After the recent run of USMNT matches, no player improved his standing in Jurgen Klinsmann's plans more than Herculez Gomez.
The Santos Laguna striker made the most of his recent call-up, impressing Klinsmann enough become a regular starter in the U.S. National Team's preferred 4-3-3 formation, even starting ahead of highly-regarded Jozy Altidore.
It hasn't been an easy road for Gomez, who has had to endure a roller coaster career to enjoy a renaissance at age 30.
Here is my latest FOX Soccer feature on Gomez, who discussed his recent return to the national team, and among other things, his love of Twitter.
Give the story a read and let us know what you thought of Gomez's recent performances, and what you think about his future with the team.
Share your thoughts below.
Do you mean regarding JK and Verbeek not getting along?
http://www.sbnation.com/soccer/2011/9/5/2406588/jozy-altidore-gertjan-verbeek-az-alkmaar-jurgen-klinsmann
Jozy Altidore’s Club Manager Gertjan Verbeek Is Not A Jurgen Klinsmann Fan
by Phillip Quinn – Sep 5, 2011 5:33 PM EDT
Jozy Altidore made a much praised transfer this summer to Dutch Eredivisie club AZ Alkmaar. Things have been going well in The Netherlands for Altidore. He’s playing substantial minutes and scoring goals.
United States Men’s National Team manager Jurgen Klinsmann called Altidore in to camp last week for the internationals against Costa Rica in Los Angeles and Belgium in Brussels.
Greg Seltzer with MLSsoccer.com and the No Short Corners blog passed along this Voetbal International interview with Altidore’s club manager Gertjan Verbeek about the young striker’s call up:
“That’s eleven hours flying. And then that doesn’t factor in the time difference. This is very dumb of Klinsmann. This serves no one… I have tried to stop it, but he did not appear lenient. And Jozy himself said he didn’t want to go… Klinsmann has been appointed the successor to [Bob] Bradley and clearly he wants to draw his own lines. Whereas it concerns all parties, is it not more important that Jozy gets fit faster? It is pure self-importance from a man who had but one year as manager with a club and got fired. That says enough.”
As Seltzer so correctly titled his post, “Uh Oh.” Of course, it didn’t make a ton of sense to schedule two friendlies four days apart half a world away.
Weren’t we told that Klinsmann was speaking with club managers to establish a good rapport? Hopefully Verbeek’s unhappiness with Klinsmann doesn’t affect Altidore in any way.
Do you people know anything about talent??!!
60-70 minutes for Jozy. I think not, he has no class, no flair. He made it on his size and strength, not technique or soccer IQ.
lol@ jozy having a higher ceiling!
So What? I am merely pointing out that he is not younger talent. As weaksauce indicated. Boom!
I had not read the Fox article on Gomez before my initial comment above. Excellent article, and, gotta say, Gomez comes across not only as a likable and interesting multifaceted type of guy, but also as quite intelligent and articulate. I like him even more now. My impression would be that he has the sort of qualities that could make him a team leader, and I see even clearer now what I already had suspected last week, maybe a couple of the more entrenched members of the USMNT are feeling a bit threatened by Gomez.
Jozy plays as the point man in a 4-3-3. At AZ, he’s responsible for receiving the ball at the top, holding play, and distributing it to either one of the overlapping wingers, or back to the midfield.
You can check out all of his goals for AZ this season on youtube to see his style of play. (also, when watching the video you’ll notice that on a few of his goals, he made runs in the box similar to the miss communication w/ Bradley in the Gua game where he held up his run at the top. Maybe that’s how AZ teaches it. Seemed like a pattern.)
He doesn’t display poacher skills like Gomez, but when he receives the ball w/ his back to the goal at the edge of the box he will find a way to turn and rip.
He’s got a completely different skill set than Gomez as many have pointed out. He’s going to offer you moments that make you pull out your hair, and he’s going to offer moments of brilliance that win you games.
Jozy’s a young player with enormous talent still trying to figure it out. Gomez is a polished vet that’s discovered how to get every bit of production possible out of his ability.
