CARSON, Calif. – Jurgen Klinsmann says he has no problem with Jesse Gonzalez's decision to accept a Mexico Under-23 call-up rather than join the US national team's January camp in Southern California and that “the door here is always open” to him.
The 20-year-old FC Dallas goalkeeper accepted an invitation to join Klinsmann's camp of senior and U-23 national team players, which opened this week at StubHub Center and runs through the first week of February, then pulled out when he was called into Mexico's U-23 camp.
Sources have told MLSsoccer.com that Gonzalez never informed US Soccer of his change of heart and that he'd been expected to arrive in Southern California right until the roster was announced Jan. 6.
“I've been in touch with Jesse, and he said, well, you know, he got called in first by the Mexican team, the Under-23s, he feels comfortable there now,” Klinsmann said Wednesday afternoon at StubHub Center. “And I said, 'That's cool, Jesse, that's no problem at all.'
“At the end of the day, when you have that choice, make your decision that your heart is 100 percent behind it. It's all good. ... I mean, the door here is always open, and down the road you have to make a final decision anyway.”
Gonzalez, a Homegrown player who made 15 league starts for Dallas last season, inlcuding playoffs, was born in North Carolina and is eligible for the US and Mexico. He played for El Tri at last year's FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand.
Mexico has qualified for this summer's Rio de Janeiro Olympics, while the US must win a home-and-home playoff in March with Colombia to join the field.
He's not played in an official competition for Mexico's senior team and thus remains eligible for the US, although he would have to make an official switch, which could not be undone, to play for the red, white and blue.
“I think it's very, very difficult for these kids with dual citizenship,” Klinsmann said. “They're kind of torn between two sides. They would love to represent both countries, but at the end of the day, at a certain point, they have to make that one final decision, and then they have to go with it the rest of their lives.
“It's something you shouldn't pressure yourself too fast, if you have the time. ... With Jesse's situation, you're not in the roster with the Mexican senior team right now, you're not in our roster for the senior team, you're now more in the identification process, the talent pool. Why make him stress now? And then another year goes by and maybe another year, and then maybe you're ready. And then you follow your feelings. It's all good.”
