Jonathan Bornstein

Jonathan Rey Bornstein (born November 7, 1984) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a left-back. He has captained and made 38 appearances for the United States national team. In addition to also playing for Chivas USA in Major League Soccer (with whom he was the 2006 MLS Rookie of the Year, an MLS Best XI, and a two-time MLS All-Star), he has played in Liga MX and in the Israeli Premier League. He won a silver medal with Team USA at the 2005 Maccabiah Games, in Israel.

Youth and college Bornstein attended Los Alamitos High School, where he played soccer for all four years. He also played club soccer for Long Beach United, Beach Soccer Club, and the Irvine Strikers club team coached by Don Ebert. He won the Golden Boot Award as he led the Strikers to the US Youth Soccer 2002 Under-17 National Championship.

He started his college soccer career at Cal Poly Pomona and played there for the Cal Poly Pomona Broncos for two years. In 2002, Bornstein was California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Freshman of the Year, first-team All-CCAA, and second-team All-Far West Region, as he led the team in scoring. 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 started every game in the season, and his total of 2,878 minutes played was third-highest in the league. He was rewarded for his fine form by winning the 2006 MLS Rookie of the Year Award. He repeated as an MLS All-Star in 2008. 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.

In 2009, he was the Chivas USA Defender of the Year (2009) and captain. In five seasons with Chivas USA (2006–10), Bornstein made 123 regular season appearances (117 starts).

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.

He played for Atlante F.C. (2013–14) and Querétaro F.C. (2014–18).

While playing in Mexico, he made 128 appearances and won the 2011–12 Liga MX championship, as well as the 2016–17 Copa MX and 2017 Supercopa MX titles. During his time with the club, Bornstein made 36 appearances with 35 starts, totaling 3,163 minutes across all competitions. In 2019, he played in 11 starts in his first season with the Fire.

International career

Bornstein has made 38 appearances for the United States national soccer team. He got his first cap, and scored his first goal on an assist from Justin Mapp, for the U.S. national team on January 20, 2007, against Denmark.

After the Confederations Cup, Bornstein eventually replaced Pearce as first-choice again and remained so for the rest of the qualifiers. He scored the equalizing 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, a game in which Bornstein captained the US side, qualified automatically for the 2010 World Cup. That goal resulted in Bornstein having 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.

Maccabiah Games

Bornstein played in the 2005 Maccabiah Games, in Israel, representing the U.S. along with Benny Feilhaber, Kevin Friedland, Matt Reiswerg, and Leo Krupnik, winning a silver medal. He scored two goals in the team's quarterfinal win over South Africa.

Personal life Bornstein was born in Torrance, California, and later lived in Los Alamitos, California. His father is Jeff Bornstein, who is Jewish and was born in Torrance into an Orthodox family, and worked for Hostess until his death in 2014. His mother is from Mexico, and is not Jewish. His father's family were Romanian Jews.

His brother Andrew played soccer at Cal Poly Pomona, and is now a marketing director.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honors UANL Mexican Primera División: Apertura 2011

Querétaro Copa MX: Apertura 2016 Supercopa MX: 2017

United States CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2007

Individual MLS Rookie of the Year: 2006 MLS Best XI: 2007 MLS All-Star: 2007, 2008 Inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame: 2008.