I think our best strategy going forward would be starting Jozy up top for 60-70 minutes and bringing in Gomez late in the games. Seems like that would get the best out of both players.
From what little I have seen of Jozy, he has been pretty much standing around.
If Ives has a hard on for HG, it may just be because JA has left us all flaccid so far.
I don’t think HG is all that, but he has certainly shown some hustle and desire and willingness to do the little things that make for a complete forward. If JA did those things he’d be an amazing striker rather than one that just seems content to live on his high points and not sweat the details.
I like Gomez, but Altidore is the key at forward in 2014.
It is mostly up to Jozy.
If he builds on this year and has an even better one next, then bigger clubs will
come calling and Verbeek will cease to be a problem. Also, the bigger a star he is, the more clout he will have with AZ’s management.
They will need a little time to work out who goes where. Gomez likes to stay on the last defender’s shoulder and he likes to make diagonal runs to draw the defense away from the center, in other words a striker in the Gary Lineker/Michael Owen mode. I haven’t seen much of Jozy this year but as I recall he doesn’t play that way. They should not get in each other’s way.
I see no reason why they could not form a good partnership for 2014. And if JK only wants one striker, then the good thing is they offer him two different looks for a change of pace.
Gomez seems to have improved and diversified his game since the last time I saw him. If he keeps his form he should be just fine, age be damned. JK played in the 1998 World Cup and scored three goals at the age of 33. Klose is at Euro 2012 at the age of 34
Hope Herc does well against Jamaica. Will AZ hold Jozy back from another WC camp? Did they hold back Poulsen and Elm also? I don’t know. Klinsmann needs to straighten this out.
Agreed. He works his a** off on the pitch also. What do you think of him and Jozy up front?
I know right ha
In the next friendly (because it’s Mexico) I want to see tears and blood.
In fairness, the Gomez we saw two years ago was not as good as the Gomez we’ve seen lately.
Also, Bob did manage to win our group and reach the round of 16, which if we’re being honest with ourselves, was an admirable accomplishment.
Though I’m sure if we’d played Gomez we’d have won it all, right?
You’re guess is as good as mine.
For two weeks off in the Caribbean. It must be common and usual occurrence, yes?
Leaving aside Gomez as a player, from everything I’ve read and seen, Herc is one hell of a great, down to earth kind of guy and seems very charming. A great ambassador for the game with a great story to tell.
Hard not to root for him.
I call it the Wondo effect. Older player, few USMNT minutes.
Verbeek, Jozy’s manager thinks JK is a jerk and has stated as much in print. There is not a little animosity there between the two.
The two have traded blows over Jozy’s USMNT commitments before and Jozy is caught in the middle. JK has said as much.
Jozy was not in the Caribbean on vacation; it was a team activity that Verbeek was damn well not going to let Jozy get out of.
And if you thnk Jozy can just tell the man who might well have saved his professional career to f++k off, then I invite you to do the same to your boss and tell us all about it later.
“Fact”
Facts do not necessarily reflect the truth.
Verifiably true? Not entirely. Some of your “facts” need a little context.
There were three warmup games. Gomez scored in the first one and the last one. And in that last one Buddle scored two goals. Yet Gomez played more minutes than Buddle.
Gomez did not play against England but he did play 10 minutes against Slovenia and contributed a nice dummy run that drew a defender off of MB90 who eventually scored.
He then STARTED the next game against Algeria but was subbed out at half time by Benny. And he was a late, last minute of regulation sub against Ghana but since we went into OT he played the entire OT.
Not a lot of playing time but a far cry from “relegated deep into the bench during the Cup.” Stu fricking Holden played four minutes the entire Cup and Clarence did not play one. That is “relegated deep into the bench”.
Gomez was lucky to get onto a team, at the last minute,that was not really set up for what he does best. It’s a credit to both Gomez and Bradley that they got as much out of him as they did.
Like it or not Gomez and Buddle were on that team because they were both too hot to ignore, even though neither one really fit the scheme.
Bradley’s other alternatives were either hurt or unsuitable. Ching was considered too brittle to hld up for the eniter tournament, Casey was not convincing and Daveis was hurt.
