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Sunday 24 October 2010

Chicharito: How Did He Do That?


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Javier Hernandez

Javier Hernandez scores in the 28th minute against Stoke City: photo from The Guardian 10/24/10


The Little Pea's brilliant backward bucking bronco header
against Stoke -- how in heaven's name did he do that?


9 comments:

TC said...

Well, the EPL doesn't want you to know how he did that...

But in case you're interested (??), here's a clip of the prototype of Chicharito's wonder strike:

Jared Borgetti in the 2002 World Cup against Italy.

That's a classic goal, storied in the annals of Mexican football. The Little Pea was a littler pea back then, but I'm sure he's been working that one into his trick bag ever since.

Borgetti was a fine striker, but Chicharito is a serious genius in the making, and this goal of his today (well, it was just about two hours ago) is one for the ages. The acrobatic arc and torque of his crazy instinctive backward-twisting buckaroo cabezazo... well, Borgetti's wondrous goal looks fairly ordinary in comparison.

Too bad you can't see it.

(It's killing you, I know).

By the way, Stoke came back to equalize in this match, and then Chicharito won it, late, with another goal, that one merely human.

(Wayne who?)

STEPHEN RATCLIFFE said...

Tom,

And what about those Giants, 3-2 last night in game 7, Juan Uribe's home run over right field fence broke tie, National League Pennant, going to World Series !


10.24

grey whiteness of fog against invisible
ridge, shadowed green of leaf on branch
in foreground, wave sounding in channel

paintings “may have tried to
look like,” some that

is “outside” or “inside,” or
in no “space,” itself

grey-white of sky to the left of point,
line of pelicans flapping toward ridge

manik sharma said...

tom,
mexicans have a thing for audacity and improvisation....i can never forget ..as a kid..watching blanco(one of the legends of mexican football,whose first name is as hard to spell as pronounce) doing the audacious and at times laughable two footed jump between defenders with the ball stuck in between his legs...during the world cup..whether they came off or not...they almost forced even the defenders to smile...

chicharito's goal today reminded me of that....u can never teach that on the training ground...he seems like the next mexican star if not international for now and is at the right club to become one....

TC said...

Manik,

Cuauhtemoc Blanco's wonderful bunny-hop gambeta, the stuff of legend!

Cuauhtemiñas y pases de Joroba Cuauhtemoc Blanco

(Blanco would have been heralded widely had he played in Europe. As it was, the world only got to see him at the Copa Mundial.)

Of course Chicharito grew up on those tricks.

The thing about his game, though, is that it's less a matter of tricks than of outright athleticism, instinct, reaction, quickness, turning speed, largely unteachable skills.

At times in his movements he reminds one of a young deer.

The same impression is given in interviews. He is shy and speaks so quietly and quickly it's as if he did not want to be heard.

Those things change as fame overtakes a young person, of course, but Hernandez seems a truly modest fellow at this point, not a trace of Cristiano Ronaldo anywhere evident in the character kit.

But he is beginning to make his mark.

manik sharma said...

tom,
indeed and young javier is full of athleticism....contrary to his senior strike partner(berbatov) who is always seen bemoaning passes or mis-passes by his teammates.....that has become is iconic image at united...promises a lot ...cries a lot...does little....but he is a class player nevertheless...

the epl needs a new young star(after rooney's dramatic and shameful conduct which will definitely make him less popular now)....and provided likeable character(just like messi)...i think he could be the one....and if there was anyone who could get him there..its his boss..sir alex ferguson...

Anonymous said...

What the clip shows is indeed the craziest, least intuitively understandable, move I've ever seen. I'm sure I'll be dreaming about it soon. I'd like to try to adapt it as a "life move".

Stu said...

That was a special goal against Stoke! It was only after seeing the replay a couple of times that I really appreciated what he'd done. Reminded me of Borgetti's goal actually.

Blanco's bunny hops and shoulder/back touches are outrageous. Like you say Tom, pity he didn't play in Europe.

If Chicharito and Rooney can forge a lethal partnership then Man U may yet be in the running for the title. But the ball is very much in Rooney's court. Would've been hard to imagine even 6 months ago that he would find himself with everything to prove (all over again).

By the way Tom, I've posted my book off to you today, so it should reach you soon.

TC said...

Steve, Curtis, Manik, here we go...

Thanks very much Stu, can't wait to see your terrific new book "in material form," like they say.

Here in this sector of the Land of the Unfeeling and Uncaring (about, that is, anybody but the Very Rich, who've got their own, thanks), they're stopping night bus service and the local library's about to shut down, but I believe the local post office may stay open at least until whoever buys the upcoming elections decides to do away with that too. So I will be watching out for a modest sized package from down under, trusting (oh, never trust!) it will not have been chewed to small bits by the insatiable security watchdogs of the new police state.

Yes, was not the Hernandez goal astonishing?

Or shall I say therapeutic, as it worked perhaps better -- well, temporarily anyway -- than the "probiotic" Green Tea I've been consuming in (futile) attempt to combat a nasty case of "walking pneumonia" (but can it be "walking" when the best you do is sit approximately upright, for short periods) contracted during our recent weeks of aerial bombardment.

(And even without the Rancid Mango artificial flavouring, yet.)

The replay videos keep leaking out... I've just put up a link to a new one on the post, which ought to last about... oh, ten minutes.

Those money-bags at the EPL don't let much get past them, but even with a billion dollars worth of lawyers it seems you can't battle all the blogs on earth at once.

As soon as the suits rush in to shut down one video clip, up pops another.

At this moment you can click to see the Hernandez strike from another dimension, right here.

(As a fallback, the same Italian tv clip is currently also posted here... for at least the next nine minutes or so, anyway.)

Wayne may or not ever return to form, but for now... well, at one late stage of the match, with things still very much in doubt, Scholes, who always has eyes for the whole field of play out ahead of him, was clearly looking to pick out one specific deep option... and it wasn't Berbatov.

Chicharito's coming of age may have already happened.

manik sharma said...

tom,
and i wonder when wayne does return to the squad and on field ,will paul scholes look for him with that cutting pass...loyalists and laconic figures like ryan and paul must be wondering how much of themselves they now see in wayne ...who was once touted as outdoing other united legends...a utd fan might argue otherwise but it was a shame to see a club ,a manager like sir alex actually give in to his demands....

some players are bigger than clubs i suppose...atleast these days....but none of them are remembered...the robinhio's ronaldo's imbrahamovic's of this world might do the unthinkable occasionally......only the gerrard's lampard's,scholes of this world will ever get that respect....

and i hope hernandez looks up to scholes and ryan at utd...and not the others...