Jonathan Gonzalez's switch from the United States national team to Mexico won't be the last between the two countries, according to the Mexican federation (FMF) director of national teams Dennis te Kloese.
Te Kloese has overseen the structuring of Mexico's youth national team program and was instrumental in negotiating former U.S. youth international Gonzalez's move to El Tri.
But he doesn't necessarily see the 18-year-old's decision as one that will necessarily alter the course of the fight for dual U.S.-Mexico nationals over the longer-term.
"Due to the fact there is so much talent of Mexican descent in the United States that can represent both Mexico and the United States, the case of Jonathan will not be the last," stated Te Kloese in an interview with ESPN FC on Wednesday. "It's not only on the men's side, it's also the women's side.
"It's just a different situation. There's probably not a country in the world where so many people from one nationality live in a neighboring country."
Te Kloese pointed out that goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez was an important player for Mexico youth national teams, before he decided last summer to play for the United States and file the same one-time switch with FIFA as Jonathan Gonzalez has this month.
"I understand that there are sometimes disputes for players, but it is both ways," said Te Kloese. "It's not like a win-win situation always. Our policy has been to leave it up to the players and their families to choose.
"In the end, it's their decision and they need to be 100 percent convinced of the opportunity to play for us. Obviously the standard is high to be part of our program."
Te Kloese stressed that the FMF has a scouting network set up in the United States to keep track of dual-national players and that it must "continue to be on top of things" north of the border.
Jonathan Gonzalez signed with Monterrey in 2013 after starring at the Sueno Alianza, a talent search designed to scout Latino players in the U.S., and that program's co-founder says U.S. Soccer only has itself to blame for losing the allegiance of the midfielder, who was "bleeding red, white and blue" when he left the country at 14.
"If anybody at U.S. Soccer thinks they did enough to keep Jonathan, then they should resign before the new federation president fires them," Brad Rothenberg told Soccer America. "Our federation lost Jonathan either by its own arrogance, apathy or incompetence. You pick it. We screwed up and I'm angry about it.
"I've grown tired of watching our federation neglect this [Latino] community. We didn't do enough, not nearly enough, to keep him. And the worst part is that it will continue if wholesale changes aren't made in the approach to finding talent in this community."
Rothenberg also said Te Kloese and Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio showed Gonzalez "attention on a personal level that far exceeded the efforts" of the U.S., and accused U.S. Soccer of having a "narrow mindset" in scouting Latino talent in general.