Growth of a Legend

Since the announcement of his transfer from Chivas to Manchester United last spring, striker Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez has caused quite a stir on the World's football scene. The little known Mexican seemed like an odd signing for Sir Alex Ferguson when it was announced but a year into his Manchester United career the deal looks like one of the greatest deals of all time. Chicharito has shown a goal scoring instinct that rivals some of the greatest goal scorers of all time including recently retired Ronaldo. His 20 goals scored for United in his first season in European football was a tremendous return for the 6 million pounds spent on him. Hernandez is know showing his tremendous finishing ability at the Gold Cup where has has scored 5 goals in 2 matches.

Javier Hernandez was born June 1, 1988 in Guadalajara, Mexico. His father, Javier Hernandez, was a well known Mexican striker as well who played in the 1986 World Cup for Mexico. Javier Sr. was nicknamed "Chicharo" meaning "pea" because of his green eyes and when he was young people started calling Javier Jr. "Chicharito" meaning "little pea" because he was the of "Chicharo."

Chicharito made his professional debut for home town team Chivas de Guadalajara when he was a teenager and quickly became a fan favorite. Hernandez scored his first professional goal in his debut with Chivaz in 2006. This terrific start was followed by a long period of hard ship. He did not score another the rest of the 2006 season and the goal draught continued for two whole seasons. The long draught which limited his playing time with Chivas finally ended in 2009 when he scored 4 goals during the season. In recent interviews, Hernandez has revealed that during this period football was no longer fun for him and he seriously considered retiring from his playing career. It was only with the support of his family that he continued and it is now paying dividends.

The "Little Pea" soon started to rack up the goals in front of his home town crowd, leading the team in scoring for two seasons where he notched up the majority of his 29 goals he scored while making 79 appearances for Chivas de Guadalajara. It was also during this time that Manchester United caught wind of the player and his potential.

Reportedly United had planned to wait to make a move for the talented, young Mexican striker in order to give him more first team experience in Mexico because of his young age but with his planned involvement in the Mexican World Cup team in South Africa they moved quickly before he was on show on the World stage. On April 28, 2010, a deal to bring Javier Hernandez to Manchester was completed in complete secrecy for a reported 6 million pound fee and a friendly with Chivas to open their new stadium. United had done their homework on the little known Chicharito who soon started to make a name for himself.

Hernandez has made his full international debut for Mexico on September 30, 2009 against Colombia. In the lead up to the 2010 World Cup, he made a further 5 appearances for Mexico scoring 6 goals. His superb play continued into the World Cup in South Africa where he scored 2 goals in 4 appearances with well taken finishes against France and Argentina. The striker known as the "Little Pea" had made himself known to the world.

In the fall of 2010, Javier Hernandez made his debut for Manchester United in the Community Shield against Chelsea. It was a scoring debut for Hernandez once again with a goal that did not do justice for his finishing abilities as he kicked the ball off his face before it rolled into the open net. Chicharito quickly found his way into the heart of United faithful becoming a fan favorite with a number of key goals.

United's newest striker went on to score an outstanding 20 goals for the first team in 45 appearances, including 4 in the season's Champions League campaign. Javier Hernandez was the first player since Ruud van Nistelrooy to score 20 goals in a debut season for the Red Devils. Hernandez top off his outstanding first season with Manchester United by being awarded the Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year award by the fans.

All through his first season in England, Hernandez was drawing comparisons with a United legend. Many people compared the Mexican to Ole Gunnar Solksjaer because of his speed, strength in the air, and ability to use both his feet. Now Red Devil fans will hope that Chicharito will have his own moment similar to Solksjaer's Champions League stoppage time winner to eternally engrave him in the annals of the Manchester United, the biggest club in the World.

As a member of the Mexican 2011 Gold Cup team, Javier Hernandez is once again showing off his qualities. In just two appearances so far this tournament, the quick striker leads the tournament with 5 goals for a Mexican team that has run rampant over their opponents.

Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez has had a fantastic season that very few ever achieve for both club and country. It is hard to image that only one year ago he was only known to football fans in his home country of Mexico, but after one season he has proved himself to be a world class player. Chicharito has stated that he has debt to pay to Sir Alex Ferguson for showing faith in him. With that attitude and the work ethic that comes with it and his natural talent, Hernandez is on a path to become one of the greatest goal scorers the world has ever seen.

