As a teenager, Brandon Vasquez would commute to Tijuana — and back — to improve his soccer fitness
That’s what time the alarm buzzed in Brandon Vazquez’s room in Chula Vista. He’d wake up, get a ride to the United States-Mexico border, walk across, take a taxi or Uber to the Tijuana Xolos’ training facility at Estadio Caliente, eat breakfast with teammates, practice, lift weights and watch film. And then reverse the process.“It was just part of my routine, you know?” Vazquez said. “Six days a week. It’s pretty crazy, thinking back about it.
The Xolos offered the best of both worlds. It would require daily border-hopping, but he could live at home. He remained with the Xolos for nearly six years, finally breaking into the senior team in August 2016 for a Copa MX game. Vazquez’s fortunes changed in the 2019 MLS expansion draft, when Nashville SC selected him off Atlanta’s roster and immediately traded him to FC Cincinnati. His breakout season came last year, with 18 goals in 33 games. He was named to the MLS All-Star Game and the postseason Best XI.
As recently as three weeks ago, he didn’t officially have one, eligible to play for Mexico or the United States . He trained for both ahead of the 2015 under-17 World Cup before joining a U.S. squad in Chile that also included current national team regulars Christian Pulisic, Tyler Adams and San Diegan Luca de la Torre.
“This tournament has shown some of the best of Brandon,” U.S. interim coach B.J. Callaghan said. “He’s been a guy who has really embodied what we talk about in terms of making an impact. It doesn’t come from the quantity of minutes that you get but the quality of minutes. He’s performed at a high level and made some really big plays for us. We call those quality minutes.”
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