KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The way Roger Espinoza saw it, he could either disappoint his country by turning down a CONCACAF Gold Cup call-up – or disappoint himself by taking the call when he isn't at 100 percent.
Sporting Kansas City's Honduran midfielder chose the former option.
“It's really tough,” Espinoza told MLSsoccer.com on Friday, after Sporting trained ahead of Sunday's away date with Real Salt Lake (9 pm CT; Fox Sports 1). “It's a tough decision, but sometimes you have to make those decisions. Some people will criticize you. Some people will take it in a different way, a good way. But it's a decision I made. Being over there is different than playing club.”
Espinoza, a veteran of two World Cups and the 2012 Olympics with Los Catrachos, is in his second stint with Sporting after spending two years with English side Wigan Athletic – where he helped the Latics win the 2013 FA Cup but then fell out of favor and battled injury after the club was relegated from the Premiership at the end of the 2012-13 season.
“I don't feel 100 percent physically, mentally,” he said. “The past few years have drained me, for sure. I had surgery in 2014 – hernia surgery in April, right before I had to go to the World Cup. Being able to play in the World Cup and then come back with no vacation straight to preseason in England, and then not being able to play all the games in England, I think that's taken a toll on me.
“So I felt like if I'm not going to be 100 percent on the national team, I'd be lying to myself, my teammates in Honduras – the whole country, basically.”
Later on Friday, during the club's weekly news conference, manager Peter Vermes said Espinoza made the right call – and that the decision was his alone.
“Now, I'm not in those discussions because it's not me telling him to do that, and I'm not in those discussions with Honduras, either,” Vermes said. “But at least the way that I understand it, I think it's a very mature decision on his part, and I also think it's – I appreciate very much Honduras understanding that aspect. Because there's not too many times a player says, 'I don't want to go because I don't think that I'm ready.'
“Most guys will take that chance. They'll just go because they're afraid they're never going to get invited again. I hope that they understand it that way, which I think they do.”
Honduras manager Jorge Luis Pinto didn't take the decision well in the early going, though, Espinoza said.
“He warned me that someone else might take the spot later on,” he said. “I'm in no disagreement with that. I agree with him. It's true. There's a lot of good players on Honduras. But I've got to take care of myself. Right before I told him that I was not going to be able to go, I got injured here. So I know physically how I feel.
“I need to get better here. I think in the defensive part, I'm OK there. I just think with the ball, in transition, it's been a little tougher for me. But with each game, I'm getting better and better.”
That injury, a groin strain sustained in May, caused Espinoza to miss two matches. He has started all three of Kansas City's matches across all competitions since his return, with full-90 outings in the last two.
“I think he's always getting stronger,” Vermes said. “And in some ways, maybe the break he had when he got injured, for those two games, was good for him because I think it gave him a chance to relax a little bit and get his bearings straight to go again, to take another jump forward. It's almost like one step back, two steps forward from that little hiccup.”
Steve Brisendine covers Sporting Kansas City for MLSsoccer.com.