Gold Cup: Day 4

I guess last night can be called day 4 since its the fourth night of play, even though it was the fifth day since the tournament kicked off.  It was a busy day in the Gold Cup as in the afternoon news came out that no less then 5 of the Mexican players had been ruled out thanks to failed drug tests.  So either the Mexican team have been doping together or something is a bit fishy here, or should I say "chickeny".  (I promise that will be my only failed attempt to make a joke about this). The five players that tested positive for the banned substance were: Francisco Javier Rodriguez, Antonio Naelson, Christian Bermudez, Edgar Duenas, and Guillermo Ochoa.  I am not going to get bogged down in trying to explain why the five players were banned for taking a substance that is often prescribed to help with breathing problems but suffice to say this is not the first time the drug Clenbuterol has caused problems.  Previously Alberto Contandor, a tour de France winner, has come under question for testing positive for the same thing and he is still trying to defend his innocence.  The Mexican Federation has said that they will stand by the players since they believe the failed test was not from doping but rather from the team having eaten some tainted chicken.  I for one doubt that 5 of the Mexicans all decided to take the same drug, for the Gold Cup at that where they were all ready favourites, and that it might just have come from tainted chicken as they suggest.  But enough about that, lets talk about actual games now!

On day 4 the games were all played at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte and the first match featured Costa Rica who cruised to a 5-0 win in their opener against Cuba taking on El Salvador who were on the wrong end of the same score line against Mexico.  In this match a draw would probably be enough to ensure that Costa Rica would be moving on to the quarterfinals but for El Salvador a win would have been a huge boost to their hopes of moving on as one of the best third placed teams.  The game was very even from start to finish with both teams creating a fair few finishes.  Costa Rica should have taken the lead in the first half after a great counter attack but the finish was straight at the keeper who did will to push the ball over the bar.  A number of other chances in the first half ended up being wasted as shots were being fired right at the keepers and were tame enough that they had no trouble handling them.  It took a real spectacular moment in the closing minutes of the half to finally open the scoring.  El Salvador were awarded a free kick from 20 some odd yards out which was fired home into the top corner by Rodolfo Zeyala.  The shot gave the keeper no chance what so ever as it curled over the wall and dropped in just below the bar.  For me this goal has to be the early favourite for goal of the tournament and it gave El Salvador the half time lead.

The second half was once again quite even with both sides getting their chances.  The run of play did begin to slowly favour Costa Rica who were pushing forward in hopes of getting the equalizer.  They appeared to have it in the 69th minute but despite the ball being in the back of the net the goal was ruled out due to offside.  It was the correct call and it kept El Salvador in the lead.  A few mintues later Costa Rica again had a chance to equalize but some terrible finishing saw them miss basically a tap in from 6 yards out.  They would get the breakthrough though in the 90th minute after a long ball was brought down in the box and Randall Brenes slid it past his defender and just out of the keepers reach.  The end result was a 1-1 draw which was probably a fair one as both teams worked hard and it was a fairly even contest.  The point should see Costa Rica move on to the last 8 but now for El Salvador their next match against Cuba is going to be crucial if they are hoping to ensure a place as one of the best third place teams.

In the second game of the night we had Cuba, who gave up 5 goals in their opener, taking on Mexico, who scored 5 goals in their opener.  It looked like we were in for a lot of goals in this one if Mexico could overcome the drama from earlier in the day.  The good news was that the doping suspensions did nothing to lessen the potent attack of Mexico which was led by Javier Hernandez and Gio Dos Santos.  In the early exchanges of the game it looked like the doping scandals might have had some impact on Mexico as they struggled to get the ball rolling.  They were creating a fair few chances and firing all kinds of shots towards the goal but the first half hour went by without a goal.  Mexican fans could be reassured by the fact that in recent Gold Cups the team has been doing most of its damage in the second half including all 10 of their goals in the previous 2 games.  They would get a breakthrough in the first half this time though as Chicharito netter his fourth goal of the tournament already as he rose up to head one home in the 36th minute.

