Omar Gonzalez represents 'new America' on national team
GLENDALE, Ariz. — For Omar Gonzalez, life will come full circle in June when he plays in his first World Cup in Brazil. Twenty years ago, Gonzalez was on the field when the United States hosted the World Cup.
With games in Dallas, Gonzalez's mother, Maria, volunteered at the Cotton Bowl, and her four children participated in the on-field pregame festivities. Omar, then 5, loved every minute. He mimicked Bebeto's famous rocking baby celebration after goals as Brazil went on to win the trophy and told his mother he wanted to be a professional soccer player.
In the 20 years since, the game has grown in the USA in significant ways, with few exceptions. Despite the millions of soccer-playing Hispanics in a country with 33.7 million of Mexican origin, there hasn't been a Mexican-American star. Perhaps until now.
Six Mexican-Americans, all born and raised in the USA, are contending for spots on the 23-player roster for Brazil. Of those six, Gonzalez is the only one who will be on the field Wednesday when the U.S. team plays Mexico in an exhibition. He's also the only player among the group who's a lock for the final roster.
Standing 6-5 in the center of the defense, Gonzalez is hard to miss. The son of Mexican immigrants rose through the national team youth system, won a national title at Maryland and two championships with the Los Angeles Galaxy. This summer, the 25-year-old will be on the U.S. backline for the World Cup.
"We'll take our stars from anywhere we can get them," U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati says. "But since we do have such a large Hispanic community that's dominated by the Mexican-American community, it's terrific that we've been able to find players in an ethnic community that loves the game, plays the game and is knowledgeable about the game."
Five other Mexican-American players — Herculez Gomez, Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona, Michael Orozco and Jose Torres — play in the Mexican league. Gomez, Castillo and Corona were not available Wednesday because their team, Tijuana, is in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals. Orozco was selected for the U.S. roster, but his club, Puebla, refused to release him in a bit of last-minute gamesmanship that rankled U.S. officials. Torres was not picked for the roster.
Over the years, there have been various explanations for the dearth of Hispanic players on national team rosters, ranging from the system itself — too structured, too Eurocentric, too focused on college soccer — to a youth soccer club system that is too expensive.
Gulati credits the U.S. Soccer Development Academy and the youth academies of Major League Soccer teams for the improvement. "We are able to see players that otherwise may not be identified, especially in urban environments," he says. "Our player identification process has gotten better. The fact that the league does so much of that now certainly improves the ability of national team coaches to find and assess and develop those players."
If Gonzalez has an impressive World Cup, European suitors likely will follow. "If I were to go in Europe it would have to be with one of the top teams in a starting spot," he says.
With star players Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley returning to play in MLS, the league would like nothing better than for Gonzalez to stay put.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber says Gonzalez connects to the young fan base that grew up playing the game as well as the Hispanic market. "Omar represents the new America," Garber says. "Then you layer on that he's the ultimate millennial. He's 25, he's bicultural, he's a foodie, he's a fashion guy. He's the perfect representation of the MLS fan."
Gonzalez might represent what American soccer has been searching for — a homegrown star, a hyphenated American in a diverse country — but he's also very much the typical American twentysomething.
A dream come true
Raised in the largely Hispanic Oak Cliff section of Dallas, Gonzalez developed his skills through the same elite club, the Dallas Texans, as Dempsey. Gonzalez grew up in a family of athletes. The four children of Adrian, a truck driver, and Maria, a preschool teacher, all played sports in college. Gonzalez's brother played football — the oblong kind — at Louisiana Tech. His sisters played volleyball.
"We're not rich, so the only way our children were going to go through college was through sports," Maria Gonzalez says.
For Adrian and Maria, who immigrated when they were teens and met in Dallas while playing volleyball in a park, seeing a son in a U.S. jersey stirs the most patriotic of emotions.
"When you hear the national anthem, my goodness, and to see Omar there, my dream has come through to him," his mother says. "I always cry. It's a beautiful thing. We're blessed."
When the U.S. team meets rival Mexico, there will be no divided loyalties for the Gonzalez family. "Love comes first," Maria says.
Still, for family members in Mexico, there's a tug of allegiances. "My cousins and uncles that live in Mexico, they want me to do well personally but they still want Mexico to win. It's a pretty funny dynamic," Gonzalez says. "They want me to do well, but I want them to switch over."
Those same family members surely felt elation and disappointment last March, when Gonzalez shined in a World Cup qualifying game against Mexico in his third national team start. For the second time in the team's qualifying history, the USA earned a point at famed Estadio Azteca with a 0-0 draw.
There have been hiccups along the way, as is the case with any young player, but the thinking was this: If Gonzalez could have this kind of performance in the Azteca, he can do it anywhere. However, the stakes, and competition, will be far greater in Brazil.
The Americans open the World Cup against Ghana on June 16, play Portugal six days later and close the group stage vs. Germany on June 26. Gonzalez will face two of the world's top attacking stars in Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo and Germany's Mesut Ozil.
"It will be a real challenge for him as it will be for the entire U.S. team," says Galaxy coach Bruce Arena, the former longtime national team coach. "Certainly it won't just be Omar's responsibility. But they're in a group that's certainly going to test the backline of the U.S., that's for sure. Omar will likely be in the middle of that whole thing."
Going for it
Those who know Gonzalez best, such as former Maryland teammate and fellow Galaxy defender, A.J. DeLaGarza, call him goofy and spontaneous. See the clip of him crushing a bottle of beer in record time after the Americans beat Mexico to clinch a trip to Brazil.
Check his Twitter feed and there's a wedding photo. Last Wednesday, Gonzalez married his girlfriend, Erica, which took some teammates by surprise since they were only engaged a few weeks ago. His explanation for the midweek nuptials? The Galaxy didn't have a game, so he asked Arena for a day off. "That was a first," Arena says. He has excused players from practice for plenty of reasons, but never a wedding.
After the ceremony at City Hall in Los Angeles, the couple ate lunch with family and friends. Then the newlyweds went to see a John Legend concert. "It was a great show," Gonzalez says. He was back at practice the next day.
Last Thanksgiving, he became an Instagram star with a parody of the 2011 viral video of a shirtless man, dubbed the sexy sax man, playing George Michael's Careless Whisper on a saxophone in odd places.
In his version, with a mountainous backdrop, Gonzalez stripped down to his underwear and black dress socks and played the sax, an instrument he hadn't picked up since seventh grade. "I just went for it," he says.
Given the bar has been set so high, Gonzalez isn't sure what he can do to possibly top his remake. "It has to come organically. I'm not going to force it," he says.
His close friend has a suggestion. "How do you top that? Win a World Cup. That might be the only way to top that," DeLaGarza says with a laugh.
