Bond still not giving up on his cap dream
JONATHAN BOND will watch his England mates from more than 5,000 miles away today – feeling he should be there with them at Wembley.
The goalkeeper, 28, was loved by Gareth Southgate while he was Three Lions Under-21s boss and earned five caps at that level alongside Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling and Luke Shaw.
But he is now rebuilding his career at LA Galaxy after it stalled due to injury and lack of game time – and he is still refusing to give up on his England dream.
Bond, who was in the Under-21s from 2013-15, said: “I worked under Steve Holland and Gareth Southgate. Gareth was my manager for a year-and-a-half.
‘‘I loved working with Gareth, to be honest. I played with Jesse Lingard, Harry Kane, John Stones, Raheem Sterling, Luke Shaw and James Ward-prowse.
“We are all the same age, I played with them and they are really talented.
“A lot of it is what club you are at, the opportunities you get and the coaching you get.
“It is interesting to see how well everyone does.
“Do I think I should be at the Euros? Yeah. I do think that.
I do find it frustrating. At the time Gareth liked me.
“It is a bit more difficult as a goalkeeper. I had an injury at Reading which held me back.
“But I do feel I could be playing international football, it’s not something I’ve given up on. I know how quickly things can change in football.
“Gareth did keep in touch for a while, even though I stopped playing for him five or six years ago. Now it’s up to me to put myself back into his thinking.”
Bond is hopeful of a return to the Premier League but for now he is enjoying himself in LA.
He has kept clean sheets in the last two matches for Galaxy and will have a licence to thrill against a possible 30,000 crowd against Seattle Sounders next weekend.
Bond added: “I feel like I’ve not had the opportunities that I should have in England.
“I want to show what I can do. It could take me anywhere.”