For most North American soccer fans, The Week is here. Friendly or not, Mexico-USMNT never fails to get the blood roiling.

So let’s have some fun today. The rubric for our project today is pretty simple. At the prospect level, each of these players has yet to be cap-tied, meaning while they may have made up their minds individually, nothing’s official. At the professional level, national team caps have already cemented each of these players’ decisions (though that’s not the entire story in one case, as you’ll see).

If we were to take the best Mexican-American prospects and the best Mexican-American professionals and mash them together, what that list might look like? Here’s my interpretation.

Prospects

5. Ivan Gutierrez, Chivas USA

The battle for minutes in any national team camp is undeniably fierce. Mix in the idea that players mature at different rates and it can be nigh impossible to accurately spot an XI of quality next-level starters at the U17 level. Just ask Ivan Gutierrez, one of the many players in Chivas USA’s system about to be released into the wild when the academy disbands after the 2014-15 season. According to our own J.R. Eskilson, he doesn’t lack professional suitors despite his commitment to UCLA.

Where Gutierrez goes from here is part of a larger story about where the soon-to-be-nonexistent Chivas USA goes from here. But Gutierrez never really got a shot in the U.S. system, and he performed well off the bench for a loaded Mexico U17 team in their run to a CONCACAF title earlier this year. The supercharged winger will be a pro one day. The question now is merely where.

4. Christian Lucatero, Houston Dynamo

It’s taken the Dynamo a considerable amount of time to offer the most talented player to ever grace their academy a Homegrown contract. And it might cost them. Lucatero signed an LOI with Oregon State on Feb. 4, and less than a month later he was called into a five-day camp with the Mexico U18 team. Considering he’s been a fringe U.S. YNT player for reasons beyond practical comprehension, he may feel wooed to pledge his future to Mexico. And that’d be an enormous, bone-splintering loss for the American pool.

Why? Lucatero is a real, bonafide creative with chops in front of goal as a second striker as well. He’s scored 20 goals in 20 games for the Dynamo U18s this year, and he’s getting cursory looks from Liga MX clubs. Houston literally can’t afford to wait. And judging by his own words, he’s ready to sign. But will it be with the Dynamo?

3. Edwin Lara, Pachuca

Find me a left back with pace, technical ability and defensive bonafides and I’ll show you the player for whom the U.S. has been on an almost uninterrupted search for decades. That DaMarcus Beasley became arguably the best in USMNT history as a re-purposed midfielder speaks loudly. Lara might’ve been the best left back prospect in the entire YNT pool when, last September, he accepted a call-up to the Mexico U17 team. He hasn’t played for the U.S. since.

With U.S.-raised Lara’s future apparently in Mexico for the foreseeable future, the U.S. U17 team had to turn to other options at left back, a position that continues to churn on these shores. Don’t be surprised to see Lara taking the rungs of Mexico’s YNT ladder two at a time. He’s good enough at a generally shallow position to make serious inroads in a contentious Mexico NT pool. Chalk this one up for Mexico.

2. Abraham Romero, LA Galaxy

There were few harder blows to the U.S. YNT system than when Romero flipped his allegiance to Mexico in 2014. Romero’s swan song with the U.S. came during the fall 2013 residency, where he developed into a goalkeeper worth watching. The U.S. first IDed Romero at a U14 camp in 2011, and he climbed his way to his first U17 camp the next year. He was in the U.S. system for a cool three years before opting to head to the Mexican national team in 2014.

The first news we had of this came in early 2014, when he appeared with the Mexican national team. Turns out, 2013 residency was probably the last we were to see of him in a U.S. jersey. This one won’t needle USMNT fans with the same vehemence considering keeper isn’t exactly the pool’s position of need. Even still, a solid victory for Mexico here.

Abraham Romero (LA Galaxy) is playing with Mexico U17. He was a member of US Residency Program in fall. (GK on left) pic.twitter.com/PREZ7vh9g8 — J.R. Eskilson (@JREskilson) February 25, 2014

1. Joe Gallardo, Monterrey

Three players on this list switched allegiances from the U.S. to Mexico at one point, and a fourth still hasn’t decided. The fifth, though, is firmly in the American camp. That’d be Gallardo, so styled ‘Joey Goals’ by yours truly. Among those lucky enough to see Gallardo progress over the years, there’s little question he’s arguably the most exciting striker in the entire American youth system. Even better for his development: he’s been installed in Monterrey’s ballyhooed youth system for a couple years now.

Gallardo’s blizzard-quick feet and technical ability set him apart from most of the strikers in the pool, and he bounced back from an injury to score a hat trick during the U17s’ successful qualification bid for the World Cup in CONCACAF in February. Top form. Gallardo’s been so enmeshed with what the U.S. has done on the national team scene for so long that it’s hard to imagine him anywhere else. A big win for the U.S. in the underground battle for dual nationals. So far, anyway.

