Thursday, February 21, 2008

Truth comes out

Confronted with the story we broke yesterday and the subsequent stories that ran in Cancha today, Jesus Padilla spoke.

Here's what he said:

I was born in San Jose, California, but at 10 days of age I moved to San Jose de los Reynosos with my parents. They were over there working but they have always lived here. They acquired a Mexican birth certificate for me and I am a proud Mexican.

I have my birth certificate and every document is in order. I am more Mexican than cactus. They are investigating me as if I were a delinquent - I don't know why. If perhaps they (the U.S. Soccer federation) feel as if I were an option, they should forget about it. Maybe they see it as a good option, to call me for the national team, but I'm going to continue playing here and fighting for a spot with the Mexican national team.

And Chivas VP Nestor de la Torre also was quoted in the article.

I don't think we need to think too much about this. Everything is very clear and we don't need more background. Jesus Padilla was born in the United States, in California. Less than two weeks after, they moved to Mexico. He was registered here as a Mexican. He has a Mexican birth certificate and as such we see him as eligible to play for Chivas.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well isn't that convenient?
I though Rossi was Italian-American not Mexican-American.

Anonymous said...

Case closed. It's really not a big deal, ya'll. It's happened before and it will probably happened again. The guy had a Mexican birth certificate so as DeLaTorre said, that was enough to qualify him as eligible.

Anonymous said...

Interesting that he's blaming US Soccer, in a way, for your story. Fallout, indeed!

He seems Mexican to me, and American.

The Hammer said...

Yikes! Okay, so Chivas doesn't mind... you know who might take offense? The Mexican Federal Government.

If Padilla is admitting that he was born in San Jose, and said birth certificate exists, but has a birth certificate saying otherwise that's a felony that his parents can be charged with. In essence, his Mexican birth certificate is invalid.

Anonymous said...

Hammer, if that's the case then possibly hundreds of thousands are felons then. It's common practice, bro...

The Hammer said...

That doesn't make it any less of a felony. Point here is, Padilla's case is wide open, and he has openly admitted that he WAS born in San Jose, CA. Now, if he's knowingly using a birth certificate from Mexico, then he's essentially, in the eyes of the law, admitted to fraud.

As I said, Chivas may not mind, hell, you and I may not mind, I have a cousin who did the same thing... but a wide open like this might be easy pickings for the Mexican Government.

Anonymous said...

I wonder if Padilla is now under pressure to profess his Mexican nationality (to play at Chivas) and his desire to play for the Mexican National Team.

Seems like he was telling Rongen a different story last year.