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USMNT forward Gomez transferring to Club Tijuana

HercGomezSantos (JaneGPhotos)

By JUSTIN FERGUSON

After weeks of speculation, Herculez Gomez will soon be on the move to a Liga MX side that already has some U.S. Men’s National Team players on the roster.

Gomez will join Mexican side Club Tijuana this summer, Santos Laguna confirmed on Tuesday night.

Gomez will join a Xolos setup that includes American players Edgar Castillo, Joe Corona, Greg Garza, Alejandro Guido and Bruno Piceno. The club is coming off of a landmark year that included a 2012 Apertura title and a thrilling run to the quarterfinals of Copa Libertadores.

Gomez will be joining Mexican First Division club since leaving MLS after the 2010 season. Several MLS teams were reportedly interested in bringing the 31-year-old Las Vegas native back to the States, where he had stints with Los Angeles, Colorado and Kansas City.

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What do you think of Gomez joining Club Tijuana? Excited at the possibility of him playing with other Americans in Liga MX? Disappointed that he won’t be moving back to MLS? Think this is a good move for him?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

    • Players in Mexico tend to move around the league a LOT. It might be a product of the split seasons– twice as many offseasons, twice as much time/opportunity to revamp the team. I don’t know. But Herc is hardly the only Liga MX player who’s played for multiple teams.

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  1. Herc just sold me on Santos with the “Day in the Life” featurette showing of Santos facilities and traditions, as well as Torreon. Wasnt that just last week?

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  2. Anyone have insight into why Herc hasn’t played in the last 2 games? Maybe he was asked not to play prior to the transfer so that he wouldn’t get injured?

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  3. Was surprised not to see Herc in the last to friendlies. Could it be that Herc’s impending move to Tijuana was the reason he did not play for the USMNT? Or were other factors involved, such as form?

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  4. So, Herc is going to be in Champions League again next year…he is an MLS killer. Would have loved for him to be on an MLS side in CCL, doing what he does against Liga MX teams instead of against MLS teams.

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  5. What was the motivation for the move? Herc wanted a change or santos did?

    Is it just me or do Mexican league players swap teams way more frequently than in most other leagues?

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    • A soccer blogger C Boehm noted that when he asked Herc about it yesterday and got a terse “no comment” so that is at least one piece of evidence that it wasn’t our boy’s idea. He certainly looked happy at Santos Laguna in the “Day in the Life of Herc” videos.

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      • i was thinking the same thing….i saw that day in the life of video also. he was clearly loving it at Santos.

  6. For those who think juarez lost juarez indios because of the violence, is wrong. Technically juarez is the scapegoat of mexico and armpit, given that cities like monterrey,torreon, acapulco, mexico df, guadalajara have high crime rates that are higher than juarez but not reported and their government is more corrupted and richer than juarez. Like i said before, the state of chihuahua never help indios de juarez and the state lied to the owner, in reality a really bad chain of bad luck happen to the team owner and city government. Indios reached the semifinals, almost got to the championship like xolos, every season more than half of the stadium were season ticket holders, juarez indios had the most expensive tickets besides tigres, owners came down to study el paso and juarez due sold out games, a new stadium was planned, nike and other big brands wanted the team, a big name coach was coming to juarez, el paso had indios usa as pdl team, mls teams were goung to play a round robin with indios juarez in el paso, their academy was full of juarez el paso soccer players that now have gone to torreon and monterrey. Even vergara came to juarez with his wife to see his chivas play indios. Mexicos national team has come twice to juarez and tickets were hitting 400$ and stadium sold out twice, againnst nigeria and venezuela. In conclusion indios de juarez never died, they were forgotten by the state of chihuahua and the violence didn’t really kill indios either, because cities like torreon, monterey, mexico df are far worse. As a matter of fact, pachuca wants indios to gain ligamx status in less than 5 years, since they know juarez indios can be better than xolos but will el paso get mls or nasl first.

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  7. Comparing Juarez to TJ is apples to oranges; Tijuana my have a higher crime rate than all other parts of Baja . . . but nothing comes close to Juarez. As to the improvements in Tijuana (crime wise), it isn’t related to the soccer club . . . it has been getting better for quite a few years now.

    As a part-time resident of Baja, I am very proud of the strides Club Tijuana is making.

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    • Exactly right. Crime happens in TJ, but violent crimes are so rare that they tend to make news in So Cal. I imagine violent crime in Juarez is so ubiquitous that much of it goes unreported in Texas. Sort of like, “another day, another Mexican necktie.”

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    • Wanted some facts to back up my perceptions. According to the US State Dept.’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, TJ saw 509 homocides in 2011, compared to 1,900 in Juarez. Both cities have a population of around 1.5 million.

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      • But let’s put that in perspective, I feel like Houston is overly violent and it’s like 200 homicides a year these days, down from 300-400. Compare that to 577 homicides in the whole UK in 2011.

