Juan Pablo Angel's Player of the Week performance on Saturday was a great moment for the Colombian newcomer, but as this week's First XI will show you, it's not the first time a Colombian has gotten fans fired up on the fields of MLS. Here's a list of Colombianos who made their mark - in one way or another - in Major League Soccer.
11. Arley Palacios. Nicknamed "Chaka," but known in my house as Chop-Ya. Holy Toledo, could this short-term MetroStars defender lay the wood to an attacking player. In 43 MLS games, Chaka had 12 yellow cards and two red cards. Perhaps it's urban legend, but a rumor has long circulated around Giants Stadium that the MetroStars - after watching Palacios in action - thought maybe they'd signed the wrong Palacios ... that actually they thought they'd signed a national team player named Everth Palacios. We'll never know.
10. Diego Serna. At times the most lethal attacking player in MLS, and at times the biggest headache (to his coaches) in league history. His non-approved absences became as frequent as his goals. For fans, however, this guy was fun to watch, the way he could simply plow his way through defenders with no regard for anything but getting to the goal. In 2001, in Miami, he registered 15 goals and 15 assists and probably deserved the MVP award over teammate Alex Pineda Chacon. However, that was really the end of the road for Serna. When the Fusion folded, he bounced from the MetroStars to the Revolution to Los Angeles and Colorado.
9. Antony De Avila. It would be hard to find an MLS player who arrived on the scene more explosively than Antony "Pitufo" De Avila, who came to the MetroStars in 1996 and, in just 11 games, scored eight goals. The amazing thing about De Avila that season was that he rarely got more than one chance to score per game, but his success rate was close to 100 percent. The 5-foot-3 striker had a knack for getting tied up in the feet of defenders, then emerging with the ball. One of his favorite Metro goals came at the expense of Alexi Lalas, who got corkscrewed into the ground by Pitufo. In the playoffs, however, at RFK Stadium, De Avila had a chance to score a game-winner, a series clincher, and was staring at an empty net with only a minute or two left in the match. He missed ... and that was a harbinger of things to come. In '97, De Avila was not close to the same striker. He'd get his one or two chances per game, but had a hard time finishing. Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira began to lose patience, and in 1998, De Avila was gone.
8. Ruben Dario Hernandez. It would be hard to find an MLS player who arrived on the scene less explosively than Ruben Dario "Rubencho" Hernandez in 1996. The top scorer in Colombia came to the MetroStars with hopes of attracting the many New York-area Colombian soccer fans to Giants Stadium. When he played 10 games and scored ZERO goals, Rubencho had the opposite effect. Trust the former PR guy (me) to tell you that the phones rang off the hook with Colombians telling anyone who'd listen, "You must get rid of this guy, he's disgracing our country!" Carlos Queiroz quickly sent Rubencho packing.
7. Adolfo Valencia. In 2000, Adolfo "El Tren" Valencia was, quite simply, awesome. Like Serna, Valencia was a wrecking ball striker who only knew one way to play: direct to the goal. With Clint Mathis drawing defenders away from the goal, El Tren had more than enough space to perform and put up 16 goals and nine assists for the Eastern Conference champions. However, like seemingly every Colombian MetroStars player who came before him, Valencia was a one-year wonder. In 2001, he fizzled, scoring five goals in 17 games ... and soon joined the likes of Pitufo and Rubencho among the ex-MetroStars.
6. Alex Comas. Yet another Colombian league scoring champ who came to MLS with high aspirations, Alex "No Nickname to My Knowledge" Comas scored 13 goals for the 2000 Metros, but for some odd reason, never really endeared himself to the fans. I rate him as one of the better complimentary forwards to ever play for the Metros, for his ability to hold the ball and combine with Mathis and Valencia gave the MetroStars attack an element of unpredictability. However (heard this before?), in 2001 he scored but two goals and was soon on his way out of East Rutherford, never to be heard from again.
5. Pedro Alvarez. Going to keep this one short. His unofficial nickname is "Socks." If you're not a Metro fan, you will simply have to do some research. I'll just tell you that he played 21 games for the 2001 MetroStars and no fan's feet ever got cold. On the All-Time MLS Alvarez list, Pedro ranks above only Byron ... and below Leonel and Arturo.
4. Henry Zambrano. By now, you're surely getting the picture that Juan Pablo Angel is far from the first Colombian ever imported into the Meadowlands. The last one (alphabetically) is Henry Zambrano, who came to the Metros in the middle of their historic (for all the wrong reasons) 1999 season. He scored three goals (one, I recall, was a dazzling solo performance where he ran about 60 yards with the ball, scored, stripped off his shirt and pretended to wring it out), which gave him some trade value (he went to Colorado for the allocation that became Alex Comas). Henry disappeared from MLS in 2001, then re-appeared for a short cameo with D.C. United in 2002.
3. Oscar Pareja. Hard to remember this, but in 1998, Oscar Pareja actually got his MLS start in New England. He played 13 games for the Revs, then was traded to Dallas, where he became the heart and soul of so many Dallas Burn teams. For seven years, Pareja was the guy in Dallas who did all the dirty work for the Burn, and still had good enough feet and vision to make big plays at big moments. Was never a big enough numbers guy to make any "best" lists, but I've spoken to enough players through the years to know just how well-respected Pareja is among his peers. One of the best role players ever in MLS.
2. Leonel Alvarez. Here's another guy who'd make the All-Respect team. Leonel was a hard-tackling, no-nonsense midfielder who was always in the sideview mirror of the other team's attacking midfielders. He came to MLS in 1996 and was a little past his sell-by date, but still managed to have a positive impact on the Burn ('96, '98 and most of '99) and New England (1999-2001).
1. Carlos Valderrama. Tab Ramos always used to tell me that the best player in the early days of MLS was clearly Valderrama. D.C. United fans will argue on behalf of Marco Etcheverry, but there was something about Valderrama that made him unique, and it wasn't just his wild hair. For young fans who did not get a chance to see him in action, you have to dig up some old tapes or highlight videos because you'll be watching the best one-touch passer I've ever seen. And he wasn't just a one-touch-to-keep-possession player. He was, quite often, the guy who took one touch to put a player in for a chance. A real treat to watch, and a guy who set the bar high for all the Colombmians who have come to the league - including Mr. Angel - in the years since his arrival.
Jeff Bradley is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. Send your comments and complaints (200 words or less, please) to Jeff at jbradleyespn2003@yahoo.com and he promises to read (but not respond to) all of them. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
