After one of Herculez Gomez's first studio shows at ESPN, veteran analyst Craig Burley had to sit the former U.S. men's national team striker down. Burley offered a key piece of advice, telling Gomez that he was still pulling his punches - and when that camera light turns on, that simply wasn't going to work.
"He pulled me aside, "Gomez recalls, "and he said, 'Look, man, if you want to do this for a living, if you want to be here for a while and be good at it, you have to be honest with yourself and be honest with our viewers. You can't be afraid to hurt someone's feelings. You have to be honest.'
"I've maintained that ever since. That's the right way of doing things and, while there may be people who think my way is negative, I've learned that you've got to be as honest as possible."
In a summer defined by a war of words between the face of the USMNT's current generation and many of the faces of the national team's old guard, Gomez has not been short on opinions. He, like Christian Pulisic, Landon Donovan and Tim Howard, has worn the USMNT shirt and knows the weight that it carries.
He also knows that it all comes with a bit of nuance - which can easily be lost in an echo-chamber of podcasts and social media chatter and outrage, some real, some just for show. That nuance may be lost, at times, but now - looking at the game, and this team, from a broader view - Gomez say it is vital.
The Gold Cup is underway, and despite the USMNT's 5-0 blowout of Trinidad and Tobago, the big picture remains the talking point. And Gomez admits all of the bluster risks a fractured USMNT fan base.
"This is highly unlikeable, what's going on right now," he said. "I don't think it's healthy at all. It seems like a big p*ssing contest to me, and I don't think fans want to see that in today's climate... You look at the Club World Cup and it seems that, despite having no local connection to those teams, some people are enjoying that. I don't know if any fan right now can enjoy anything about the USMNT."
Gomez discussed Pulisic's decision to skip the Gold Cup, the mood around the USMNT and his growing admiration for Diego Luna in the latest edition of Mic'd Up, a recurring feature in which GOAL US taps into the perspective of broadcasters, analysts, and other pundits on the state of soccer in the U.S. and abroad.
NOTE: This interview has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
