Omar
Gonzalez

Few U.S. Men's National Team players have lifted as much hardware as Gonzalez. The towering center back wrapped up a fine collegiate career at Maryland by winning the 2008 NCAA College Cup. Upon entering MLS with the LA Galaxy the following season, Gonzalez earned the league's Rookie of the Year award in 2009, before claiming two Supporters Shields (2010, 2011) and three MLS Cups (2011, 2012 and 2014), to go along with four MLS Best XI selections (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014) as well as his MLS Defender of the Year honor in 2011.

Signing with Liga MX side Pachuca in late 2015, Gonzalez found instant success by helping Tuzos to the Clausura 2016 title. Almost a year later, he helped Pachuca to the 2016-17 Concacaf Champions League crown, becoming the first U.S. player to win MLS Cup, Liga MX and the top honor for clubs in the region.

On the National Team front, Gonzalez has contributed to the USA's last two Concacaf Gold Cup titles in 2013 and 2017 and was named to the tournament Best XI in the most recent edition.

Growing up in a Mexican-American family in Dallas, Omar's parents worked hard in order to provide a good life for he and his three siblings. His father Adrian put in long hours driving a dump truck that hauled gravel and concrete to construction sites around Dallas. And when she wasn't driving Omar and his siblings to practices and games, his mother Maria worked multiple jobs before becoming a bilingual teaching assistant in an elementary school.

The support for their kids paid off, and Omar found a way to give back to his folks for all they invested in their children. Returning to Texas for a Concacaf Champions League match against FC Dallas in 2016, Gonzalez told reporters that he had bought their house, saying, "I think every kid dreams of taking care of their parents one day, right? ... So I'm very proud and happy that I was able to do that for them."

Born in 1988, it took about six years for young Omar to figure out his career path. While his mother served as a volunteer for the 1994 FIFA World Cup games at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, a call came out for area youths to hold various flags for the pre-match pageantry and she signed up her four kids. Serving in that role for the quarterfinal match between Brazil and Netherlands, Gonzalez looked on in awe of famed striker Bebeto as he celebrated one of his two goals that day with the famous "Rock the Baby" arm movement. Soon after he would tell Maria he wanted to become a professional soccer player. Thanks, Bebeto.

A striking figure, Gonzalez almost always has a height advantage over any player he lines up against. At 6-5, he is the tallest field player on record to represent the U.S. Men's National Team and second tallest all-time. Gonzalez is tied with two-time U.S. World Cup selection and goalkeeper Juergen Sommer for that distinction, with the duo trailing another goalkeeper, Ian Feuer who stood at 6-6 in his lone MNT cap, a 3-1 defeat to Morocco on March 18, 1992 in Casablanca.