The 25-year-old Dallas native began forward of Geoff Cameron within the U.S. nationwide crew’s 1-0 loss to Germany to shut out Group G play. Regardless of the end result, the six-foot-five defender performed brilliantly.
BY
John Godfrey
Posted
June 26, 2014
5:50 PM
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RECIFE, Brazil—Twelve months in the past, Omar Gonzalez was a first-team, sure-thing, no-doubt-about-it beginning central defender for the US males’s soccer crew.
The Dallas native moved into the position in February 2013, beating out then-captain Carlos Bocanegra for a beginning spot in opposition to Honduras in San Pedro Sula. However a humorous factor occurred on the best way to Brazil: Gonzalez misplaced his beginning job.
OK, perhaps it wasn’t so humorous. A sequence of in-game gaffes throughout a number of video games, mixed with Geoff Cameron’s rise to prominence with Stoke Metropolis of the English Premier League, led nationwide crew coach Jurgen Klinsmann to choose Cameron over Gonzalez within the warmup video games forward of the 2014 World Cup. Cameron additionally began forward of Gonzalez within the first two matches in Group G.
Towards Portugal in Manaus, nonetheless, Cameron struggled badly: His whiffed clearance led to an early Portugal purpose, and former Houston Dynamo star by no means obtained into the rhythm of the match.
Maybe due to Cameron’s miscues, Gonzalez obtained his likelihood to begin in opposition to Germany on Thursday—and he completely killed it.
The People could have misplaced, 1-0, however the protection appeared stable, and Klinsmann will likely be hard-pressed to depart Gonzalez out of the lineup for the crew’s spherical of 16 match in opposition to Belgium on Tuesday.
“I thought Omar had a fantastic game—especially in the first half,” Matt Besler mentioned. “With the three or four clearances he made, it was really big for us.”
Certainly it was. Gonzalez, a former standout on the College of Maryland, and Main League Soccer’s Defender of the 12 months in 2011, made a number of sliding tackles to thwart golden probabilities for Germany, and he headed away a number of crosses as properly.
“My first 90 minutes in a World Cup—there were a lot of emotions,” Gonzalez mentioned after the Germany match. He had come on in stoppage time in opposition to Portugal, however did not have an opportunity to do a lot in that contest. “A lot of things going through my head.”
I simply wished to take it one play at a time and simply transfer on from there,” he said. “I used to be simply specializing in doing my job and serving to my crew win.”
Within the opening moments of the match, catastrophe practically struck for each Gonzalez and the U.S. nationwide crew. Mesut Ozil despatched in a cross from the proper flank and….
“The one that went through my legs?” Gonzalez mentioned in response to a reporter’s query. “I am not going to be good. Nobody’s comfy out on that discipline. It is the best way that I’ve obtained to handle with being uncomfortable.
“After that little hiccup I think all of my clearances were pretty good.”
Higher than fairly good, really. After that early play, Gonzalez was just about flawless. It was an excellent time to play his finest recreation for the U.S. nationwide crew.
“I felt like I was pretty solid today,” Gonzalez mentioned. “I did my job. I have not been getting a lot of a glance because the starting of camp due to my little harm. However I’ve all the time mentioned I used to be going to remain prepared. I obtained my alternative at present and I am simply comfortable that I might step on the sphere and do no matter I might to assist this crew undergo.
“We kept Germany to 1-0. We were very well organized today. They didn’t get it behind us. Looking toward the next game we want to be able to keep the ball a little bit more.”
When Besler needed to be subbed off in opposition to Ghana within the first recreation of the match, many pundits have been shocked that Klinsmann changed him with John Brooks as a substitute of Gonzalez. There have been loads of whispers that Gonzalez had performed himself out of the rotation, however Thursday Klinsmann confirmed that wasn’t the case.
“We wanted to give Cam a break,” the coach mentioned after the match. “We don’t have the luxury to say that every player can go every four days at the highest level, so we thought two or three subs” would possibly assist us.
“Having Omar are available in and getting his recreation, kickstarting his match now, that is crucial.
“He was ready. He has worked so hard the past six weeks. He was ready for it and he showed that on the field.”
And Besler did not thoughts one bit.
“First of all, it wasn’t difficult at all,” the Sporting Kansas Metropolis star mentioned, referring to the changes he needed to make with a brand new protection companion. “Me and Omar have fairly a little bit of expertise collectively. We’re extraordinarily comfy enjoying within the again collectively. Our communication is nice.
“So there wasn’t too much of an adjustment for me.”
Besler felt good, Gonzalez performed nice, and regardless of Thomas Muller’s Fifty fifth-minute strike, the protection appeared very sturdy in opposition to a robust opponent.
As the sport wound down, Germany stored urgent ahead, however the protection stood sturdy. After which all people, even the gamers, began specializing in the Ghana-Portugal rating.
“We didn’t really have much of an idea about what was going on in the other game,” Gonzalez mentioned. “Then with about 10 minutes left Tim Howard got here up and mentioned the rating—I don’t know how he obtained that data.
“I wasn’t too worried about the other match. We came into this game wanting to win this game, but when we went down 1-0 we wanted to tie it up. And if we couldn’t tie it up we wanted to keep it 1-0 because we knew that was our best chance of getting through.”
And get via they did, despite the fact that the crew did so in weird, anticlimactic trend.
“I was saying in the locker room,” Gonzalez mentioned, “final recreation’s draw felt like a loss; at present’s loss felt like a win. So it is fairly bizarre. However hey, our mission from the very starting was to get to the following spherical, and job properly accomplished.
“Everyone in there is very happy,” he added, nodding towards a players-only space. “There have been some photos taken. Smiles in every single place.
“Now we have to fly back to Sao Paolo and start focusing on our next game.”
Additionally on Gonzalez’ to-do record: discovering his mom, father, and spouse, who couldn’t get to the stadium to observe him play as a consequence of huge flooding in Recife.
“I’m still not sure where they watched it,” he mentioned with fun. “I believe they have been streaming it on their telephones. They have been all huddled round a few telephones.
“But now we’ve given them another game to go to.”
John Godfrey is the founder and editor in chief of American Soccer Now, and he’d love to listen to your ideas about Omar Gonzalez’s efficiency. Would you wish to see him begin within the spherical of 16? Inform us beneath.
