“Something happened with the U.S., and then Mexico came knocking on my door, and I tried it and I liked it there,” Álvarez told NBC Sports earlier this year. Soccer and Álvarez was more personal than professional, according to Van der Most. A prodigious talent capable of scoring golazo after golazo, Álvarez had captained the under-15 U.S. California-born striker Gyasi Zardes rose through LA Galaxy’s youth teams to become the highest scoring home-grown player in MLS history with 16 goals last season. The episode sparked widespread controversy and reject from the Colombian side while it was praised from the Argentinian one, adding up to the already heated relationship of the teams.