Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandezis the best all-time scorer for Mexico’s National team with 52 goals. In that historic list, the striker is above extraordinary names such as Jared Borgetti, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Luis Hernandez, Carlos Hermosillo. Furthermore, Chicharito has the tremendous distinction of having playedfor two of the greatest clubs in the world:Real Madrid and Manchester United. He seemed a lock for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Chicharito was formed inChivas’ academy at Guadalajara and, in 2010, the club’s owner, Jorge Vergara, made possible an agreement with Manchester United. The transfer and his presentation at Old Trafford paralyzed the entire country. From that point on, the charismatic forward was mentored by legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson and he became a star.
Chicharito was amazing with Manchester United. The first months, Hernandez was relentless especially when coming from the bench and was compared to OleGunnar Solksjaer. He won two Premier Leagues and participated ina Champions League final. The forward has also played for other teams such as Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham, Sevilla and LA Galaxy.
Why is Chicharito missing the Qatar 2022 World Cup?
Chicharito is Mexico’s top scorer in World Cup history (4) and also has the distinction of scoring in three consecutive World Cups (South Africa 2010, Brazil 2014 and Russia 2018. The 34-year old striker had a very solid 2022 season in the MLS with LA Galaxy: 17 goals in 31 matches.
However, since almost three years ago, Chicharito never got a call from manager Gerardo Martino to play with the National Team. Considering Raul Jimenez was injured, Hernandez’s name started to be mentioned in every fans’ debate. He had all the experience and was living a great moment. Qatar 2022 seemed inevitable.
According to many reports, the reason why Chicharito won’t play in the 2022 World Cup is an indiscipline during Mexico’s 2019 tour in the US. Though Martino has never spoken about the incident, it occurred when the National Team played friendlies with the United States (New Jersey) and Argentina (San Antonio). The action was so severe and against the rules, Gerardo Martino never called him again to play for Mexico.
