Hugo Perez is my coach for Novato Fury under 15. Hugo is a great soccer player and he really was an amzing player. He's teaching us great things. In one year he has made us one of the top youth teams in California. Whenever he has the ball he's always doing amazing things with it. His technique is amazing and he has an amazing left foot. At the moment he's coaching my team and a new team in California name "California Victory." His son is on my team and he also has a great technique and ball control. Hugo is just an amzing person who knows so much about soccer and he deserves to be in the hall of fame of American soccer.
South Africa qualified in 2002 and in 1998. France didn't qualify for '94 but hosted in '98. The issue was that the US hadn't qualified since 1950.
I think I saw him in the bench on one of the U-20 US games against SMU in Frisco. Can anyone confirm?
Just found the thread--not a regular. As a young teenage player in the late 80's and early 90's Hugo Perez was originally one of my favorites for the skill on the ball he showed. I can still remember the old Soccer America cover shot of him after he single-handedly beat, I believe Guatemala, in a tight 1-0 1989 WCQ away match. However, he lost it for me when he made his 1988 decision. As one poster commented--Perez had a tendency to choose potential try-outs and his own career over country at the worst of times. I always have had respect for athletes who ALWAYS played for their country--not just did 110% when it fit their schedule. Perhaps that is why I joined the military and became an officer--I do my work for my country no matter what, when it is convenient and not. (I can't believe some of the requests I have received from young enlisted soldiers--"No the army and the country will not change mission requirements just so you don't miss your personal event.") Some people seem to forget that the 1988 Olympic team was our full national squad, there were the weird eligibility rules at that time. So, the national team qualified against other CONCACAF national teams and it was clear that the new generation was beginning on a high note--there was the promise that a WC qualification was next, but this Olympic qualification (finished off with ease after Mexico got caught cheating in U-20 competition) was a first step. Then, right before the Olympics, a chance for the team that was now in pole position to qualify for the '90 WC to get stronger, Perez quit the team. The reason? He had a try-out with the old Red Star club of Paris. A try-out with a dying pro team in France was more important than wearing the USA jersey in Olympic competition. As a 14 year old idolizing the US team, I was disappointed to say the least. As a result, John Harkes suddenly became my favorite player. Why? The year before he had showed his dedication to the US cause--in 1987, he had played in the Olympic qualifiers, the Pan Am Games, AND the World University Games. One of the few to play in all three major competitions for the US that year. So, when two years later, Perez was left off of the WC team--I thought, "That's what he deserves." You don't choose when you serve your country and when you don't. In my mind he never regained the stature he once had. Sure, he was immensely talented, but he was tainted by that decision to choose Red Star over the USA. Note: Same thing four years later when Kasey Keller was left off of the 1994 WC team. People forget that Friedel beat him out as the starter for the 1992 Olympic team. Keller responded that he would not sit on the bench for the US and would try out for pro teams instead. Again, another US player choosing try-outs over the US. Again, I thought 1994 was completely deserved. Of course, since being left off that team, Keller has responded by being the model US player--he grew up from his youthful decision.
Well, considering that Hugo Perez, his father and his grandfather all played professionally, it will be interesting to see if his son ends up following in their footsteps.
I meant is Hugo coaching and playing for victory also. Also, Hugo did not get along witht the federation. He always had problems with them regarding the european teams and his shoe deals. Hugo had a contract with Puma and the US would not let him wear his shoes. They also did not help his release to Ajax. He still played the World Cup qualifiers for the team, he aleady had played olympics. I think the younger players would prefer the olympics. Point is Hugo and the US federation never saw eye to eye. Hugo lost respect for the US management
Well considering that at that time they made no money and he had to put food on the table and had a chance to do so, you might look at his decision another way. I am sure it was a difficult decision for him and one that he has lost sleep over, but cut the guy some slack in a difficult time in american soccer history. But he was a great player as was Brian Quinn. At 14 I am sure you couldn't relate to what was important to his family at that moment in time. BOTN
i think he was better than reyna and preki. he was alot quicker mentally and his skills were alot better.
