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Cuauhtémoc Blanco

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Cuauhtémoc Blanco
Personal information
Full name Cuauhtémoc Blanco Bravo
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Position(s) Striker and Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Chicago Fire
Number 10
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of June 15, 2008

Cuauhtémoc Blanco Bravo (born January 17, 1973 in Mexico City), also known as Cuau or Temo, is a Mexican international football striker, who currently plays for Chicago Fire in the United States Major League Soccer division. After his contract with the Chicago Fire is up, he will return to Club America.

Blanco is the only Mexican football player with awards in the international FIFA competitions, as he won the Silver Ball and the Golden Shoe awards in the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. He has been awarded the MVP of the Mexican First League Division five times. Although Blanco plays mostly as an Attacking midfielder; he the leading Confederations Cup goalscorers along with Brazilian football player Ronaldinho. Blanco is also the second Mexican top scorer in both the FIFA World Cup and the Copa Libertadores tournaments; and the fourth top scorer of the Mexican national football team of all time, one goal behind Carlos Hermosillo and Luis Hernández. He is also the second top scorer of the Mexican team, Club América.

He is also known for his theatrical goal celebrations and unique football technique known as the "Blanco Bounce", which is the official name given by FIFA administrators. In Mexico it is known as the "Cuauhtemiña".

Biography

Primera División

Blanco made his debut in the Primera División (Mexican First League Division) in 1992 at the age of 19 with América. In 1997, Blanco was loaned to play with Necaxa, in 1998 he was awarded the MVP, and returned two years later to play for Club América. In 2000, Blanco was loaned to Real Valladolid in Spain where he played for two years in the La Liga (The Spanish League) where he scored one of his most famous goals in the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium against Real Madrid. Blanco returned to Club América in 2002, winning the MVP award.

In May of 2005, Blanco won his first club championship as a player, leading Club América to its tenth league title, when Club América defeated the U.A.G. by an aggregate score of 7-4 (1-1, 6-3). In the next three consecutve years between 2005 to 2007, he was awarded the MVP.

Blanco is regarded as one of Mexico's best attacking football strikers and one of the league's most prolific scorers still in activity, with 151 goals. He has amassed 97 caps and scored 34 goals for his country.

International career

Blanco has played for the Mexican national football team in two World Cups including France '98 and Korea-Japan 2002, scoring in each one of them. He was a member of the Mexican national team that won the Confederations Cup in 1999 where he was the tournament's leading scorer with 6 goals. He was awarded the "Golden Boot" and "Silver Ball" for outstanding player of the tournament. Blanco holds the record along with Ronaldinho as the highest scoring players in the Confederations Cup with 9 goals, three in 1997 and 6 in 1999. He is also one of the top scorers of the Mexican national football team; nine goals behind the top scorer Jared Borgetti.

Blanco was responsible for introducing a unique football technique known popularly in Mexico as the "Cuautemiña" (also known as the "Blanco Bounce" or "Bunny Hop"), whereupon Blanco would deviously secure the ball lodged between both feet to avoid tackling players, with the ball hidden away from the defenders. This skill was introduced in the 1998 World Cup in France, against South Korea. In the selection for the final 23 man squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, former Mexican national team coach Ricardo Lavolpe left Blanco out of the team. While the ostensible reason is that Blanco was frequently injured and not in good form; some people considered this to be a consequence of the previous year's constant bickering, due to on-going personal problems between coach and player. Following the exclusion of Blanco on the national team, a large group of fans organized a 15 kilometer protest march.

After Sven-Göran Eriksson was signed to be the Mexico national coach, he observed Blanco in a MLS match. Erikkson was very impressed and plans on building his team around Blanco when he starts coaching Mexico in August for the WC qualifiers.

United States, Major League Soccer

On April 2, 2007, Blanco ventured on to Major League Soccer in the United States and signed with Chicago Fire. He was welcomed by 5,000 fans at Toyota Park as he conducted interviews with the media, signed autographs and greeted with fans. He told fans, "I am coming to Chicago", "I am very happy and will give 100 percent for Chicago to be in the final. I look forward to working with this group of players to bring a championship title to Chicago, a community that has always supported me, in good times and in bad times. I hope to bring great satisfaction to all of you."

Blanco played his first match against Scottish club Celtic FC. He scored the first goal of the game in a drawn match. Blanco's first season with Chicago achieved him success, as he scored 4 goals and had 7 assists in 14 regular season games as he helped the club reach the MLS Eastern Conference Final. He was later voted as a finalist for both the M.V.P. and Newcomer of the Year awards in 2007.[1] As of the 2008 season, Blanco is one of the highest-paid Major League Soccer players in the league, earning $2.6 million (U.S.) dollars per year.

Celebration

From early on in his career, Blanco celebrates scoring a goal by acting like the Prehispanic Tlatoani Aztec emperor Cuauhtémoc, in order to show respect for the Mexican people, and their indigenous Amerindian heritage.

Other notable celebrations

The feud between Blanco and former Mexican national team coach Ricardo Lavolpe has lasted for more than 10 years; since when inappropriate words were said before a match between Club América and CF Atlas, where Lavolpe was coach. Blanco scored a goal in that match and celebrated by intimidating and lying on the field just several meters in front of Lavolpe.

Controversy

Blanco has been involved in various controversial events in his career. Despite achieving tremendous amount of success in his career, Blanco has been subjected and talked about by the Mexican media[who?] for his laid back personality and controversial behavior, including his rivalry with Ricardo Lavolpe; relationships with Mexican actresses Liliana Lago Sosa (nicknamed the "nacha plus" due to her immense buttocks), Galilea Montijo, and other personal issues.

Blanco also punched reporter David Faitelson in his locker room in a match between Club América and CD Veracruz in the Luis Pirata Fuente Stadium; prompting T.V. Azteca to start a feud with Blanco.[citation needed]

Honors

Club Honors

Mexico Club America

International Honors

Mexico Mexico

Individual Honors

Other information

The name Cuauhtémoc comes form the Nahuatl words "Cuauhtli" and "Temoc". The word "Cuauhtli" means "Eagle", and it is used as the official mascot of Club América.

See also

References

  1. ^ "MLSnet.com: Press release". 2007 MLS award finalists & announcement schedule. Retrieved 2007-10-29.
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