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Bornstein starts for Tigres in Copa Libertadores loss

Jonathan Bornstein (AP)

Most of last night's headlines might have been about the U.S. men's national team's friendly in Panama, but that was not the only place south of the border where an American was playing.

Lost amid the U.S. team's 1-0 win, Jonathan Bornstein made his season debut, starting and going the distance in Tigres UANL's 1-0 first-leg loss to Chilean club Union Espanola in the Copa Libertadores. Playing with a team comprised of mostly reserves, Bornstein was deployed as a defensive midfielder in the match that marked his first appearance for the club since May 2011.

Bornstein's outing may not have come in a win, but it could serve as a confidence boost as he attempts to fight his way into the club's starting lineup. 

What do you think of Bornstein earning a start in a Copa Libertadores match? Expect him to build off of this and earn more looks?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. Give me his paycheck and lifestyle and I will gladly take any criticism the media or fans have to throw at me!! Are you freakin kidding?? This guy is a pro athlete and makes 10 times what the average American makes for playing a game! Every human has to take criticism if they are not doing their job correctly. Im sure he is crying all the way to the bank!

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  2. Cairo makes some good points. Its not the player’s fault for accepting a call-up to the national team. How many players would turn down a chance to play for their national team. Its the coaches fault for making bad decisions and perhaps we should focus more criticism on the coaches rather than the players.

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  3. Hey that’s great Bornstein is working hard as a professional soccer player. Still doesn’t mean he should have ever even had a look from the Nats.

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  4. at what point do professional athletes cease to be human?, if you haven’t noticed, the people in life who spew the most criticism and the least understanding are the people most filled with fear of the same…your fears are definitely on display…you’ve been sussed.

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  5. If you’re a professional athlete of any sort, “working hard” is not worthy, in itself, of praise. That’s the bare minimum required. And considering the nature of playing sports for a living (a vocation dependent upon the support of spectators) performances are called into question. It’s fair game. That sort of fan interest drives not only the sport but the entire secondary market of sports media, including this blog.

    So, yes, he “worked hard”. Congratulations. So does everyone else at this level. Fans weren’t being unfair at all. It’s just that normally, if someone plays as consistently poor as Bornstein did for the final few years of Bradley’s regime, normally, they stop getting called up. But that didn’t happen with Bornstein. He continually got calls.

    And now he’s riding the bench in Mexico, because he’s not good enough to play for his Mexican club team. Just like he wasn’t good enough to play for the USMNT. Not because he didn’t work hard, but because he didn’t play well, repeatedly. Bradley took as much heat on here and elsewhere for Bornstein’s inclusions as Bornstein himself did for his performances. It’s the nature of the business.

    If it were some high school or college kid who was maximizing his ability and working hard for nothing more than love of the game, that would obviously be worth praising. But this is the professional, international level of soccer. If you don’t work hard, you’re not playing professional sports. That’s not enough.

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  6. Cairo, you are correct in that we should all be mindful that first and foremost we are all humans that think and feel and dream and that no one is perfect except Messi.

    It’s also easy to forget that JB was a converted fullback and occupied a spot that was woefully exposed through lack of prospects that really belonged in that position. He was the answer to making the best of a very bad situation and on some level he did a very heroic job at that. It is true that both he had Ricardo Clark really became scapegoats at which many fans directed their frustration and disappointment. I include myself among that group.

    However, before we go feeling sorry for the guy….

    He is a paid professional soccer player, probably making more money “fighting for a starting spot” than the average starter in the MLS. He plays soccer for a living, which is to say he gets to do what he loves and gets paid for it. He’s represented his country in the largest event the sport has to offer and as part of the USMNT he’s been part of a team that in the United States is the closest we have to a true “legacy team”. If the pressure of the negatives that come with that were too much I’m sure he could’ve retired, refused callups, etc.. There are plenty of ways to make a living and lots of ways to play or remain involved in the sport one loves. He’s never done that.

    I also think there is a difference between criticizing the performance of a professional (especially one in as public a forum as professional sport), and insulting them personally. The vast majority of “mean” comments –barring stupid trollish comments that no one takes seriously– have been critiques of his game (positioning, on-field choices, pace, technique, etc.) or questions about the wisdom in a coach repeatedly going to a well that clearly wasn’t offering relief. Contrast this with comments made about the “character” of Freddie Adu or Charlie Davies, players that are rated much higher by the blogo-fan-o-sphere, but often are on the receiving end of logic like, “they are where they are because they aren’t good people”.

