Chicharito Hernandez had a monster season last year, and he's having a monster pre-season to follow that. The Little Pea has two goals so far, including one Wednesday in Bayer Leverkusen's 2-1 friendly win against German fourth-division side Kickers Offenbach.
It was just a dink, but dinks count just the same as golazos, something that, as a poacher, Chicharito has seemingly staked his career on.
Mexico beat Fiji 5-1 Sunday in the Olympics, but it wasn't all good for El Tri. Striker Oribe Peralta and midfielder Rodolfo Pizarro have been ruled out of the tournament due to injury. Peralta, who scored Mexico's first goal in the opener against Germany, suffered a broken nose and Pizarro, who scored the other goal in the opener against Germany, has a fractured fibula.
Alfredo Talavera owes Erick Gutierrez a debt of gratitude. Talavera made the mistake that allowed Fiji to go 1-0 up on Mexico Sunday, and for a while it looked like Fiji might pull out the Olympic upset to end all Olympic upsets.
Mexico and Germany got the Olympics off to a hot start with a 2-2 draw that made for a game that was both well-played and exciting.
One of Mexico's over-23 players, Oribe Peralta, opened the scoring.
Oribe Peralta's goal https://t.co/XgpaPsgRrq
— The18 (@the18soccer) August 4, 2016
Mexico’s task in front of 80,000 plus supporters at the Rose Bowl had been clearly defined following Uruguay’s shock 1-0 defeat to Venezuela earlier in the day. Win and they advanced to the Copa America quarter-finals. Thanks to a powerful header from Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez and a neat finish from Oribe Peralta, Mexico have guaranteed their place in the Copa's knockout rounds.
Mexico have selected Guillermo Ochoa, Jesus Corona and Alfredo Talavera as their goalkeepers for the 2016 Copa America, a reliable group that has amassed 135 international appearances between them. Such is the strength of the position for Mexico that the highly underrated Jonathan Orozco was unable to make the squad.
However, the most promising and talented goalkeeper for El Tri might be the one lining up across from Orozco in the Liga MX Clausura semi-finals, Hugo Gonzalez.
The 23 players who will represent the Mexico National Team at the Copa America Centenario have been announced, and there were more than a few controversies. Here's the final roster (barring injury):
Goalkeepers:
—Memo Ochoa (Malaga)
—Jose Corona (Cruz Azul)
—Alfredo Talavera (Toluca)
Defenders
—Rafa Marquez (Atlas)
—Diego Reyes (Real Sociedad)
—Hector Moreno (PSV Eindhoven)
—Paul Aguilar (Club America)
—Miguel Layun (Porto)
For a long time, Mexican players have been praised due to their talent and performance on the world stage. Great stars talk about them with respect, the most recent being Zinedine Zidane, explaining how the national team is a very competitive one.
It's been a good stretch for Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez recently, award-wise. He was named the Bundesliga Player of the Month for November, then named the Bundesliga Player of the Week for the first week of December.
And now he has been named CONCACAF's Best Male Player for 2015, beating out Costa Rica's Bryan Ruiz and fellow Mexican Andres Guardado.
Chicharito's biggest performance in a Mexico jersey came in Mexico's 3-2 win over the United States in the Confederations Cup playoff in October, in which he scored Mexico's first goal.
Real Sociedad has had a gem in their midst since 2011. A gem that Arsene Wenger failed to recognize at Premier League giants, Arsenal. Carlos Vela has had a tumultuous professional career thus far. He’s been one of Mexico’s shining lights in Europe ever since he finished top-scorer in Mexico’s U-17 World Cup win back in 2007. That light has dimmed every once and a while and most recently has been shining bright at Real Sociedad. The Cancun native has had 167 appearances for Sociedad and has scored 59 goals since his loan from Arsenal became permanent at the La Liga side.