Rolf, Califf, Parkhurst, Edu, Gale Boss & Guzan. That’s pretty even? Not including Adu, Kljestan, Movsysian etc
Bilbao has loosened quite a bit though. Pretty much if you come up through anyone of the clubs in Basque country you can play with Athletic. You don’t even have to have Basque blood, but those cases aren’t so common yet.
How is that a second Mexican team? They are all born in the U.S… like they say in Mexico, no mames huey.:) In Mexico, American Latinos are considered Gringos, unless he knows how to play Soccer, then they are Mexicans.lol
I hope he plays for Mexico, that way I can laugh all day at the Mexican federation for building American players into their system. Look at the Italians, they have Jersey boy in their team.lol I thought Italians were among the elite in futbol and need no American help?haha
How is that a joke? The MLS has been providing more players to Europe than the MExicanl League to Europe. How is that so hard to understand? Look at the last 15 years. Stats don’t lie.
Why Kudos to Kent? They are hundreds of Latino N.Americans and Latinos born in Latin America that consider themselves 100% American on this site. You never hear Kudos given to them. I don’t understand the bias on this site sometimes from some of it’s members. I heard the other day a someone say they were born in Salvador, but considered himself N.American because of what the country has done for him and his family. And all I saw was smart ass comments on how awful his grammar was.
KUDOS to all my Latino Brothers and new brothers that consider themselves 100% YANKEES!
Right on the money Edgar. Same situation in Central America & Spain. As a kid I was always hated visiting my Parents birth place. I was always called the Gringo who needs to go back so he can eat his burgers.lol Something about burgers in Spain that they don’t like or something. Well, anyways that’s when I knew exactly who I really was. A Yankee. 😉 This was back in 1994.
Nothing sounds more Mexican than Bornstein. Who cares if we have too many players of Mexican background?
well outside of Torres, but im not sure he lumps in with the above listed group and I am also not sure how good he really is against leet athletes
outside of Boca, all those players could be replaced by an “pick your MLS not quite star” and you wouldnt see a difference… i actually think these players situations help them get the chance
Micheal Harrington is left footed (playing RB currently).. problem solved
Another five year old!!! Do you know how many soccer players play in Mexico? Can you name ONE that has been kidnapped and held for ransom? And as long as drug consumption escalates in the US (front page news today!!!) innocent Mexicans will keep on loosing their lives to drug gangs! Now get your pacifier and go to sleep.
I just don’t see the problem with Chivas only employing Mexicans or Athletic Bilbao only employing Basques. I don’t think it’s driven by a sense of superiority, but rather the desire to promote local player development and provide a unifying team for a large group of people.
It is true. At one point the USNT will be made up of mostly Mexico’s NT castoffs. We are already starting to see it, those that are not good enough to play for the MNT end up playing for the US.
USA is turing into a a second Mexico national team:
Bocanegra
Bornstein
Torres
Gomez
Castillo
Gonzalez
Ponce???
I’m not hating I think it’s great that we have these players in the usmnt pool but I’m just going to hate hearing from the mexicans that the only reason why US is a good team is because they have mexicans players which is untrue because alot other non mexican american players that are great in football. But in the end of the day that will not change the mind to the mexican people and no offense to the mexican people but they do talk alot of smack which I can’t stand at all!
I think there are proven medicines which might help.
Canadian law does not give you the option to become a Canadian citizen just because you were born there. The US does so he has a choice.
If you read what you wrote, and compare it to what Serrano wrote, you’ll have to admit that you’re describing the heart of the issue and he is not:
“he would immediately lose his position with Chivas, a team that only accepts Mexican citizens. ”
Ponce’s citizenship is not at issue with Chivas and would not be even if he played for the USA. In his case, the issue is whether to play for the USA or Mexico and one big consideration is that Chivas might let him go if he plays for the USA. It has nothing to do with him losing his citizenship, but a number of readers were confused by Serrano’s post. I tried to address that confusion.
(There’s clarifying, and there’s being an ass. You need to learn the difference. The line isn’t that fine.)
i hope youre kidding. more players from MLS->Europe than from Mexico? please clarify that you are joking.
if he plays well for mexico thats probably a better stepping stone to europe.
to paraphrase neil diamond…
On the boats and on the planes
Come on, Miguel, come to America
Never looking back again
Come on, Miguel, come to America
Chivas is a racist club. MLS should never have let these clowns buy into our league.
