U.S. defender Omar Gonzalez: “I’m a lot more confident”

HOUSTON – So much of the talk in the January U.S. national team camp – and by extension, in tomorrow’s game at BBVA Compass Stadium – has been on Omar Gonzalez.

This is his trial run, after all, his big chance, the opportunity that Jurgen Klinsmann has been awaiting for a year now; it was about this time last year that Gonzalez left the January camp to go train abroad, only to tear up his knee on that training field in Germany.

But if the big Galaxy center back is feeling any pressure, he’s doing a masterful job of disguising it.

What he told me just a few minutes ago, following the national team’s workout under the lights at BBVA:

“None at all,” he said. “I’m not feeling any pressure. I’m doing what I love out here. You know, players make mistakes. Hopefully I won’t make a mistake tomorrow. I just plan on going out there and putting on a solid performance and that’s about it. There really is no pressure.”

You do wonder if Gonzalez would be so comfortable with things if all the hubbub were happening two years ago, the first time he got into a national team camp, then under Bob Bradley? It sounds like Gonzalez might wonder the same.

Of course, he’s been named an MLS Defender of the Year since then, and he’s helped the Galaxy win two MLS Cups. So I suppose it’s no shocker that he better equipped to handle it all.

“I do feel a lot more confident, just because of being in past January camps, and this being my fifth year professionally, and just feeling a lot more assured about who I am, about what kind of player I am, about where I stand,” he said. “I’m just a lot more confident overall.”

Personally, I can tell you that he’s a lot more confident and comfortable with the media aspects, too. Two years ago, before the Galaxy’s first MLS Cup, Gonzalez was still a little shy around the cameras and microphones. Now he pretty much glides through the interviews.