MLS SuperDraft
Alex Bono Talks Klinsmann, Call-Up, and the MLS Draft
The Syracuse goalkeeper's whirlwind week was capped off by a surprise call from U.S. national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann, who invited the Hermann Trophy finalist to join January's training camp.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.—His first thought was that one of his buddies was playing an elaborate prank.
Alex Bono was in transit when his phone rang and showed an unfamiliar number: "I had just gotten off the airplane in St. Louis and was headed to the Missouri Athletic Club shuttle and I was like, ‘Who the hell do I know in Orange County, California?’ I answered the phone and he says ‘Alex, it’s Jurgen Klinsmann.’”
And that’s when Bono, who signed a Generation Adidas deal with Major League Soccer after three outstanding seasons as the goalkeeper at Syracuse, started looking for the hidden cameras.
“At first I said, ‘Stop, you’re pulling my leg. You’re messing with me, right?’ But he said, ‘No, this is actually Jurgen.’ I still didn’t believe him until he started talking in detail about the camp. Then I started shaking. It was something unlike anything I experienced before.
"It was that cool.”
Klinsmann, of course, was calling Bono to invite him to the U.S. national team’s January camp. He was named as a last-minute replacement for D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid. The reigning MLS goalkeeper of the year was dropped late because of lingering shoulder injury. Then Klinsmann told Bono: "I talked to ‘keeper coaches around the country and to people I trust, and your name kept popping up.”
That’s likely because of his excellent junior year that saw Bono allow just one goal in the first 10 games of the season, finish among the national leaders in goals-against-average and save-percentage, and be named both a consensus first team All-American and a finalist for the Hermann Trophy.
The trophy was awarded Friday night in St. Louis, which is why Bono was there when Klinsmann called. It went to UCLA midfielder Leo Stolz but after getting invited to the national team camp, Bono wasn’t about to sulk.
“The Hermann would be nice but not many players get called into the national team camp these days based on their college careers,” Bono told American Soccer Now from the Detroit airport, where he was catching a connecting flight back to Syracuse. “So that’s an honor in itself. I’ll take this one with no complaints.”
Part of what makes this call-up both so gratifying and unexpected for Bono is that he was overlooked repeatedly for various U.S. youth national teams. He was never selected for the U-20 team when he was age-eligible and had never previously been called up for the U-23 team.
“It was frustrating at times to not get called to the youth national teams, but that all goes away now,” Bono said. “Kinda makes it all better that it’s the big guy that called me, the guy at the head of the table.”
Bono is one of 11 players in this camp who is age-eligible for the U-23 national team camp and the 2016 Olympics, including Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jon Kempin who, like Bono, wasn’t picked for last year’s U-20 World Cup roster. The starter there was Cody Cropper of Southampton. Steffen and fellow U-20 goalkeeper Ethan Horvath of Molde will be among the goalkeepers competing for one of two spots on the U.S. qualifying roster next year and potentially a spot on the Olympics.
“This is a great opportunity but all it does is put me in the pool of players they’re looking at,” Bono said. “Nothing is guaranteed and obviously there’s a fair amount of work to be done to be on that roster. I'm not looking at that as something I have already earned. I have to continue to put in the work that got me to where I am now.”
That body of work made Bono the top goalkeeper in college soccer last year and was a big reason he was signed by MLS and most likely be the first goalkeeper selected in Wednesday’s draft. His original plan was to come here for the MLS combine yesterday morning after the Hermann ceremony. Instead, he flew home to Syracuse and left this morning for Los Angeles.
“It’s been a crazy few days,” he said. “I signed Wednesday night. I packed for Florida and St. Louis and then I got the call from Jurgen and now instead of going to Florida I’m going home and then to Los Angeles. My head is spinning.”
Despite the good fortune that has come his way, Bono admits some small amount of regret at missing the combine. “It’s a little disappointing to miss out, but national team duty takes precedent and I’m hoping (the national team call-up) elevates my draft stock,” he said. “But I was looking forward to getting to know the scouts and coaches and GMs in person and going through the interview process.”
His call-up also means he won’t be in Philadelphia on Thursday for the draft. “That’s a no-go,” he said. “I used to watch it on TV and see players I knew or had played against and think, ‘That will be cool someday if it’s me walking up there and shaking the commissioner’s hand.’ But I guess unless we‘re training at the same time I’ll be watching that on TT, too—which will be a little weird.”