If an individual with American parents was born in Canada, then moved back to and raised in the United States, would you expect him to say he is more Canadian than American?
We haven’t had a good natural Left Back maybe ever. Bornstein right now is simply not good enough and the other options aren’t any better.
What better way to characterize Johnny Bornstein than clear opening… straight to the goal?
(I kid.)
I think timF was referring to the Mexican national team.
The Mexican national team often times ships it’s defenders overseas, i.e. Rafael Marquez. They know that their defenders will not develop much in Mexico. So, if he is seen as a promising prospect for the Mexican team, he may have a shot at Europe as well.
^^ this is why in the long run mls will be the best league in concacaf. once the wages increase top young mexican players will come here.
Why do we assume that there is a “clear opening” at left back?
seriously if your a dual citizen and good enough to play for Chivas Guadalajara couldn’t you find a spot at any of the other Mexican League teams!
with a clear opening at LB he should go for it! but as always he should make the decision based on which side he feels the greater connection. If he decides USA then isn’t this what Chivas USA is for!!!
As a Mormon, I wish the church I belong to would support me from cradle to grave! Something about this being self-reliant thing being important gets in the way.
[Everything else written was fine and persuasive]
Exactly. It’s totally fair to say that Adam mischaracterized the issue. Ponce is a Mexican citizen and almost certainly will always be one, but the issue is whether he will lose his eligibility to play for Mexico.
He should choose the USA. In the USA, soccer players don’t have to worry about being kidnapped or suffering through the kidnapping and ransom of loved ones. Also, we don’t have drug gangs with machine guns murdering federal police and soldiers en masse. Plus, far more players graduate from MLS to European teams than from Mexican teams to European teams. As a career choice, the USA is a much better situation
How dare you!! Red Eye is the best show on TV.
We need any up and coming option at left back. If he plays well for the US he has a stepping stone to Europe.
Chivas is a good job, but US NATS is a better opportunity.
Another question is, is he better than our current option(s) at left back? Just because he plays left back for a team in a “foreign” league, doesn’t mean he’s that good, or better than our current option(s).
Not saying that if he wanted to play for the USMNT, we shouldn’t give him the opportunity.
Exactly. But they have to be citizens to be “Mexican National Teamers,” so indirectly the citizenship matters.
Filipinos rule.
or should the statement be…”mexican-americans hate mexican nationals” 🙂
I heard it from so many mexicans in our USA that they get more discrimination from mexican-americans than anyone else.
I guess it all depends who’s point of view you want to take.
I think tha most confusing thing is that Chivas doesn’t employ people who couldn’t or won’t play for the Mexican national team, thus the citizenship matters. But it’s more about playing for a different national team rather than citizenship itself.
You’re full of it! Chivas for years said no players but Mexican nationals. Then they get proven to be liars with Padilla so they send him to Chivas USA, where he is a poor excuse of the number 10, rotting away on the bench and they play the “oh well we follow the constitution, so he’s good enough for you as long as he doesn’t choose his actual place of birth despite the fact that you (Chivas) pride yourself in only fielding a team of players from YOUR country, until is convenient of course!
Chivas has always been disingenuous with it’s nationality policy. Originally it was “only” Mexican citizens could play for their team. When the specter of having dual citizens, who play for another national team (and initially at the Youth level) playing for Chivas, they changed the policy to Mexican citizens AND Mexican national team. This was always to place them as “something special” to their fans. When first formed Chivas only allowed Guadalajara born players on it’s team.
You must be on Drugs! I can name 5 teams better than those sorry asses off the top of my head RIGHT NOW that are better than Chivas for the last “two decades”
Toluca and Pachuca OWN THEM and if Toluca hadn’t missed a few PK’s or gotten screwed by refs on their own stadium for Christ’s sake, Chivas would only have 1 title in those 2 decades
Pumas has been a better team than Chivas, Santos has been a better team, even America has had better success than Chivas.
Oh almost forgot Necaxa!