Why Chicharito’s Failed Panenka Penalty Is The Reason He Won’t Get A Mexico Call Up

Why Chicharito’s Failed Panenka Penalty Is The Reason He Won’t Get A Mexico Call Up

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It was an image that by this point has been seen around the world. If you haven’t seen it yet don’t worry we’re going to link to a video of it here shortly. Let’s set the stage though, it was essentially the final minute of added time in the game between the LA Galaxy, and Sporting Kansas City. Chicharito was called upon to take what would most likely be the winning penalty shot. Javier had already scored twice in the game, once in the fourth minute with a potent small volley type of finish, and another time from the spot in the 88th minute of the game. When he made his run to shoot towards the Sporting Kansas City net he decided to channel his inner Loco Abreu, and everything went downhill from there! 

After the debacle Javier nervously smiled, and asked for forgiveness from the fans. As he clung to the net, and held his folded hands up it seemed like he couldn’t stop smiling. The move sparked criticism for Chicharito who is certainly no longer the media darling that he once was, particularly at the beginning of his career. Could that penalty kick have sealed his fate? Why would this play keep the Guadalajara native even further from the World Cup?

The Optics & Not His Goal Scoring Abilities Are What’s Keeping Chicharito From The National Team    

Out of all of the Mexican strikers that are presumably eligible for El Tri, Chicharito is up there with Henry Martin, and Brandon Vasquez, a US raised player that could technically play for Mexico, as the top Mexican goal scorers in 2022. On that alone he should be given a shot to add to his total as the national team’s top goalscorer right? Well, it’s more complicated than that, off the field issues have plagued Chicharito for a while now, but the incident that presumably has kept him from the national team as of late happened on September 10th 2019. We’re coming up on the anniversary of the day that Memo Ochoa, Miguel Layun, Hector Moreno, and Marco Fabian with Chicharito of course decided to head to brunch in NYC for some day drinking after the national team had lost 4-0 to Argentina. 

Chicharito supporters argue that he has been excessively punished for the incident. Moreno, and Ochoa are still national team regulars, and Layun has made some comebacks after the incident. Fabian is not even worth spending time on at this point. From what we know the issue caused a staff member on the national team to lose his job, and it’s widely been reported that Javier has never reached out to Gerardo Martino the national team boss to fix things up. Something that apparently Miguel Layun did have the awareness to do.

All Of This Brings Us Back To The Panenka Penalty     

In a recent video Chicharito can be seen literally refusing to sign autographs or take pictures with young fans. Something that he was actually quite known for earlier in his career. These incidents culminate in the aforementioned Paneka penalty. Detractors of Chicharito point to the play and mention that it exhibits his arrogance, lack of responsibility, and also a lack of self awareness. There are rumors stemming from his time in Sevilla that also seem to be confirmed by the video of him not wanting to sign autographs for kids point to another issue that now seems to hover over the Guadalajara native.

He’s turned into quite an unpleasant character. When Club America played LA Galaxy in a friendly game over the summer Chicharito, and Guillermo Ochoa were pictured embracing, CH14’s supporters called it the “hug of Judas”. Claiming it’s actually Ochoa, and Andres Guardado who want Hernandez off the team. At this point it seems it doesn’t matter how many goals Chicharito scores it’s his on field and off field antics that will keep him off that plane to Qatar. 

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