Jonathan Bornstein


Jonathan Rey Bornstein is an American soccer player who plays for Chicago Fire in Major League Soccer. He has played for the United States national team.

Youth and college

Bornstein attended Los Alamitos High School, where he played soccer for all four years, and played club soccer for Long Beach United, Beach Soccer Club, and the Irvine Strikers coached by Don Ebert. He started his college soccer career at Cal Poly Pomona and played there for two years before transferring to UCLA for the 2004 season. Bornstein has been a teammate of Benny Feilhaber at youth, college, and national team level.

Club career

Major League Soccer

Bornstein was taken by Chivas USA in the fourth round at the 2006 MLS SuperDraft. A forward in college, he was converted to a left back by Chivas coach Bob Bradley and was his team's surprising starter at the position when the season opened. Injuries and suspensions forced Bornstein back into an attacking role for Chivas USA's June 3 match against FC Dallas, where the rookie scored his first MLS goal. He continued his fine play in the back and also contributed to the attack during the rest of the season, finishing the year with four assists and six goals, leading all rookies. He was rewarded for his fine form by winning the 2006 MLS Rookie of the Year Award.
In 2008, Bornstein suffered a knee injury that affected him throughout the spring. When he came back, Chivas coach Preki began to employ him in an attacking capacity, which Bornstein trained for in his youth. In summer 2008, Israeli club Maccabi Tel-Aviv was reportedly interested in Bornstein. News stories claimed that the offer involved a transfer fee of $750,000 and would increase the player's salary five-fold, to around $500,000 a season. Bornstein was apparently unenthusiastic, fearing that such a move could cost him his place in the U.S. national team.

Liga MX

In July 2010, it was announced by Chivas USA that Bornstein would be joining Tigres de la UANL in the Primera División de México in 2011, following the conclusion of the 2010 Major League Soccer season.
Bornstein was selected by Portland Timbers in the 2010 MLS Expansion Draft. In doing so, Portland retained his MLS rights should he ever return to the league. On February 13, 2013, Portland traded Bornstein's MLS rights back to Chivas USA with allocation money for midfielder Ben Zemanski.
Bornstein was transfer listed by Tigres on November 19, 2012.
On May 24, 2015, Bornstein scored the goal that sent Querétaro F.C. to their first ever Liga MX final.
Then, on June 10, 2015, it was announced that Bornstain had signed for Querétaro on a permanent basis.

International career

Bornstein got his first cap, and first goal on an assist from Justin Mapp, for the U.S. national team on January 20, 2007 against Denmark. As 2007 continued, Bornstein became the first choice left back for Bob Bradley. He played for the U.S. in Copa América 2007. He received his first World Cup Qualifying appearance in a start against Guatemala in the semifinal round of World Cup Qualifying.
In 2008, Bornstein lost his starting place to Heath Pearce and also struggled with injuries. He started the group stage matches at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup but was relegated back to the bench when Carlos Bocanegra returned from injury.
After the Confederations Cup, Bornstein eventually replaced Pearce as first-choice again and remained so for the rest of the qualifiers. He scored the equalising goal in the United States' final World Cup qualifier against Costa Rica in the fifth minute of injury time. The goal meant that Honduras, when combined with their win over El Salvador, qualified automatically for the 2010 World Cup. That goal caused Bornstein to have a level of celebrity in Honduras, he was invited to Honduras by the President of the country and he received letters of thanks for years afterwards.
After sitting out the first two group-stage games for the United States in the 2010 World Cup, Bornstein started at left back against Algeria in the final group game and against Ghana in the round of 16.
Bornstein was never recalled to the squad by Bradley's successor, Jürgen Klinsmann, by Klinsmann's successor, Bruce Arena, or by Arena's successor, interim manager, Dave Sarachan.

Personal life

Bornstein was born to a Jewish father and a Mexican Catholic mother. Bornstein is a Christian, and he was baptized while in Mexico.
He told ESPN, "Just experiencing both cultures, sometimes I felt like I didn't know where I belonged. It's still a soul-searching kind of thing, trying to figure out exactly where you come from or which heritage you relate to. I still kind of feel lost even to this day, but it's something that I just deal with, and it makes me a stronger person having both of those heritages."
Bornstein played in the 2005 Maccabiah Games, in Israel, representing the U.S. along with Benny Feilhaber and Leo Krupnik, which won silver. His father's Jewish ancestors came from Romania. Because of his Jewish lineage, he has an opportunity to play in Israel and not count as a foreign player.

Career statistics

Club

International

National teamYearAppsGoals
United States---
United States2007121
United States200810
United States2009131
United States2010100
United States201120
United StatesTotal382

International goals

Honors

Club

UANL
Querétaro
United States