As the start of the Mexican Apertura 2008 season approaches, I was doing some work for the upcoming editions of Sangre americana, where I keep tabs on American-born players in Mexico.
What I failed to notice is that the Primera A season got underway and we had two American-born players as well as a naturalized citizen see action. Two of them even scored a goal.
Jesus Padilla (San Jose, Calif.) and Carlos Borja (Orange, Calif.) each played for Tapatio in a 3-1 loss to Leon. Padilla started and went the distance while Borja came on as a late-game substitute. Padilla nabbed the only goal for Tapatio in the loss.
Sammy Ochoa (Michoacan-born US citizen) scored a goal for Tecos. Ochoa came on at halftime of Tecos UAG's match against Salamanca down 1-0 and scored the equalizer in the 63rd minute.
I'll be keeping tabs of Padilla, Borja and Ochoa as well as the full contingent of Americans in the Mexican First Division for the upcoming season. Keep an eye out on those in the coming days leading up to the start of the Apertura 2008 season.
7 comments:
You didn't notice that Jesus Padilla scored Tapatio's one goal in their loss!
Keep up the great work on Yanks in Mexico -- they are by far the most underreported in the blogosphere, despite the fact that increasing numbers of Mex-Ams playing for FMF clubs is going to be a big issue for USSF and the USMNT going forward.
Will Mexican teams ever consider signing other americans besides Mexican-american players? Luis what do you think?
Better question, will other Americans, besides Mexican-Americans, ever consider signing with teams in Mexico, Anonymous?
Last year there were sttong rumors that America was interested in signing Landon Donovan. I'm sure it was a a joke, but it goes to show you that people do know of players in the U.S.
I also remember, in the days before MLS, Leon saying it had signed Cobi Jones to a contract. Jones, however, never showed up.
I think there's interest there from FMF clubs to sign non Mexican-American players, but the feeling doesn't seem to be mutual.
To the last anonymous, I think that was Tecos who almost signed Cobi Jones. I remember during World Cup 2002 on Univision's broadcast Jesus Bracamontes, who once coached Tecos, said he twice went to the airport awaiting Cobi Jones' arrival but he never showed!
But here are some non Mexican Americans who played in Mexico: Cle Kooiman, Tab Ramos, Marcelo Balboa, Mike Sorber, Dominic Kinnear, Eric Wynalda (1st division) and Curt Onalfo and Lawrence Lozzano (2nd Division). But I can't recall any non Mexican American playing in Mexico since MLS was created (well Wynalda went down there on loan after one of MLS' first offseasons). Too bad, it is a lost opportunity.
Oops! I will update that later.
Okay, it's later. And I updated it. Can't believe I missed that! Doh!
As far as Americans who have no Mexican heritage signing with Mexican teams... I don't see it. Not that there aren't any gringos who could play in Mexico but the allure for that lot is either playing at home or playing in Europe.
It would be nice to see some out-of-contract player take a shot in Mexico, like if Nate Jaqua or Pat Noonan would have had offers from Mexico and had gone down there instead of Europe.
It's kind of a chicken-and-egg question. What comes first - the interest from Mexican teams or the Americans' interest in going down there?
First anon, thank you. I agree that it's way underreported and that's why I try to bring some attention to it. Also, keep an eye out for some player preview type stuff coming at you later this week. Maybe even in a several hours from now.
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