Paul came on as a sub for Edgar Castillo in the 65th minute of Xolos' 1-2 loss to Morelia. Literally a few seconds after coming on, Arriola nutmegged his defender and sent in a perfect cross with his left foot to assist on a Fidel Martinez goal. A few minutes later, he found himself open in the box and skied a shot that he should have put in the back of the net. He showed the willingness to take defenders on every time he had the ball at his feet but his small frame saw him get pushed off the ball fairly easily. He wasted possession in the attacking third a few times but was very active during his stint. You can see that he's still rough around the edges but has a ton of talent and plays with a lot of confidence. Overall, I was impressed. There's not many 18 year olds getting minutes in Liga MX so the fact that his coach trusts him enough to play him so soon after signing him speaks to his talent. That assist was extremely impressive.
This dude is really talented and is yet another reason to make Xolos my Mexican team. Also correct me if I'm wrong, but Paul represented the USA at a youth level before he was eligible for Mexico, thus making him cap-tied to the US, correct?
No. Once you represent a team, you can't switch to any country you weren't a citizen of at the time. He didn't just become a Mexican citizen, he was always eligible; he merely confirmed it by getting his Mexican passport. To think of it another way: do you think Fabian Johnson had a US passport when he was representing Germany at the youth level? I doubt it.
He could technically switch but I'd seriously doubt it. His connections with Mexico aren't that strong. The last person to be born in Mexico in his ancestry was his grandfather or great grandfather. Paul is living at home in the US while playing for TJ
Exactly, I mean not trying to profile BUT Paul has blue eyes and almost blonde hair. His connection to Mexico is very limited.
He lives in Chula Vista which, even though it might be filled with people of Mexican decent, is still in the US.
American Exports: Paul Arriola grabs assist in Club Tijuana loss "Young forward Paul Arriolaagain made his mark in just his second appearance for Club Tijuana, setting up the team’s only goal in their 2-1 loss at Morelia in the Liga MX on Saturday. Arriola – one of four Americans to feature for Xolos – entered the field in the 63rd minute and just one minute later assisted his team’s lone strike. The Chula Vista, Calif., native received the ball by the corner flag, tunneled the ball through José María Cárdenas’ legs, switched onto his left foot and whipped in a perfect left-footed cross for Ecuadorian Fidel Martínez to tap in." http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...xports-paul-arriola-grabs-assist-tijuana-loss
lol...because having blue eyes and "almost" blonde hair excludes a person from being Mexican, which happens to be a nationality and not a race...you make me embarrassed to be an American.
I don't really get the point of his post but he was just saying that Arriola does not look like a typical Mexican citizen in his opinion. Nothing about having blue eyes or blonde hair excluding one from being Mexican. You took it a bit too far.
Uh no I didn't....what does a typical American look like?...if a tourist visited New Orleans he would think the typical American was black...Miami, Latino...etc....Americans' only frame of reference is the immigrant community that comes from Mexico to the U.S....that's about it....Mexico is a melting pot...the post is embarrassing...and is the reason many people around the world think we are collectively ignorant...
What the hell are you guys talking about?? Arriola is a White Hispanic with a Mexican heritage but the only reason why he'd ever play for them is if we rejected him and Mexico wanted him. THE END
the only embarrassing thing is your failure to recognize that he intended nothing remotely racist by his post. If you thought it was slightly offensive, you could alert him without being 100% condescending and arrogant. His point was Arriola looks American. Its funny because most mexicans would tell you Jose Torres looks American which is why they call him Gringo Torres.
Wow. We should save this post in a time capsule so that future life forms know why our species died out.
Just the typical Big Soccer paranoia. When/If Alejandro Guido or Stevie Rodriguez break thru to the Tijuana first team, we'll have the same discussion.
Exactly, I certainly didn't mean anything offensive by it. It's pretty obvious that I meant no one would assume Paul was of Mexican heritage unless he told them he was. Obviously there are Mexican citizens with blonde hair and blue eyes, our very own Yank Abroad William Paul Yarbrough comes to mind. For Yarbrough, no one in Mexico thinks he is Mexican. He says in an interview on his page that everyone assumes he's of German or American heritage. I feel ridiculous even having to justify my comments on this because I'm cut from the same cloth as Paul: My great grandmother was Mexican (she passed when I was 8) but I too have blue eyes and light brown hair. So yes, given my own racial background and posting history on this site I think it's absolutely absurd for me to even have to explain my intent on the topic.
Whatever the point was, it still came off as ignorant. You can see blonde haired/blue eyes Mexicans on Univision. Why? You posted something kind of ignorant. Your racial background did not inform you in this case, so I don't see how it can be used to justify your original and inaccurate post. I don't think you intended to be racist (and I don't think it was) but the poster's reply was hardly unfair. As your own story indicates, you can't tell if someone's Mexican (or American, for that matter) because they have blonde hair.
Less talk of racial makeup and more talk about how nice it is to see a '95 getting significant minutes in Liga MX so soon after signing. This is especially impressive was initially signed to be part of their u20 team. Meanwhile Daniel Cuevas who's almost two years older has only been playing 20 minute substitute stints for Santos Laguna's u20 team. I can see why the Galaxy were upset about losing Arriola.
Fair enough, I apologize for getting this thread off topic and for any offense I may have caused. Now as Mario said let's focus back to the excitement that we should feel to have a '95 getting first team minutes in Liga MX.
The difference is that William is really, really pale (his skin is so fair his face looks red most the time), so he actually stands out. Paul Arriola (and Jose Torres for that matter) looks more like a random castizo you would meet in the Northwest, Monterrey, Guadalajara or the upper classes in the central Mexico. Anyways, I agree he had practically little to non connection to Mexico before signing with Tijuana, but it's because of his background, not because of his physical features. And I doubt we call him to any of our NTs.