Professionals

5. Edgar Castillo

Castillo’s national team story is pretty bizarre. He grew up playing in New Mexico, but his move to Santos Laguna in 2006 precipitated a cold call-up to the full Mexico national team in 2007. After appearing for the Mexico U23s in the failed qualifying campaign for the 2008 Olympics, he appeared two more times for the full national team before striking an appeal. A year after saying definitively he’d never play for the U.S., Castillo took advantage of a new one-time switch and installed himself in the U.S. player pool

Castillo was Jurgen Klinsmann’s first left back, but he’s become a fringe player since then. That said, Castillo’s been putting in consistent work in Mexico for years, and his current stint with Atlas is no exception. A capable left back with ability on the overlap, Castillo’s longevity in Liga MX speaks volumes about his solid and respectable career.

4. Herculez Gomez

It seems like so long ago now, but there was a time when Gomez was arguably the best striker in MLS. When he was banging in 18 goals in a season with the Galaxy in 2005, you had a few takers. Gomez parlayed his time in MLS into successful but meandering stints in Liga MX with Puebla, Pachuca, Estudiantes, Santos Laguna, Tijuana, UANL and Puebla again. Scoring 37 goals with those sides isn’t something to scoff at either.

Gomez grew up with familial ties to El Tri, but there didn’t seem to be much intrigue around his decision to accept his first USMNT call-up in 2007. While he admits he’ll always be known as a pocho in Mexico, he made a World Cup roster and turned his flagging club career around with a revitalizing stint with Santos Laguna. While Herc’s career may be drawing to a close, he’s still one of the best Mexican-American players to ever suit up for the USMNT.

3. Omar Gonzalez, LA Galaxy

By 2005, observers versed in youth national teams knew the U.S. had something in Omar Gonzalez. They just didn’t know the nature of it yet. Gonzalez actually wore the No. 7 shirt and played as a forward for the U.S. at the U17 World Cup in 2005. He played as a midfielder for his club side Dallas Texans, too. It wasn’t until his time at Maryland that he was finally pegged as a full-time defender. Now, he’s one of the highest paid of his ilk in MLS.

Gonzalez has been in and out of USMNT camps over the past couple years, and his decision to choose the U.S. over Mexico wasn’t easy. He has roots in Nuevo Leon, family in Monterrey and an uncle who used to play for Los Rayados. He left the door open to Mexico until he became an integral part of the build-up to the 2014 World Cup. While he’s hardly fully cemented his spot in the middle of the defense for the U.S. in this cycle, he’s in the discussion. And at 26, he’s got plenty of life left in his legs.

2. Michael Orozco, Puebla

Orozco may have been born in the U.S., but he had every opportunity to take the Mexico route. He came up in the San Luis youth system in Central Mexico and had played more than 50 matches for the club by 2008. That year, though, the U.S. won him with its persistence. Orozco was a key piece of the back line on the U.S. U23 team that ultimately won qualification to the Olympics. Later that same year, Bob Bradley gave him his first cap. The rest is history.

Orozco’s on-and-off history with the USMNT under Klinsmann belies his ability. As recent stints prove, even in down matches for the U.S. as a whole, Orozco is routinely near the top of the rankings sheet at the end of the match. Plus, Orozco scored the goal in 2012 that gave the U.S. its first ever win at the Azteca. Auspicious territory, there. And yes, this does mean he’s ranked above Omar here. I’d take an Orozco start over an Omar start right now in a heartbeat.

1. Rubio Rubin, Utrecht

Considering the rubric here (potential mixed with latent, observable talent, as always), it doesn’t get any more exciting right now than Rubin. His decision to play for the U.S. may not have been in as much doubt as some of his peers, perhaps, but it was a comforting sight for American fans to see him say this to ASN before he’d been cap-tied last year.

“My Dad is a die-hard Mexican fan,” Rubin said, laughing. “He always gave me the nudge that, ‘You can have the option to one day play for Mexico.’ But I always told my Dad that would never happen because I was born in America and it’s in my heart 100% that I want to play for my country—which is the United States.”

On such heartstrings are national team careers built. Rubin’s has as much promise as any, and his career in the Netherlands appears to be off to a fine start. Finally, on Nov. 14, 2014, Rubin got his first national team cap for the U.S. against Colombia. He’s appeared a couple times since then in relief roles, with more opportunities like the U20 World Cup on the way later this year. At least for the U.S., it doesn’t get much more exciting than players like Rubin. We’ll see where he falls in the years to come.