First, Chicharito. Now, Toni.
While U.S. National Team fans struggle to come up with suitable alternatives to man the country’s forward corps ahead of this summer’s World Cup, Mexican soccer has anointed another youth scoring sensation.
Club America 20-year-old Antonio “Toni” Lopez’s three goals in the Eagles’ 6-0 plastering of Queretaro made national headlines. And rightly so. Lopez, who is also a Mexican U-20 international, showed off his full repertoire, scoring with his head and both his left and right foot.
Lopez, like Chivas’s celebrated youngster Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, is a product of his club’s youth system. But while Chivas Guadalajara has a renowned club policy of promoting youth talent to the first team, it is somewhat of a novelty for free-spending Club America.
With only five appearances in Mexico’s top flight, Lopez is likely to get more opportunities soon. He should start this weekend against Atlante given that first-choice striker Enrique Esqueda is out injured. Also, the team cannot replace Paraguayan Salvador Cabañas, who is still in rehabilitation from a gunshot wound to the head, due to the Mexican league’s ban on midseason roster replacements.
While Chicharito has scored his way to a surefire spot on the Mexican World Cup team, Toni is merely hoping his scoring streak can quash rumors of America’s throwing cash at another big name acquisition. (Nery Castillo’s name has been circulated recently.)
HERCULEZ OVERSHADOWED: The goal-scoring feats of former MLS forward Herculez Gomez may be getting write-ups in Yanks Abroad recaps, but his four-game scoring streak for Puebla has barely registered in Mexican soccer circles.
That is in large part due to the incessant drama surrounding his club. For one, there is head coach Jose Luis Sanchez Solà’s regular habit of resigning only to return days later. Even more prominent are the daily exchanges between two major stakeholders in the club, who have been engaged in an ugly public battle for control.
The turmoil has dragged last year’s darlings down this season (13th place in the 18-team league). Los Camoteros have mustered only four points during Gomez’s four-game scoring streak. Those points can be exclusively attributed to Herculez, as his scores have secured a win and a draw for La Franja. But for the media, losses and drama always trump gringo goals.
CABAÑAS TO THE USA: Paraguayan striker Salvador Cabañas could continue the next phase of his rehabilitation in the United States. Club America’s team doctor has confirmed that facilities in Galveston, Texas, and Miami, Florida, are under consideration. Although his motor skills are confirmed to be intact, he has other serious hurdles to overcome, and there is no word whether he will ever kick a ball again.
OWLS AFLIGHT: For soccer fans in the United States who feel slighted when MLS clubs are displaced by the X-Games at The Home Depot Center, Estudiantes Tecos has a story to which they will be sympathetic.
Estadio Tres de Marzo has recently hosted three concerts by Metallica, Coldplay and Alejandro Sanz that have kept Tecos on a nomadic practice schedule since the last week of February. The Guadalajara-based side was even forced to host Club America on Feb. 28 in Chivas’s Estadio Jalisco. Tecos will finally see their field again this Friday, when they welcome lowly Indios.
BLANCO FINDS NET: Veracruz midfielder and ex-Chicago Fire star Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored two goals in a 3-0 win over Leon in the second division last weekend. Nonetheless, the Mexico captain’s fitness and form continue to be questioned in Mexico.
ONLY IN MEXICO: Queretaro coach Carlos Reinoso, a Club America legend, faced his former team at Estadio Azteca last Sunday—his 65th birthday. Queretaro was one point ahead of America in the standings, and Reinoso was in a contemplative move in the lead-up. “I will be returning to the field where I know my existence in this world will end,” he told reporters. “My family knows to spread my ashes [at Estadio Azteca] when I pass.”
The heart-tugging storybook return ended like this: a 6-0 loss for Queretaro during which Reinoso was sent off early in the second half. This week he was handed a three-game suspension.
WHAT TO WATCH: UNAM Pumas will try to win at Chivas de Guadalajara for the first time in 28 years (16 ties and 13 losses in that span). Telemundo has the match on Saturday, March 13 at 8 pm ET. Despite dropping their first points of the season last weekend, Chivas are still tops in the league.