  8. Im gonna be honest, i feel jealous of tijuana. I live in el paso tx and i used to go see juarez indios when they got promoted to mexicos top division and there were always over 20,000. Now they are playing in mexicos 3rd division and it sucks to see how tijuana got help by tijuanas government and now they are living life with tijuana xolos. For example, juarez indios were promised state money to construct the most modern indoor soccer stadiun in mexico but they got screwed, since the state wanted to move the team to chihuahuas state capital, and since indios owner said no, then the state turned thrir back on the team and city. Also, juarez indios never approach mexican american players, only fans like me. In reality el paso and juarez are soccer hidden secrets, hopefully vergara moves chivas usa to el paso, tx.since his wife is from juarez-el paso area and el paso plans to make a soccer stadium downtown in less than 10 years and the owners wife of our triple a baseball team, use to be an owner of juarez cobras first.division soccer team in the early 1990s.

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    • technically it wasn’t the government, Hank Rhon is the owner of several business in Tijuana and Grupo Caliente (practically the biggest casino brand in Mexico and latinamerica) and used to be the mayor of Tijuana, he is known for being an “old school” drug dealer , the kind of guy that saves half of the money for himself and use the rest to make his “citizens” happy, people in Tijuana absolutely loves the guy because he keeps opening several business all over the city giving everyone jobs and, since Xolos got to the first division, the city is safer and there is an economic boom mostly thanks to the tourism caused by the team, it is a shame that Indios or other doesn’t move to Juarez, it could help that city as much as Xolos helped Tijuana

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      • Trust me, tijuana doesn’t fall behind juarez and tijuana has san diego which xolos players practically live. In juarez, everybody knows mr.hank owns tijuana and caliente and the government. I been told tijuana is worse than juarez in terms of city and society, even torreon too. As a matter of fact, baseball is the number 1 sport in juarez and boxing number 2 but soccer took over the city and juarez has the best baseball stadium im mexico. I also have family in juarez that have survived the “violence” ans corruption since they were born. In reality juarez is like chicago, detroit in terms of violence violence, were the ghettos have the violence, simple as that.

      • My dad was in the Military in El Paso before I was born. When I was touring with my band I wanted to go check out his old stomping grounds he told me “NO! But if I did, be across the border before night fall”.

      • A recent article in San Diego Union Tribune estimated each Xolos home game to be worth $7 million dollars to Tijuana economy

    • For anyone interested in the Indios saga, may I reccommend “This Love is Not For Cowards: Soccer and Salvation in Ciudad Juarez” by Robert Andrew Powell? Not the best book ever, but solid and an interesting read with an interesting perspective on the city and the team.

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      • I dont live in juarez but have family in juarez and get juarez tv channels and mexico national tv channels.therefore powells book is kinda bias and not 100% reliable about juarez people, violence, soccer and el paso. I also know a person who knew the tv stations people and the workers from tv stations and actually the tv stations knew the cartels and could.predict where the violence would happen. Another thing, juarez has a 1million population where you basically are poor or rich. All i can say, the national news and local news used the “juarez violence” for ratings, films, books,and money, while juarez needed positive feedback and their businesses and night life and indios faded away in the “violence” that was made worse by books, local and national news.

  9. Wow, live in Texas but I officially have a liga MX team now. Been leaning that way for a while and still will always root for MLS over MX generally but this move, WOW. Still would love to see HD kill Xolos in CCL though

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  10. Wow 6! Does this make the Xolos have the distinction of having the most Americans on a non-MLS team at one time? How many did Fulamerica have at one time, 4 or 5?

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      • wow dude, we literally just posted the exact same thought at the exact same time. virtual high five

      • And Hangeland should be worth like a half-American or a quarter for being born in the States.

      • Eddie Lewis but he was the first and was gone before most arrived. I was there for his first day in the uniform, though he didn’t get in.

        But McBride is revered like a God. Dempsey probably would have joined if not surpassed him except for the transfer.

        But as a long term Fulham fan I’m bemused to hear Fulhamerica mentioned again because when Dempsey left I thought I saw a bunch of fair-weather sorts stuffing the white/black #23 jersey in a box in the back of the garage while becoming earnest Spurs fans wearing #2.

        Moral: it would be nice if some people are still Xolos fans when this trend fades.

      • ESPN2 had a weekly or every-other-week English language broadcast of Liga MX this past season, although I’m not sure if they’re continuing with it, but they had at least one Tijuana game.

  11. As a Xolos fan based in the US, I love this move, he is a pretty good striker that should be better than Chango Moreno (who was transferred out). I think it’s great that he will get to play along with Castillo and Corona.

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      • Don’t worry fellow citizen, I will have Gomez back in America to play in the MLS by October.

      • In fairness it built him up then tore him right back down. They got him his first cap but then turned on him to the point he went to Mexico to revive his career.

        As long as MX is going well, and the paychecks are sufficient and don’t bounce, I’d say stay put. Same advice I’d give to Jozy and a few others. Sometimes the smartest thing is knowing when to roll with it and not press your luck.

    • MLS may need you… but it doesn’t appreciate you. Gomez is an excellent player who, I think, is best served (not to mention best serving the national team) by staying south. Mexican futbol is so much more interesting than the all-too-often bumper car derby of MLS.

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