GUADALAJARA, Mexico — No one had been a bigger supporter of Jonathan Bornstein’s US national-team career than Bob Bradley.
On Friday, the World Cup veteran highlighted the positives of his former coach’s five-and-a-half years in charge of the USMNT and vowed to work hard to catch the eye of new coach Jürgen Klinsmann.
“During five years, we won a lot and we had a lot of good times,” the 26-year-old said in a press conference in Monterrey. “It’s very sad and unfortunate that this has happened. But that’s the business. We’ll see what the future of the United States holds, but the last five years were good.”
Bornstein played 38 times for the US under Bradley, who also originally drafted the Southern Californian into MLS in 2006 during his first year in charge of Chivas USA. Bradley stuck by his charge through his entire tenure at the helm of the national team, even as the criticism of both grew louder.
The duo came under their fiercest criticism following last month’s Gold Cup final, when a rusty Bornstein came on as a substitute and the US leaked four goals to Mexico. Many blamed Bornstein for the goals and Bradley for picking a player who had made just seven appearances in the previous six months for club side Tigres UANL.
Bornstein said he will wait and see whether new coach Klinsmann will call him up and added that he will work hard to try and remain in the squad.
“With a new coach, there are always new players because they have players they like,” said Bornstein. “For me, it's a new beginning and you have to work even harder to demonstrate your abilities to a new coach.”
The left back’s first challenge is to win a place in an extremely competitive Tigres side. He didn’t play in the team’s opening game against Cruz Azul last weekend and only featured sporadically in preseason matches.
Tom Marshall can be reached at tom.marshall.mex@gmail.com or via Twitter: @mexicoworldcup
