Andres Guardado to play for @LAFC next year.. 4 year deal per @espnsutcliffe on Fútbol Picante. #MLS #LAFC— herculez gomez (@herculezg) June 16, 2017
He's not the only one saying it. El próximo año, el futuro de Andrés Guardado esta en USA; jugará en la MLS...— Victor 'El Niño' (@victor_deportes) June 16, 2017
I'm sorry but my Spanish is VERY rusty. Why is it "la MLS" instead of "el MLS?" Serious question. Oh, and good pick up for LAFC if true.
First time I watched him play, and it was live, was during the 2007 Gold Cup. I remember thinking how screwed we were having to deal with this guy for the next decade. He was electric. A decade later and IMO this is a great move by LAFC. Serious injury derailed him for a bit, and slowed him down, but a class and quality player from all I have ever seen. Thinking of 2007 or so....anyone know whatever happened to Nery Castillo?
League source says #LAFC, Mexican int'l Andres Guardado have NOT reached terms on deal but are "very close" First reported by @espnsutcliffe— Kevin Baxter 🇺🇦🏳️🌈 (@kbaxter11) June 16, 2017
I caught him when he was 17, and made a bunch of money off of it. One of the most lucrative weekends of my career. I shot the Chivas de Guadalajara vs Real Madrid / Crew@Fire doubleheader at Soldier Field in 2005. That was when Chivas was half Mexico National Teamers and Real Madrid had just put the Galacticos together. It was probably my first "great" game as a photographer, and it was a good one to have a great game at. The light and crowd were great, and I was among the first photogs to have a large supply of the new Real Madrid stars. http://andymead.photoshelter.com/ga...Guadalajara/G0000UvduHNhtB.0/C0000byGFgSVMP_c I got almost no sleep and was picked up at RDU the next day where I was driven to Charlotte for the "Copa Zapotec" between Tecos and Atlas in front of maybe 2,000 people at an NFL Stadium in a financial disaster for the firm sponsoring it. I had an absolutely terrible game, but I was also dog tired. I did notice the handful of young women in the crowd being very animated and excited whenever a young floppy haired player came near them, so I made sure to get some photos. Only one was halfway decent, but I made some good money off of it. http://andymead.photoshelter.com/ga...zhMs48t6eyI/I0000qSziJ8XCXwg/C0000byGFgSVMP_c
What's amazing about Nery Castillo is how little he actually accomplished after he left Olympiacos in 2007. To call him a unaccomplished journeyman after that is being kind. He scored ~10 league goals in the subsequent 8 years and then retired to open a fishing shop. [He had to leave Olympiacos after that bizarre free kick stunt he pulled. What a buffoon.] He only had 21 caps for Mexico. Scored 5 goals for them in the summer of 2007, and only one other goal in the rest of his international career (late consolation goal when losing 3-0 to Honduras). I don't know what an equivalent to Nery Castillo is in USMNT history. He's kind of a Clint Mathis figure. A talented player everybody knew was capable of so much more, but just didn't seem to get there. I'm sure there are USMNT fans who consider Clint Mathis their favorite player due to the skills we all knew he had. [Clint Mathis had twice as many caps for the USMNT as Castillo had for Mexico.] Andres Guardado is a class player. He'll be a great addition to the league.
The whole Nery signing did accomplish one of the more memorable things for me on Bigsoccer. NSFW language: Oh, and the last line of the video was very true.
oh. i remember that fondly. and what ever happened to that site where you could type and make cute cartoon animals curse ... i miss it as a meme generator. castillo was a totally crap signing ... didn't houston also sign some other young mexican prodigy around that time who was also a flop?
Yup. Although Nery Castillo was fantastic during one summer (2007) in the Gold Cup and Copa America. He finished 3rd in goals at that Copa America behind only Robinho and Riquelme. [That was the competition the US sent a "B" team too and thus has been expunged from our collective memories.] Nery Castillo is still only 33 years old, and really hasn't done anything in football since ~2007. Retired really early, Eddie Gaven-style. Eddie Gaven, by the way, is only 30 right now. Andres Guardado isn't Nery Castillo (which I'm not accusing anybody of saying). Andres Guardado has been class for a long time. He has 134 caps already for Mexico, and is only 30 years old. If he stays healthy, and there's no real reason to think he won't, this will be a fantastic signing for LAFC. Not just in their community, but for the league. MLS has been signing Mexican internationals for a long time, but it just seems like its going to a new level. They're getting them at a slightly younger age than they used to, and thus should have a great impact both on and off the field. I'm not implying that previous players like Paco Palencia, Jorge Campos, Cuauhtémoc Blanco and others didn't. It just seems like getting dos Santos and Guardado is a step up. Does anybody doubt that Chicharito won't end up playing in MLS? I don't. Can we just imagine FC Dallas signing Chicharito? Holy hell would it be huge.