Hernandez Back in Fold for Galaxy
The rumors and half-truths swirl around Luis Hernandez, buffeting him the same way turbulence rocks an aircraft.
And with about as much effect.
Hernandez, one of soccer’s most prolific goal scorers, flew back to Los Angeles from Mexico City on Wednesday night and reacquainted himself with his fellow Galaxy players Thursday at the Rose Bowl.
Afterward, he and Coach Sigi Schmid tried to put to rest rumors that Hernandez’s personal life is in turmoil, that his professional career is in decline, that some Galaxy players are less than thrilled to have him back and that he came close to being traded by the MLS team.
All in all, it has been a trying off-season for “El Matador.”
For one thing, he wasn’t off at all. Once the Galaxy was knocked out of last season’s MLS playoffs in October, Hernandez returned to Mexico to play for Club America, which he helped carry to last weekend’s Mexican league semifinals.
Along the way, however, he went through a lengthy scoring drought, was dropped from Mexico’s national team, got embroiled in an ugly war of words with the Mexican media and was the subject of stories in Los Angeles that during his first MLS season he had fathered a child by a women who is not his wife.
Despite all this, Hernandez seemed in remarkably good spirits Thursday, appearing relaxed and looking forward to Saturday’s game against the Dallas Burn at the Rose Bowl.
“I’m not aware of the pressure [of being under a media spotlight],” he said.
“I don’t think I have to explain to anybody about my personal life. That’s private and I keep it that way. I don’t really pay attention to all those things they write about my personal life.
“The only thing I’m ever really concerned about is when they criticize me for how I’m playing. If it’s a valid criticism, I’ll pay attention because I really care about that.”
Schmid, meanwhile, disputed suggestions that the Galaxy had tried to get rid of Hernandez, who scored only five goals in 21 games in his first MLS season.
Hernandez’s name, along with that of every other highly paid player, came up early in the spring when the Galaxy was trying to get under the salary cap, he said, but most trade rumors have started with other teams approaching the Galaxy, not vice versa.
“As recently as two weeks ago we got offered one of the top scorers in this league [in exchange] for Luis, and we said no,” Schmid said, declining to identify either the team or the player in question.
“I think a lot of things get blown out of proportion, get made bigger than they are. Sometimes [media] people are aware of some of the facts but not all of the facts.
“It’s like having a puzzle where you don’t have all of the pieces. So you think something fits here but it really doesn’t.”
Any ill will that might have been directed Hernandez’s way last season by fellow players unhappy that a good Galaxy team had been broken up in order to acquire him, has largely dissipated.
“I know our team is very happy right now and is excited about the possibilities that we have as a team with the addition of Luis,” Schmid said. “He’s a player who has shown he can score at the highest levels and I know that his pride and ego is strong enough that he wants to have a better season than he had last year.”
Hernandez said he felt welcomed by the Galaxy and sensed no lingering animosity.
Hernandez said he is returning to help the Galaxy win an MLS title and do well at the FIFA World Club Championship in Spain this summer, not to try to regain his place on Mexico’s national team for the FIFA Confederations’ Cup, the Copa America and the 2002 World Cup.
“I’m not upset about not being on the national team now because I’ve already made my name as a national team player,” he said.
“If I do extremely well here, then I’ll be back on the national team. That’s natural. But I don’t want to use [the Galaxy] like a trampoline just to [bounce back] onto the national team.”
