CARSON, Calif. – Omar Gonzalez's focus at the moment is on the LA Galaxy and their preparations for an MLS Cup title defense, so he's not on top of everything going on with the US national team, which is training on the other side of the stadium at StubHub Center.
He begged out of the annual January camp to replenish his body before returning to the field when LA began preseason work Jan. 23, and he fully expects to be back with Jurgen Klinsmann and Co., as the US work toward this summer's CONCACAF Gold Cup and the start of their 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign in November.
“[Klinsmann] seemed very accepting [of me missing this camp] in the beginning, but I can't worry about that,” Gonzalez said following the Galaxy's training session Thursday morning. “I've got to worry about how I approach my preseason. I approach getting ready for the first game [March 6 at home against Chicago], and when the season rolls around, I've got to be sharp, I've got to be consistent, and if I do that, then I'm pretty sure I'll be back into another camp.”
Klinsmann said last month he had no problem with Gonzalez skipping camp and friendlies last week in Chile, a 3-2 loss, and Sunday at StubHub against Panama.
“He was very understanding,” Gonzalez said during MLS media day in Southern California a couple of weeks ago. “Jurgen has always said he wants guys playing 11 months out of the year, 10 months out of the year. If you look at it, I did last year's January camp, got back from the World Cup and was thrown back into league play, and ended up playing until Dec. 7 [in the Galaxy's MLS Cup triumph over New England]. If you think about it, that's a long season – that's the longest season I've had yet, and your body can take a beating with playing that much.
“He was very understanding of that fact, and one of the examples I said was, 'Look, Jermaine [Jones] got to come back and hang out for a month after the World Cup to try and figure out his club, so he also played a very long year, making it to the final [with the Revolution], but he got that little break in the middle of the season.' So I said maybe I could get my break now in the offseason.”
Where it leaves Gonzalez in the pecking order at center back, especially with Jones transitioning from central midfield, doesn't concern the 6-foot-5 Texan a whole lot.
“My job isn't to start thinking about where my pecking order is,” he said. “My job is to recognize that I missed this January camp to take care of myself and get a good preseason in, look to start the season off well, and just focus on being there for my teammates at the Galaxy, focus on help leading the team to good wins, making sure we're getting results.
“And if I'm doing that, I'm sure I'll get a call-up for the Gold Cup, which is one of my goals this year, to be on that team, to help the team win. ... I hope that I'm still a starter, so we'll see.”
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Gonzalez said Thursday that fitness with the national team, which Klinsmann criticized following the Chile defeat, was not an issue, but that playing in a three-man backline, with which Klinsmann has experimented during the current camp and used in the first half in Chile, is “not easy, but we have talent on the team to get it done.”
He has little experience in a three-man backline, just in the first half of the Galaxy draw at Montreal last December.
“And that didn't end very well,” he said. “And then we switched to a four-back.”
After the switch, the Galaxy rallied for a 2-2 draw.
“If I'm called into another [US] camp,” he said, “maybe I'll be in the mix, too, and I'll see what it's all about.”
