Written by Martin Rogers at USA Today.com
There is a game the goalkeepers and coaches of FC Dallas play at the end of practice, designed to sharpen the mind and speed the hands. A tight circle forms and each participant must parry the ball as it flies toward them one hand before deflecting it to a teammate with the other.
Mesmerizing to watch and apparently enjoyable to play judging by the whoops of laughter on a recent weekday morning, it gives the illusion of a multi-performer juggling act.
Jesse Gonzalez, a tall, handsome 22-year-old who might have been the United States’ goalkeeper of the future, is remarkably good at the training routine, but that shouldn’t be much of a surprise.
Gonzalez is used to juggling something far weightier — the soccer soul of two nations.
“His heart,” said Gonzalez’s childhood friend and now Dallas teammate Victor Ulloa, “was torn in two.”
Gonzalez was born in North Carolina, grew up in Houston and then the greater Dallas area and came through the American youth system before landing in Major League Soccer. Yet he recently made it clear that the object of his desire when it comes to international representation is Mexico, birthplace of his parents Jose Luis Gonzalez and Evelia Gudina.
FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja, a meticulous Colombian soccer guru whose own playing career flashed with intricate skill and delicate control, has became a sounding board for Gonzalez over recent months.
“It was a difficult decision for him,” Pareja said. “He had his whole family, his roots, all his past, belong to a country, (That) means a lot, but at the same time (he has) been growing in America.
“We spoke a few times about it and when it came to a decision he (had) to choose. My suggestion to him was to let the heart guide – and that’s not going to be a mistake.”
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