Calling on ‘Paco’
If Chivas USA is ever to soar to any great height in Major League Soccer, it probably will do so on the wings of a strange bird.
Juan Francisco Palencia Hernandez is not your everyday player.
Then again, he is not your everyday personality either.
Watch him now, stretching out on the grass at the Home Depot Center after his first training session with his new team, having flown in from Guadalajara late the night before.
In his all-red uniform, the No. 15 emblazoned on the back of his jersey, the midfielder looks little different from the rest of the Chivas players. Perhaps he is a little smaller than some, perhaps a little older than others. Then he moves closer and it becomes clear that Francisco “Paco” Palencia is different.
There is his hair, for one thing.
Many players have long hair. It’s the way Palencia wears his that sets him apart. It is jet black and usually tied up in a sort of bun or topknot, with loose wisps around his ears and neck, framing a face with prominent cheekbones and heavy eyebrows.
He is not a large man. At 5 feet 7 and 156 pounds, he seems too slight to be a top-level professional athlete, but he has been one for more than a decade.
Then there are those fingernails.
“Oh, my nails?” said the 32-year-old of his blue nail polish. “I like it because I am a happy person. It is just for fun.”
There is much of David Beckham in Palencia. Both are soft-spoken. Both push the envelope when it comes to fashion. Beckham has his tattoos. Palencia has his blue nails and a ring on each small finger. Both are followed as much for their off-field exploits as on-field prowess.
It would not be surprising, for instance, to see Palencia in a sarong, Beckham-style.
Palencia also loves music. But think the rock band KISS.
“He’s a Mexican rocker,” said one female fan waiting to buy a handful of tickets to tonight’s doubleheader at the Coliseum, where Palencia will see his new team and his former team, Chivas de Guadalajara, in back-to-back games.
Palencia will not be able to play for Chivas USA until what he calls the “bureaucracy” of his signing is completed during the international transfer window that reopens Aug. 15. His first home game will be Sept. 3 against the Columbus Crew at the Home Depot Center.
Whit Haskell, Chivas USA’s general manager, can’t wait.
“He had a great last season with Chivas,” Haskell said. “He was an integral part of their run to the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores. To have a player of that caliber on our team is spectacular.”
Haskell acknowledged that Palencia can be fiery.
In 278 games in the Mexican league, for example, Palencia scored 97 goals and assisted on 33 others. But he also earned 55 yellow cards and three red cards.
Doesn’t matter to Haskell.
“Paco’s an icon in Mexico,” he said. “He’s definitely going to enjoy being in the United States and being in Los Angeles. Hollywood will benefit from Paco being here and Paco will benefit from being in Hollywood.”
Antonio Cue, Chivas USA’s president, tried to describe his team’s newest star, an attacking midfielder with pace and guile and a finishing shot to match.
“Paco is one of those persons who is very complete,” Cue said. “He’s now entering a stage of his life where he’s going through a lot of things.”
One of those was his marriage last year to his wife, Lourdes. Another was the birth this year of their first child, a son, Tristan, who was named after the Brad Pitt character in the movie “Legends of the Fall.” Yes, Hollywood beckons.
“Paco has played in Europe,” Cue said. “Paco has traveled a lot. So it won’t take him too much time to adjust to a different lifestyle and a different culture. Physically, he could be a 22-year-old guy. Mentally, he could be a 45-year-old guy. You’re going to see how he pulls this team up.”
Born in Mexico City, Palencia brings an impressive soccer resume to Los Angeles. He spent seven years with Cruz Azul in Mexico, helping the team to the final of the Copa Libertadores in 2001. On the strength of that, Spanish club Espanyol signed him. After only one season, though, he returned to Mexico to play for Chivas de Guadalajara.
Along the way, he played in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, scoring against Italy to help Mexico reach the quarterfinals, and in the ’98 and ’02 World Cups.
Even though Palencia has played more than 70 games for his country, Mexico’s current coach -- the controversial Argentine Ricardo Lavolpe -- only brings out his volcanic side.
“He doesn’t like me and I don’t like him,” Palencia said. “But I don’t care about that right now. I’m playing good soccer and I want to bring my experience and all my soccer skills to this team [Chivas USA].”
Pressed on the matter, especially with the Germany ’06 World Cup coming up next year, Palencia repeated what has already made front-page news in Mexico.
“The national team coach does not like it when you tell him the truth,” he said. “If you tell him the truth he scratches you off the list.
“But I’m not going to fall off the map.... I don’t have to prove anything to anybody. Obviously, I’d like to be with the national team, but as long as I know why they are not calling me, I feel fine.”
Lavolpe, a prickly personality who has criticized Mexican players, already has brought Brazilian-born Antonio Naelson -- who plays under the name Zinha -- onto the national team, in Palencia’s role no less.
This has not gone down well with Palencia.
“He should go to Spain or Argentina or England and see if in those countries they have heard of him,” Palencia said.
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GALAXY/CHIVAS USA TONIGHT
7, FSN West 2 (10)
Site -- Coliseum.
Radio -- 830, 1540.
Records -- Chivas USA 3-15-3, Galaxy 8-8-5.
Season -- Galaxy leads series, 3-0.
Update -- Tonight’s match was moved from its original Oct. 8 date so that it could be played as the first half of a doubleheader. The second game, at 9 p.m., will feature Chivas USA’s parent club, Chivas de Guadalajara, against its Mexican league rival Club America. Unless Chivas USA stages an improbable revival and manages to qualify for the playoffs, the opener also will be the fifth and final match between the MLS teams in 2005. The Galaxy has won all three league encounters and also defeated Chivas USA in the U.S. Open Cup. Chivas USA Coach Hans Westerhof will be without forwards Thiago Martins and Matt Taylor, and midfielders Francisco Gomez and Victor Arbelaez, all injured, and suspended defender Esteban Arias. But Hector Cuadros could return after being sidelined by a concussion. Galaxy Coach Steve Sampson has opted to rest rookie defender Ugo Ihemelu and will start the Costa Rican tandem of Michael Umana and Pablo Chinchilla in central defense. The Galaxy will be without defender Tyrone Marshall, who has a strained right hamstring, and defensive midfielder Paulo Nagamura, who is serving a one-game suspension.
Tickets -- (877) 244-8271.