In the second half of the game it looked like Mexico found another gear and Cuba had no answers for it. The chances quickly started to turn into goals around the hour mark and the route was suddenly on.  When this Mexican attack starts flying they are almost impossible to stop as they get down the field so fast and have a handful of players who can finish well.  Dos Santos made it 2-0 in the 60th minute with a  clever little flick to convert the low cross, the De Nigris got the tap in at the end of a great move to make it 3-0 shortly after he had been brought into the game.   Dos Santos would get his second on 67 minutes as he brought down a cross in the centre of the box and was given all the time in the world to slot the ball into the far side of the net.  Not to be outdone Chicharito popped up in the box to slot home another cross for his second goal of the game despite also wasting a number of chances.  So in just under 15 minutes Mexico had ballooned their lead out to 5-0 and from there they basically just cruised to the end.  It was third straight match, including 2009's final, that Mexico scored 5 goals and once again they did most of their damage in the second half.  The scariest part of all this scoring is that in the first two games Mexico have never really looked like they were going all out and they could still just be getting better.

So with 2 rounds down in Group A it looks like Mexico are going to be the winners of the group with them only needing a point from their last match against Costa Rica to ensure that.  Then barring Costa Rica getting routed by Mexico they should have enough to come through in second place.  El Salvador and Cuba will be battling for third but even if Cuba wins their is no guarantee that getting to third place would see them advance with that -10 goal difference.  A win for El Salvador though would put them in very good shape for getting into the next round despite being at -5 GD.  Either way the last round of play in the group should be an exciting one.

Gold Cup: Day 1

The central story line of day 1 at the Gold Cup has got to be the very lopsided score lines.  To me the games really served to illustrate just how large the gap now is between the top teams in CONCACAF and the teams that are just barely able to make it into the Gold Cup and will be among the first ones out of World Cup qualifying when it starts in the fall.  On the other side of the coin Mexico and Costa Rica both showed that they are going to be tough teams to beat and that should set up a good clash between the two of them with top spot in the group likely on the line.

There was some good news for Canada on Day 1 as the lopsided score lines mean that the team that finishes third in group A is likely to have a bad goal difference.  That is good for Canada in case they finish third in group C since in the Gold Cup the top two teams advance and then the 2 best third place teams also make it though.  So unless we get a lot more one sided scores then its not looking for great for who ever ends up third in group A, but lets not get to far ahead of ourselves with that since it was only the first day of the tournament.


The games themselves were entertaining affairs unless you are a fan of either of the losing teams in which case they were probably about as much fun as getting a root canal. The tournament opened with Costa Rica taking on Cuba in front of a decent crowd at Cowboys stadium. The crowd was no where near the kinds of record numbers that the new Cowboys Stadium is none for but at least the place was not dead and anyone who stayed to watch both matches were treated to a lot of goals. Costa Rica stole the show in the opener with their 5-0 win over Cuba thanks to getting goals from 4 different sources with
Marcos Urena, a Russian Premier League player, netting a pair.  The game was fairly close, on the score sheet at least, through the first 40 minutes but that is when Costa Rica put the game out of reach.  A goal just before half was followed up by a shocking 2 goals in the first 2 minutes of the second half to put this one beyond doubt.  The 5-0 scoreline in the end was nothing more then Costa Rica deserved as they completely controlled the match and Cuba never even looked like a threat to score while their back line seemed completely outclassed and unable to stop the constant attacks.

The second game of the night was not much different which I sure pleased the largely pro-Mexican crowd that was in attendance.  The Mexican fans would have come into the match expecting a comfortable win over the much weaker El Salvador and would probably have been very uncomfortable with their teams first half performance.  At the break the match was 0-0 and Mexico was failing to make anything of the number of chances that came their way.  The second half was a completely different story though as they found their stride and under the leading of Javier Hernandez, the Manchester United striker, they found their scoring boots.  Chicharito scored a hat trick which was capped off with a 93rd minute penalty after Juarez and De Nigris had each scored to give Mexico a 2-0 lead.  Again the 5-0 score line was probably a deserved result as the Mexicans completely dominated to run of play firing 20 shots towards the net and constantly threatening the back line of El Salvador.

Things that I will be taking away from the first round of matches is that:

- Costa Rica and Mexico are the two teams almost certainly going to be fighting it out for top spot in group A.  

- Mexico are deserving of being labelled as pre-tournament favourites, along with the States, and will be a force to be reckoned with

- Javier Hernandez is going to be a force in this tournament having spent all season causing some of the world's best centre backs problems his pace is just going to be too much for most teams

- We might just be in for a treat this year in terms of the number of goals scored

Day 2 is likely to be a bit less exciting in terms of the number of goals scored but Jamaica-Grenada and Honduras-Guatemala should still be interesting matches.  Honduras are probably the team to watch in group B as I would consider them the favourites to win it and the one team in the group that could provide a shock and go far in this tournament.