According to this website He never played for the US. He is not even on record. http://www.sams-army.com/?Mlist=news&Nyear=2007&Nmonth=03 I find this hard to believe and we ask ourselves how he did not get into the hall of fame- well this is the website the writers must look at. LOL
Good point. Perez chose soccer as his livlihood and he had to make the most of it. It's a shame that he was forced to make such a choice (a situation that wouldn't happen today), but I could hardly consider it as an "F*** You" to US Soccer.
whats funny about this thread is I can pretty much guarantee that most of the people practicing mastrubation over Perez here never saw the man play and probably never heard of him before recently, if at all. Me, I dont know enough. I saw him on tv a few times between 90-94 playing for the national team and that was it. Every game he seemed to have a few moments where his skill on the ball seemed to leave his teammates behind, otherwise he'd be as invisible as anyone else out there, those sides were not all that good in hindsight. That's all I know about the guy. It seems maybe he was just born a little too early.
As someone who watched the 1990 qualification, though as a very young man (I was 8 during Italia) I can say that Hugo was one of the guys that stood out to me even then. I've got several 1989 games on tape, and when he's playing the team clicks better. When he's hurt, we are a worse team. For instance, when he was out hurt for the home game against El Salvador, we were woeful in attack, completely without ideas going forward. The 0-0 draw left us in the must-win situation in TnT.
he was a pretty decent player, but by the standards of the day, he was one our best. That said, in about 5 more years, the denizens of BigSoccer will claim he was Pele and Maradona wrapped up in one. I think he would struggle to make our team now, but so would most of the guys from that era.
Oh my God, how many time will you post your same rant. Nobody ever said he was Maradona or Pele. You keep posting your same Unique opinion. Post, but post things you havent posted.
There's an earlier reply to this thread that says Hugo Perez now coaches at UCSF in San Fran. Has a son who is a junior. That's all I know. Also if you go to the US Soccer MNT web-site - there is a video streaming of the USMNT playing vs. Rep of Ireland - John Harke's debut game in 1994. The US wins 3-1 in the rain - Bora Mulitinovich at the helm, and Tab Ramos nets a gorgeous volley goal low to the far post straight of a cross from the top of the area. Check it out - wonderful highlights of a very creditable US team. Hugo started in the mid field - judge for your self. I believe Hrakes also scored, along with the ever so fun loving, the irrepressible and rollicking - Tom Dooley.
Check that. Marcelo Balboa got one of the goals in Brian McBride fashion, from just above the penalty spot not Dooley. Off of a beautiful fake shot and pass from Dooley. Dooley just missed netting one. http://centercircle.ussoccer.com/fullStory.jsp_40-281836.html Here is the link to the page with the video clip of USMNT vs. Ireland. It's in the player on the right side of the page. And, forgive me it was 1992, not '94. Check it out. Great stuff - Bora was a f-ing genius. By the way - where else can one find DVDs, or VHS of past games by the USMNT? And thanks to all who saw him play and his prime and remember so much and so many details about his trajectory as a player - his struggles with the US Soccer Federation, his being courted by Johann Cruyff at Ajax, his falling out of graces and being dropped from the USMNT, etc. From what little I have seen, and heard - he was a very talented player, in some respects caught between a rock and a hard place, a victim of politics and the economikc situation for soccer players in the US at the time - in short - abysmal. Watching him play, he reminds me of a great Chilean mid-fielder, Carlos Reynoso - who was a veteran of at least two world cups for the Chilean Nat Team - 70 and 74, if not 74 and 78, and played many seasons with Club America in Mexico City. Legs like oak trees, a thundering shot from 1/3 to 1/4 field, and a sure, easy confident touch on the ball - equally good playing defence, hoovering lose balls in the mid field, as setting up the attack and arming play with good give and go's and pin-point passing, on the table and in the air. WE could use a Hugo Perez now, as always. A classic mid fielder.
Naw i dont think so. If you see the guys at midfield that we have today, they dont compare to what hugo perez was back then. the guys today arent real attacking midfielders. they dont create like a someone in that position should and their skills arent as good as hugo's was. A player in that position has to have maybe the most skills in the whole team. Thats why donovan has to sometimes play in the midfield cuz nobody else can.