Jonathan Bornstein and Sacha Kljestan have followed mirroring paths since they were young teens, emerging from Southern California’s fertile club scene, connecting first as Chivas USA first-years in 2006, departing for opportunities abroad as the club began its descent toward oblivion four years later, then returning to Major League Soccer as savvy veterans providing vital leadership on and off the field.
 
Both are playing critical roles for their clubs again this year, mostly off the bench as extensions of their coaches, as they edge closer to 40 and what will come next.
 
Bornstein, 37, has been a leader on the backline and in the locker room for the Chicago Fire since returning in 2019 from eight and a half years in Mexico and Israel. Kljestan, 36, has played a similar role in midfield and the clubhouse for three seasons with the LA Galaxy — the club both cheered on during their youth — after a prosperous stint with the New York Red Bulls and one not so robust with Orlando City SC following four and a half years as a key figure with 34-time Belgian champion RSC Anderlecht.
 
They compose half of those still active in MLS from that 2006 rookie class — along with Nashville SC’s Dax McCarty and FC Montreal’s Kei Kamara — and have no plans to step away any time soon. When they do, they might not venture very far: They were classmates last fall while earning their B coaching licenses.
 
Their ample understanding of the game and its nuances — borne of experience in varied landscapes and transformed during tenures in foreign leagues — and embrace of mentoring opportunities with younger teammates bodes well should coaching be their futures, but why discuss that now? There are so many more games to be played, so much unfinished business.
 
“First and foremost, I still feel like I have a lot to bring to the game …,” said Kljestan, an 8 with a 10’s sensibilities. “You know, at this point, we take it year by year. But I would say at this point in the season, I definitely feel like playing again next season.”
 
He says he’s “deeply disappointed” that he hasn’t “been able to lead the team to the playoffs yet,” but that “this year and what remains to be seen over the next couple of years, I hope to be able to lead the team back to the glory days.”
 
Bornstein, a left back who can play centrally or higher up the flank, said he thinks of his role as “a guy always competing for a starting spot, a guy who is always out there working harder than anybody to win his place on the team. That’s my initial thinking always.”
 
They’re toiling for mid-level sides. The Galaxy (9-9-3) is clinging to seventh in the West after beating Atlanta United on Sunday, just its second win in seven games since the end of May as it bids for its second postseason berth since Bruce Arena departed after the 2016 campaign. The long-suffering Fire (7-10-5), which has reached the playoffs just once in the past decade, is ninth in the East, two points off the line, following three successive victories — giving it five wins in eight games after a 10-game winless stretch through April and May.
 
Neither figures to be the pivotal piece that determines which way their clubs’ seasons go, but the influence both yield, on and perhaps more so off the field, could be instrumental in finding whatever success can be secured.
 
Bornstein is seeing less time this year, with seven starts in 15 appearances across the Fire’s first 22 games after making 25 starts in 30 outings last year under Raphael Wicky and Frank Klopas, but has made an imprint in whatever capacity he’s been asked to fill.
 
“He brings very good attributes to our team,” Fire head coach Ezra Hendrickson said. “Being able to play in so many different positions has helped us out. When we’ve had some injuries or some Covid-protocol stuff, he’s always answered the call, always stepped up and did the job.”
 
Bornstein’s late goal off the bench clinched Chicago’s first win of the season, a 2-0 decision March 12 at D.C. United, and he was crucial over 90 minutes in home shutout victories against D.C. in mid-June and over Toronto FC and the Seattle Sounders ahead of Saturday’s 2-1 triumph at Vancouver. He came on near the end against the Whitecaps to help nail down those three points, as he’d done in the Fire’s other two wins.
 
Kljestan was a regular starter at every stop until he joined the Galaxy, where he’s been among the team’s most important role player, especially since Greg Vanney took control last season. He almost always has an impact upon entering in the second half, either focusing the attack in search of an equalizer or winning goal or calming things down and bringing greater organization to the group as it defends a lead.
 
“That’s the wisdom he comes in with,” Vanney said. “Especially having the opportunity to sit outside and see what’s going on on the field, then going in and recognizing where the spaces are an how best to employ yourself. He has a great sense of that.
 
“We try to use him in the best ways possible to help him be that guy who can help settle things down, give us a little bit more possession, help to orchestrate things, sometimes taking a role where he’s more of a set-up player than somebody we’re looking to [finish].”

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