LAST CALL?
Imagine Mark McGwire, after another of his ho-hum, 60-something home run campaigns, getting the itch to play baseball year-round.
So, for love of the game, the power hitter signs up with a winter league in Latin America.
His team is doing well, but the emphasis there is on speed and defense, rather than on McGwire-esque blasts. Plus, in a foreign land where he deals daily with a language barrier and cultural differences, he seems to have lost the knack for his livelihood--hitting homers. Frustration mounts.
Sound far-fetched? Maybe for McGwire.
But that scenario has been exactly what Carlos Hermosillo has faced in Los Angeles.
Hermosillo, one of the all-time soccer scoring greats in Mexico, has performed admirably for the Galaxy the last two years. But he has not dominated or been the scoring machine here that he is in his native land.
“It’s definitely a different brand of soccer here,” Hermosillo said in Spanish Thursday afternoon after practice at the Rose Bowl. “It’s been very hard learning a new game. I’ve endured many kicks, many blows and lots of pulls. I’ve put in a lot of work to learn the new game. This league is very easy, but my production, with this defense, has been very bad.”
That’s not to say he has been a flop.
It’s just that while the 6-foot-2, 180-pound forward plays a punishing, plodding style in which he thrives in the box facing the goal, the Galaxy employs a more fluid, rapid-fire passing game.
And with the Galaxy beginning its playoff run against the Colorado Rapids on Sunday, Hermosillo is nursing an injured left knee that may keep him out. He’s also at a career crossroads.
His two-year contract with Major League Soccer ends when the Galaxy’s season concludes. As a result, Hermosillo, who will rejoin his Mexican first division team Necaxa after the MLS season, is contemplating going home for good and ditching the grind of year-round soccer.
“That’s how I’ve felt [recently], but I’ve received great attention and a great following from the fans,” he said. “I still have to think it through, though, and figure out what I want to do for the next year and a half.”
Being only 34 goals away from the all-time Mexican first division scoring record is alluring. It’s also a goal that more likely would be met if Hermosillo, who turned 35 in August, gave up playing in the U.S. and concentrated fully on one league, let alone one country.
Yet his family--wife Aida and children Carlos, 10, Maria Fernanda, 7, and Ana Sofia, 3--lives with him here in La Canada and is enjoying the American way of life.
“They’re very comfortable here and my children, they’ve learned a lot in school,” Hermosillo said. “And if my family’s happy, then I can play my best soccer.
“But my country is stupendous as well. My city [Veracruz], it’s marvelous. And I don’t have the same [financial] security here as I do in my country. It’s just one of those things that I have to discuss with my wife.”
Galaxy Coach Sigi Schmid, who took over the team seven games into this season, said he’d hate to lose his powerful striker.
“That’s really a decision that Carlos and the league are going to make,” said Schmid, whose team is 11-5 with Hermosillo in the lineup this year, 9-7 without him. “Carlos has had a tremendous career, and it’s a career that’s still going. Players, as they get to the stage where Carlos is at, they have to make the decision as to when is the right time to step away from that stage.”
Since Hermosillo signed with MLS and was allocated to the Galaxy on May 27, 1998, big things have been expected.
After all, he was a member of Mexico’s World Cup teams in 1986 and 1994. Besides spending 15 years with first division teams America, Monterrey and Cruz Azul, he had scored 36 goals in 95 appearances with the Mexican national team and was expected to be on the 1998 World Cup squad as well. However, a late coaching change left Hermosillo looking in from the outside.
His omission actually helped the Galaxy land him. Hermosillo, who had declined MLS overtures previously, now had free time in the summer.
But it took Hermosillo 11 games to get his first MLS goal.
He played in 18 games with the Galaxy and finished the 1998 season with 24 points--six goals and 12 assists--all in his last eight regular-season matches.
While he was far from satisfied with himself, his scoring was not really needed last season, a campaign in which the Galaxy finished with a league-record 85 goals.
This year, however, the Galaxy team that Hermosillo joined June 12 was hurting offensively with only eight goals through the first 12 games.
This time he made his presence felt immediately, scoring a goal in the Galaxy’s 2-1 defeat of the Chicago Fire.
Despite missing six games because of a lower back strain, Hermosillo finished fourth on the Galaxy with 19 points--eight goals, which tied Cobi Jones for the team lead, and three assists.
He injured himself again when he banged knees with Kansas City Wizard defender Uche Okafor in the Galaxy’s 1-0 Western Conference-clinching win Saturday.
The frustration of being hobbled is akin to last season’s frustration of being in a scoring drought.
Galaxy fans simply hope Hermosillo will be around beyond this year’s playoffs.
If Hermosillo leaves, the Galaxy would be without a star Mexican player, and that could affect attendance, what with Los Angeles having both soccer-savvy fans and a burgeoning Mexican-American population.
“The decision is basically going to come down to if Carlos feels he is still capable of playing at a level that he demands of himself,” Galaxy General Manager Sergio del Prado said. “Obviously, he’s an important part of our team both on the field and at the gate. Carlos has a unique relationship with the fans, especially when he’s playing well. And obviously, he provides a spark with attendance.”