There is nothing revisionist about what I said. I didn’t offer an opinion. I listed a sequence of events that are all verifiably true.
Gomez took home the scoring title.
Gomez scored in two games immediately leading up to the World Cup.
Gomez was relegated deep into the bench during the Cup.
Fact.
I love Gomez. He’s a great player and all but seriously…how bad does Ives want to bone Gomez? He has a serious hard-on for the man. 😉
In addition to his tenacity and goal scoring prowess, what I love about Gomez is his mental toughness. He is one US player who will never be intimidated in hostile Central American environments. He is a pit bull–always the hammer, never the nail! He is also a good mentor for Corona.
I also believe Lichaj is a pit bull. I love his swagger and chippy attitude.
Vamos Estados Unidos!
Little old lady got mutilated late last night!
we need players who can play period.
Soo… why is he listed with “younger talent” like Boyd, Agudelo, and Wooten by Weaksauce above?
Verbeek didn’t release him Jesus Christ you people….
Bob should have played Gomez and Buddle up front, but I’ll never know the reasoning behing playing Findley speed but no touch, and Jozy who was misfiring.
…and his hair was perfect.
lol what revisionist history. People were upset he even selected Gomez at the time, over guys like Casey and Ching. Bradley rewarded Gomez and Buddle for their hot goalscoring by including them on the roster. If Gomez was behind Buddle it’s because that guy was scoring goals as well. Maybe BB shouldn’t have played Findley as much as he did, but he was looking for a Charlie Davies replacement given how successful the team was with that kind of forward, and on paper that makes sense for a counterattacking team. Of course Findley blew every chance he had, and that’s why he fell off the radar afterwards.
I was wondering the same thing myself, whether Jozy actually preferred the Caribbean sun for two weeks but blamed cub management. I have a hard time believing that had Jozy asked to skip the sun in order to play for the USMNT that the AZ coach would have refused him. And then Klinsmann not starting him after Jozy strolls into camp late I think is a strong message. In any case, I’m glad it happened. Gomez has become my preferred choice over Jozy for next September. We need more Latin flavor in the starting line-up, I think.
2tone,
So what?
Also Gomez isn’t young. He is 30.
And Gatt, Adu, Pontius, Lichaj amongst many more.
In the next friendly (because its a friendly) I want to see a few younger talent called in
Boyd, Agudelo, Wooten, Gomez
Gotta say it: Love his hair.
It will be interesting to see what happens to Jozy’s place in September. Will there be more conflict with AZ? Did Jozy protest to club management holding him to a two week Caribbean vacation? I’m not sure of the facts at all. Herc had the fire to step in and he deserves the opportunity.
i feel like Gomez has developed that hustle/hold up/defensive side of the game. at WC 2010, and in the friendlies before, I didn’t see any of that from him – just the clinical ability in front of goal. But he’s progressed and is now a great option to lead the line. And I like that he provides legit competition to Jozy, who will have to earn his spot. I still think Jozy has the higher ceiling, but not convinced he wins back the starting job (unless you have Jozy and Gomez together up front with clint on the wing…but I prefer clint as one of the two forwards).
Nah, according to people on SBI he’s not skilled and he just runs around aimlessly and doesn’t deserve to play.
He’s the most clinical forward we’ve had since the great Brian McBride. The fact that he’s just now getting a favorable runout now speaks to Klinsmann not Gomez. Gomez has been a great forward for years now. In fact he won the scoring title in Mexico for the 09-10 Primera Season. Bob Bradley rewarded him with a spot behind Edson Buddle, Robbie Findley and Jozy Altidore at the World Cup as the 4th choice forward.
So the thing I don’t get is in your ‘what we learned’ piece, you highlight gomez yet conclude altidore will be the starter. Conclusion didn’t follow the premise.
anytime you can see effort from a player, every play, all game, it’s a good sign. he’s not the answer to our offensive prayers, but dang, it’s good to see someone hustling up there. good for him.
Not bad for a guy who didn’t consider himself part of the team just a few months ago…