Galaxy’s Hernandez Still a Sore Subject
Luis Hernandez is out of the country and, according to Major League Soccer, the jury still is out on him too.
The striker is playing for Club America through the end of the Mexican League season and is unavailable to the so-far-winless Galaxy until mid- to-late May at the earliest.
Hernandez played 16 games and scored four goals for the Galaxy last season and the feeling among many fans continues to be that the six-year-old league gave up too much to get too little.
Not so, MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Wednesday.
Speaking at a luncheon hosted by the Galaxy in Pasadena, Garber said it was too early to make such a judgment.
“I’m not going to beat around the bush,” he said. “Young businesses have to take risks and we are in a position where we have to make tough decisions.
“Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, but if you don’t take those risks, if you don’t go out there and try to do everything you can to improve, then you’re just going to sort of wallow along in this middle ground and not get to where you need to get to.
“We haven’t gone through this long enough to know ultimately whether that [signing Hernandez to a three-year contract] was the right decision or not. If Luis [scores] the winning goal in the MLS Cup, everybody’s going to be turning around and patting everyone else on the back.
“This story is not over yet. We’ve got to make some tough decisions now and again. We certainly made it with the best interests of the [Galaxy] team and the [Los Angeles] community in mind.”
The fact that Hernandez is scoring freely in Mexico is not a sign that that league is better than MLS. Quite the contrary, Garber said.
“I think there are many soccer fans who would argue that his lack of success [in MLS] is driven by how tough this league is,” he said. “The Hispanic fan doesn’t quite accept that yet. It’s an evolutionary process. It doesn’t happen overnight.”
Hernandez is still with Club America and not with the Galaxy because he insisted on a contract that allowed him to play elsewhere in the MLS off-season. His hope, so far unfulfilled, was to be picked up on loan by a European team.
“Would we rather have done that deal without having to loan out Luis?” Garber asked. “Absolutely. But it was part of the deal and it was a way for us to get him to play in this league. We still believe that having him in this league is a positive thing for MLS, it’s a positive thing for Hispanic fans and for every L.A. Galaxy fan.
“It says something to all of our Hispanic fans throughout this country that Luis is playing in our league. When he goes on the road [with the Galaxy], attendance increases.”
Hernandez’s contract does not mean that future Mexican players will be afforded the same type of deal by MLS.
“We went in with our eyes wide open, but we’ll probably look much closer at how we would structure [any future deals],” Garber said. “Our hope would be that we’d be able to do it without having a loan [clause] as part of it.”
For now, MLS awaits the return of “El Matador,” none more anxiously than the 0-2 Galaxy.
“Clearly, the jury is still out, but our expectations are still high,” Garber said. “This is a guy who is tremendously exciting, who is a popular person in the Hispanic market. He’s got great soccer still left in him, so our expectations are still quite high.”
