Luis Hernandez: Peak Performance

Soccer Digest, Oct, 2000 by Joseph D'Hippolito

MLS risked some credibility to bring Luis Hernandez to L.A., where after a sluggish start, he may provide a championship push

AT 5'7" AND 160 POUNDS, LUIS Hernandez hardly resembles a Leviathan or an Atlas. Nevertheless, three major parties rely on the world-class Mexican striker to carry burdens worthy of those mythological behemoths.

His homeland, in its quest to qualify for its third consecutive World Cup, expects Hernandez to remain the productive focal point of Mexico's offense. MLS wants him to reinvigorate sagging attendance while providing flair and respectability to the league. When he's finished in the United States, Hernandez has to replace another star forward on one of Mexico's most prestigious clubs.

But the would-be Leviathan doesn't seem to mind, even when confronting the suffocating pressure that members of Mexico's national team routinely face.

"You almost can't describe the pressure because it manifests itself in different ways," Hernandez says. "Some can't take the pressure, others enjoy it, others don't know how to handle it. In my case, in an important game, I simply enjoy it.

"I don't put a lot of pressure on myself to score goals or be the star of the game. The performance of the team is what counts. That really helps me enjoy soccer."

Transforming pressure into performance has made Hernandez one of the world's most respected forwards--and one of Mexico's most prolific scorers.

After 75 appearances for Mexico's national team, the 31-year-old Hernandez needs just one goal to surpass Carlos Hermosillo as its all-time leading goal scorer. Both players had 34 goals as the regional semifinals of World Cup qualifying began.

Four of Hernandez's goals came during the 1998 World Cup. He scored another six at the 1997 Copa America in Bolivia--and struck the one that gave Mexico a 1-0 victory against the United States in the final of the 1998 Gold Cup.

Hernandez also has been a domestic force. He helped Necaxa of Mexico City win the First Division in 1995 and 1996, and was Mexico's Player of the Year in 1997 and 1998. During Mexico's 2000 summer season, Hernandez finished as the second-leading scorer, with 13 goals in 16 games for UNL Tigres of Monterrey.

Such potency--combined with his exuberant personality, his intensity on the field, and his flowing blond hair--make Hernandez a favorite among Mexican fans, who nicknamed him "El Matador."

MLS hoped to capitalize on that popularity when, after months of negotiations, it signed the Mexican star in May and allocated him to the Los Angeles Galaxy, whose potential fan base includes tour million Mexicans.

"He's the most important player in the world that the league could have signed at this moment," says Ivan Gazidis, MLS's executive vice president for operations and player relations.

Hernandez felt ready for a change. "It's a new horizon," he says. "I've done everything I wanted in Mexico. I received a good offer from MLS and I wanted to see what I could do to help the league grow,"

Hernandez did not come cheaply. The league signed him to a three-year contract reportedly worth $4.5 million and paid a $4 million transfer fee--the largest in MLS history. The contract includes a clause that allows the league to loan Hernandez to a European club during the off season.

"That was a fundamental condition," Hernandez told Los Angeles' Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion.

The Galaxy also had to pay a high price. The club had to dispatch three starters--Clint Mathis, Roy Myers and Joe Franchino--to meet the league's salary cap and restrictions on foreign players, Los Angeles traded Myers, a Costa Rican, and made Mathis and Franchino available to the rest of the league through an unprecedented dispersal draft.

Mathis and Myers went to the MetroStars and led them to their best season ever. In Los Angeles, however, fans wondered whether Hernandez was worth the effort

"El Matador" did not score until the end of his 10th game, or after 899 minutes. With Hernandez silent, previously unbeaten Los Angeles lost five of 10 matches in his first six weeks with the team. Hernandez's frustration erupted following a June loss in Kansas City.

After the game, Hernandez got into a shoving match with the Wizards' Matt McKeon and Chris Klein, who accused him of spitting at them. MLS fined Hernandez $2,500.

When it comes to attendance, Hernandez has made minimal impact. Three months after he signed, MLS's per-game average rose only by about 500 fans, from 12,972 to 13,490.

For Mexican fans in Los Angeles, "one player will not make a big difference," says La Opinion's Rigoberto Cervantes, who has covered the past four World Cups. "Mexican fans are still loyal to their teams back in Mexico. They see Chivas, Club America, Pumas, whomever on television on a weekly basis.

"The Galaxy is going against that loyalty. Now, if you had Hernandez, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, Ramon Ramirez, and Jorge Campos on the same team, I guarantee you would see more Mexican faces."

Those faces might become more prominent now that Hernandez has acclimated himself. Since getting his first assist in late June, Hernandez registered points in five consecutive matches, scoring three goals and five assists over that stretch. In his best performance, the striker had a goal and two assists during a 5-1 rout of Kansas City.