“I played in my first competitive team when I was nine. That’s when I really wanted to pursue it and just hoped to be a pro one day.”
Twelve years later, Mark Anthony Gonzalez achieved that dream.
Growing up with one Italian and one Cuban parent, there was always a good chance Gonzalez would be exposed to the beautiful game.
“My grandparents on my mother’s side, they’re born in Italy and moved to Canada, my mom was born in Toronto,” Gonzalez said. “Most of my family’s in Cuba – my dad’s the only one in Toronto – so I grew up in an Italian household.”
Mark Anthony’s father, Pedro Gonzalez, was a former member of the Cuban National Baseball Team, while his mother, Marisa Gonzalez, was a professional ballroom dancer – and a former Canadian champion. Despite those competing influences, Gonzalez was still drawn to soccer at a young age.
“I started playing when I was four, my dad coached me a couple of years.”
When he was 15, Gonzalez began playing for Ontario-based club Sigma FC alongside current SPR teammate, Johnny Grant.
“I was there for a couple of years and every year they host a summer ID camp where they invite coaches from the States and Europe just to scout kids.”
Current Sporting Kansas City Assistant Technical Director Mike Jacobs, then head soccer coach at the University of Evansville, was in attendance at that camp in Toronto, and he liked what he saw from a 17-year-old Gonzalez in 2011.
“Mike Jacobs liked me and offered me a scholarship to go there. I had a couple other offers from other schools so it was tough to choose between but I ended up going to Evansville.”
Interest from Adelphi University and Syracuse University surfaced along the way, but Gonzalez settled on his decision to attend Evansville.
“I was hoping to (play professionally). I knew Mike Jacobs had a lot of contacts – that was one of the main reasons I chose Evansville.”
That decision proved to be fruitful. After scoring 27 goals and adding six assists in four years at Evansville, he got another call from Jacobs – this time on behalf of Sporting KC. Gonzalez had just scored his seventh goal of the season in a 4-0 drubbing of Northern Kentucky.
“After my last season game, I got a call from Mike Jacobs saying how the team was offering me a contract and I hopped on that immediately.”
Gonzalez headed home to Toronto for the holidays, and arrived in Kansas City for the Rangers inaugural training session on Feb. 8. A positive preseason followed, scoring three goals in six games – including a strike against recent MLS Cup finalists, Columbus Crew SC, at the Desert Diamond Cup.
However, once the regular season began on March 26, Gonzalez found himself limited to late appearances off the bench.
“The expectations were kind of high for myself, I thought I’d come in and start off really well. But I started off the season slow and slowly progressed. It was a little bit of a shock to me, and it opened up my eyes to what this next level is.”
The 22-year-old had recorded the game-winning assist in the season opener, but earned just one start across the club’s first eight games, coming in a 1-0 defeat to OKC Energy FC on April 23.
“It was a little bit (tough to not play), but I just showed up to training every day, played with good players and good coaches and got better every day.”
The turning point came in a 1-1 draw with Sacramento Republic FC on May 28, when Gonzalez drew his second start and added his second assist of the season on Kevin Oliveira’s opening goal. He started again the following weekend against Portland Timbers 2 at Rocky Mountain High School in Boise, Idaho, scoring his first professional goal late in the 2-1 defeat.
Gonzalez started three of the remaining four games in June, scoring at least once in each start and finished the month as the USL’s leading scorer in June with five goals.
Since then, the rookie has gone from strength to strength, finishing the regular season with a team-best nine goals, and has added three in two postseason games – leading the league.
“I didn’t think I’d score this many goals,” Gonzalez said. “I knew I’d score a few but I didn’t think I’d be the leading scorer right now.”
So what are the expectations in Saturday’s Western Conference Final against Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 for a player who began the season out of the lineup and finished in the Rookie of the Year conversation?
“To win," Gonzalez said. "Bring home that Western Conference Championship in our first year.”