    As withering as the criticism has been, I can’t really recall statements to the effect that JB is a bad person. Plus, there’s an awful lot of good that he’s been taking with the bad.

    Plus, if he played better no one would have anything bad to say!

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  7. if you can’t take the heat, get your a$$ out the kitchen.

    Seriously, if you’re going to let criticism offend you, you shouldn’t be a professional sports player.

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  8. My point is that spitting insults at people because those people spit insults at people is the wrong way to make a point against…insulting people.

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  9. Exactly. He may not be the best, but he can still say ‘I played in the world cup’. None of us can claim that……plus, he’s probably making WAY more dough (doing what he loves) than any of his naysayers.

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  10. It is fans who say senseless things like “_____ will never be any good” or “I will kill myself if ______ ever plays for the US again.” that make me dismiss anything they have to say, whether they are fat, eat Doritos or not they are senseless.

    That said, JB has made a couple bone-headed plays at bad times, he has also made some very good ones. The legendary Princeton basketball coach, Pete Carril, had a carved duck on his desk. He claimed that when he asked the carver how he knew how to carve the duck, the reply was that he just removed all the wood that did not look like a duck. Carril claimed coaching a player was much the same.

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  11. Cairo I think that is a good post and thank you for it. We often forget that guys like Bornstein are humans, and they are trying as hard as they can. We see them only as pawns on a chessboard, and we’re easy to dismiss.

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  12. I am no Bornstein fan, but the guy has obviously dedicated himself to improve in the sport we all love, and we have to assume that has also required some sacrifice.

    The athleticism aspect is one thing, but it takes a huge amount of dedication, persistence, and straight up chutzpah to get yourself on a field week in and week out as a professional at such a high level.

    You can blame the CEO (coach) all you want for putting Bornstein out there, but you can’t really blame Bornstein himself that much for simply not being as good as we all expect a left back to be.

    I wish him the best of luck this season, and if he has a strong full season of games with Tigres I would certainly not be against him coming back into the national team picture.

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  13. By implying that anyone stating a negative opinion of a player is a) not a real ‘fan’ and b) a Dorito-eating, fatty, with no footie skills, makes you come off like a smug, a-hole. Just so you know.

    That written, yes, good to see him getting minutes.

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  14. I get your point, and I don’t begrudge fan critiques of players, to a point. But this dude didn’t get criticized, he got excoriated. Sorry, but unless you’ve got mad skills on the soccer field, I think it’s enough to say that he had a poor showing, without all the insulting crap that he got on this board.
    Just my two cents. I don’t rate him highly for the national team either, but I always really valued his work ethic. I usually save my criticism for the guys that don’t seem to leave it all on the field. Bornstein did.

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  15. well at least that boi making that MONEY down south.

    He sucked at the Confed Cup and Gold Cup but played well in his 2 WC matches. can’
    t take that away from him,

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  16. Hate to burst anyones bubble & I am not someone who hates an American player just because they dont perform too well for the nats (support any american player)…. but this squad was made up of mostly reserves. This doesnt mean much of anything in terms of his strive to make himself relevant with the first team.

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  17. That picture kinda looks like Bornstein v Bornstein. I wonder which one got burned by the other for a goal? I kid. Now that he is out of the Nats picture I wish him a long and successful club career.

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  18. Pretty sweeping generalization to make, as far as the “anonymous poster” world. As fans, we’re allowed to expect competence from the players on the team we’re support, especially on the international stage. Bornstein quite simply did not cut it. He had a few good games here and there, but more often than not was a liability. I don’t doubt that he worked very hard and did his best for us. He didn’t go out on the pitch with the intention of playing poorly. But he did. Part of the frustration, I’m sure, with Bornstein, was that he was continually selected, despite poor performances. So, as fans, we probably were only slightly more harsh than was warranted, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that just because fans aren’t as athletically gifted as the players on the teams they support, they’re not allowed to criticize them. In the end, this sport is entertainment. The games you watch are a product. If I’m paying for a product, I feel that I’m entitled to comment on its quality. I wish all the best for Jonny Bornstein. I hope he makes a decent career for himself in Mexico or MLS or anywhere. I hope he finds happiness. But his play in a national team shirt, more often than not, did warrant some criticism.

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  19. Good to see him playing. No player in the US system has taken more crap from US soccer “fans”. A perfect player for the Nats? Obviously not. But this guy absolutely worked his butt off playing for his country–which the anonymous poster world chooses to ignore. Never ceases to amaze me how fan forum posters, most of whom I imagine are overweight, below average soccer player, Doritos eating types feel the need to be ruthless in criticizing guys like Bornstein…

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