The scuttlebutt here at the combine is that several teams are very interested in Bono, including Portland, Seattle, D.C. United, Montreal, and New England. However, rumors flow here like draft beer at the hotel lobby bar, and draft statuses are just as fluid. So where Bono begins his career is still a huge question mark.
“I’d love to have an answer and know now but I can’t control that,” he said. “All I know is where I will be next week and that’s Los Angeles with the national team.”
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.
Klinsmann, of course, was calling Bono to invite him to the U.S. national team’s January camp. He was named as a last-minute replacement for D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid. The reigning MLS goalkeeper of the year was dropped late because of lingering shoulder injury. Then Klinsmann told Bono: "I talked to ‘keeper coaches around the country and to people I trust, and your name kept popping up.”
That’s likely because of his excellent junior year that saw Bono allow just one goal in the first 10 games of the season, finish among the national leaders in goals-against-average and save-percentage, and be named both a consensus first team All-American and a finalist for the Hermann Trophy.
The trophy was awarded Friday night in St. Louis, which is why Bono was there when Klinsmann called. It went to UCLA midfielder Leo Stolz but after getting invited to the national team camp, Bono wasn’t about to sulk.
“The Hermann would be nice but not many players get called into the national team camp these days based on their college careers,” Bono told American Soccer Now from the Detroit airport, where he was catching a connecting flight back to Syracuse. “So that’s an honor in itself. I’ll take this one with no complaints.”
Part of what makes this call-up both so gratifying and unexpected for Bono is that he was overlooked repeatedly for various U.S. youth national teams. He was never selected for the U-20 team when he was age-eligible and had never previously been called up for the U-23 team.
“It was frustrating at times to not get called to the youth national teams, but that all goes away now,” Bono said. “Kinda makes it all better that it’s the big guy that called me, the guy at the head of the table.”
Bono is one of 11 players in this camp who is age-eligible for the U-23 national team camp and the 2016 Olympics, including Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jon Kempin who, like Bono, wasn’t picked for last year’s U-20 World Cup roster. The starter there was Cody Cropper of Southampton. Steffen and fellow U-20 goalkeeper Ethan Horvath of Molde will be among the goalkeepers competing for one of two spots on the U.S. qualifying roster next year and potentially a spot on the Olympics.
“This is a great opportunity but all it does is put me in the pool of players they’re looking at,” Bono said. “Nothing is guaranteed and obviously there’s a fair amount of work to be done to be on that roster. I'm not looking at that as something I have already earned. I have to continue to put in the work that got me to where I am now.”
That body of work made Bono the top goalkeeper in college soccer last year and was a big reason he was signed by MLS and most likely be the first goalkeeper selected in Wednesday’s draft. His original plan was to come here for the MLS combine yesterday morning after the Hermann ceremony. Instead, he flew home to Syracuse and left this morning for Los Angeles.
“It’s been a crazy few days,” he said. “I signed Wednesday night. I packed for Florida and St. Louis and then I got the call from Jurgen and now instead of going to Florida I’m going home and then to Los Angeles. My head is spinning.”
Despite the good fortune that has come his way, Bono admits some small amount of regret at missing the combine. “It’s a little disappointing to miss out, but national team duty takes precedent and I’m hoping (the national team call-up) elevates my draft stock,” he said. “But I was looking forward to getting to know the scouts and coaches and GMs in person and going through the interview process.”
His call-up also means he won’t be in Philadelphia on Thursday for the draft. “That’s a no-go,” he said. “I used to watch it on TV and see players I knew or had played against and think, ‘That will be cool someday if it’s me walking up there and shaking the commissioner’s hand.’ But I guess unless we‘re training at the same time I’ll be watching that on TT, too—which will be a little weird.”
The scuttlebutt here at the combine is that several teams are very interested in Bono, including Portland, Seattle, D.C. United, Montreal, and New England. However, rumors flow here like draft beer at the hotel lobby bar, and draft statuses are just as fluid. So where Bono begins his career is still a huge question mark.
“I’d love to have an answer and know now but I can’t control that,” he said. “All I know is where I will be next week and that’s Los Angeles with the national team.”
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.
