If Mexico are to vanquish the Hex demons in Brazil, Peralta and Hernandez will be at the center…
Neil W. Blackmon and Maxi Rodriguez
We thought we’d change things up a bit for this piece, which focuses on the two men tasked with doing something El Tri found quite difficult in qualifying for the World Cup: scoring goals. Players # 24 Oribe Peralta and # 23 Javier Hernandez certainly have “American Based Professional Athlete “Soulmates”, but rather than the standard way of making the comparisons you’ve seen in our pieces (such as this one on Player to Watch #25, Mario Balotelli), we thought we’d bring in a writer more familiar with the Mexican National Team to explain why these two players are so critical to El Tri’s hopes of surviving a tricky Group A in Brazil.
Our guest writer is none other than Maxi Rodriguez, who is a contributing editor at the venerable A Football Report, a proud “member” of the famed Brookhattan FC, the founder of his own fascinating soccer website, Futbol Intellect, and the hand behind one of American soccer’s best Twitter feeds- @futbolintellect. We’re happy to have him, and his wealth of El Tri knowledge, on board for these pieces.
Briefly, here’s the “breakdown” on the two Mexican forwards, and explanations of why we chose the soulmates we did for each player. We’ll let our Q and A with Rodriguez speak from there.
Number 24: Oribe Peralta
Country: Mexico
Position: Forward
Club: America
American Based Professional Athlete “Soulmate”: David Wright, New York Mets
For Peralta, we chose New York Mets captain David Wright. Wright is the best player on New York’s “other team”, meaning he doesn’t dance in the New York media’s Yankee spotlight but he’s certainly not immune from attention or scrutiny either. Like Peralta, Wright does the little things to win. Ask him to bunt, and he’ll bunt. Ask him to pinch hit on a scheduled day off, and he’ll grab a bat. He’s a steady, calming locker room presence and despite being understated, the face of an ever-improving franchise. People that go see the Metropolitans probably don’t say “I’m going to see David Wright play today”, but they often leave glad they did. He doesn’t take days off. His uniform is perpetually dirty. And he produces. He hits for average, power, drives in runs and is, quite frankly, among the only consistently reliable and threatening pieces of a batting order that this season has the Mets in the thick of things in the NL East- something that hasn’t been said in quite a while.
Peralta does the little things that impact winning.
Peralta shares so many of these traits. He’s the understated counterpart to the heavily scrutinized Hernandez. Whereas Chicharito plays for storied Manchester United, Peralta does his work for Club America- a historic club by Mexican standards but nowhere near the global headline grabber of United. Peralta, like Wright, has been a constant MVP candidate in his league. And like Wright, the spotlight is on him at home. Peralta was recently named the Most Outstanding Player in CONCACAF, with a humble nod to Michael Bradley. And say what you will about Graham Zusi, but Peralta is arguably the fundamental reason El Tri qualified for the World Cup. In a game filled with outlandish or brash superstars, Peralta is the guy whose jersey is dirty and whose metrics are remarkable. He’s always working, and never takes days off.
Number 23: Javier Hernandez
Country: Mexico
Position: Forward
Club: Manchester United
American-Based Professional Athlete “Soulmate”: AJ Green, WR, Cincinnati Bengals
When you think of Chicharito, you think of a forward who makes optimal use of space by intelligent movement and understanding of the game. He’s not at all a “modern striker” in the Thomas Muller sense, but he has characteristics that make him a more dangerous traditional forward. Chicharito isn’t small, but he’s not going to overwhelm you physically. He’s not blazing fast- but he’s sneaky quick, and his movements in space are well-calculated and usually precisely timed. He’s not dominant with the ball at his feet, but he has a cultured-enough touch and is a fairly devastating finisher when he’s in form. He can score the spectacular goal. He rarely misses the must-make goal. More than that, Chicharito is probably now “underrated” after spending a good deal of time being “overrated”, both by fans at home and globally. His struggles at United- and with Mexico- over the last year have diminished the halo of greatness attached to him early in his career- but in some ways, you could argue this does him a favor. There’s a general sense among fans of the game “writ-large” that you don’t have to worry about him as much– and it’s a sense that coaches at this summer’s World Cup better not share.
Enter AJ Green. Green and Hernandez share so many traits it is almost eerie. Green is one of the best receivers in the NFL, largely because he runs splendid routes and reads defenses exceptionally well. He’s not a “new era WR” in the Calvin Johnson, Alshon Jeffrey “so big I’ll manhandle you” mold, but he has enough physicality to not be overwhelmed by more aggressive, handsy defensive backs at the line of scrimmage. He’s not a burner, but he’s fast enough to stretch the field and hurt you once the ball in his hands in space. He’ll make the spectacular catch, and his hands have improved dramatically since leaving the University of Georgia.
Early success probably made Green overrated a bit- just like Hernandez. Now both seem undervalued as a result.
Like Chicharito, Green’s value was probably overstated by his fanatical fans in college, who believed he truly was the finest wide receiver in college football. He wasn’t– there were multiple receivers in the SEC better (Percy Harvin, Julio Jones)– and to some extent, this made his collegiate production seem deceptively disappointing. Green became a victim of his own success.The reality is Green was a tremendous player- one any team would love to have- and a guy who will have a long and successful career. He doesn’t have to be Megatron for the Bengals– but they aren’t nearly as good when he’s not playing well.
We asked Maxi Rodriguez to break down the value of these players even more in the Q and A session below. Enjoy.
TYAC: 1) 1) Peralta scored five goals in the playoff against New Zealand. He’s in form, and fits the Herrera “Mexican-based star” bill to the “T”. Is he the key player for Mexico’s World Cup Hopes? If no, why?
Rodriguez: If there’s any player likely to spark Mexico out of their doldrums, it’s Oribe Peralta. Even during those rare situations where he lacks support from his team, he still has a penchant for scoring goals; given Mexico’s recent form, that could be a significant factor as to whether Mexico even makes it out of the group stage. You’ve probably seen a few matches. Mexico have been TERRIBLE.
Mexico will succeed at the World Cup if Hernandez carries the promise of his late season form with him…