Luis Hernández (footballer)

Luis Arturo Hernández Carreón (Poza Rica de Hidalgo, Veracruz; December 22, 1968) is a former Mexican soccer player, generally known by the nickname El Matador, while in Argentina they called him the Bird. He occupied the forward position. He is recognized for being the top Mexican scorer in the World Cup (he participated in 1998 and 2002, with four goals in total, four in France 1998) and in the Copa América (he participated in 1997 and 1999, with nine goals in total).. He currently works as a commentator for the television company TNT Sports México.

Biography

He began his sporting career, always as a center forward, in the Cruz Azul club, with which he debuted in the First Division on August 22, 1990 at the age of 21, and where he remained until 1992, alternating games with the then subsidiary team Querétaro Fútbol Club. That year he signed for Monterrey, and two later he was hired by Necaxa. With this team he won a Concacaf Cup Winners' Cup (1995), two Mexican Championship titles (1995 and 1996), a Mexican Cup (1995) and a Mexican Super Cup (1995). Established as one of the best North American scorers of the moment, Boca Juniors, on the direct recommendation of Diego Armando Maradona and Julio César Toresani, acquired his services in 1997. Due to his physical resemblance to the Argentine player Claudio Caniggia, he received the nickname "The Bird". However, his time in Argentine football was brief and he was barely able to play in it, since his club had the quota of foreigners covered (he only played a few games in the defunct South American Super Cup, without much success). Therefore, in 1998 he returned to his country to join Necaxa in order to stay in shape for the 1998 World Cup in France. Later he was signed by Tigres de Nuevo León. He remained on their roster until May 2000, when he signed for the Los Angeles Galaxy, an American Major League Soccer team.

Luis Hernández played at the end of his career with the Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz, Jaguares de Chiapas and Lobos de la BUAP teams.

Statistics

Clubs

Club	Div	Season	League		National Cups(1)		International Tournaments(2)		Total		Media Shotgun
			Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles	Part.	Goles
F.C. Blue Cross. Mexico Mexico
	1. a	1990-91	18	1	3	0	-		21	1	0.05
	Total club		18	1	3	0	-		21	1	0.05
Queretaro F.C. Mexico Mexico
	1. a	1991-92	28	11	5	0	-		33	11	0.33
	Total club		28	11	5	0	-		33	11	0.33
C.F. Monterrey Mexico Mexico
	1. a	1992-93	31	7	-		5	1	36	8	0.22
		1993-94	31	8	-		2	1	33	9	0.27
	Total club		62	15	-		7	2	69	17	0.25
I.D. Necaxa Mexico Mexico
	1. a	1994-95	36	7	3	1	3	0	42	8	0.19
		1995-96	37	11	2	0	5	0	44	11	0.25
		1996-97	40	10	4	1	2	2	46	13	0.28
		1998	12	9	-		-		12	9	0.75
	Total club		125	37	9	2	10	2	144	41	0.28
C.A. Boca Juniors Argentina
	1. a	1997	0	0	0	0	3	2	3	2	0.66
	Total club		0	0	0	0	3	2	3	2	0.66
C.F. Tiger U.A.N.L. Mexico Mexico
	1. a	1998-99	33	20	1	0	-		34	20	0.59
		1999-00	31	19	-		-		31	19	0.61
	Total club		64	39	1	0	-		65	39	0.6
C. America Mexico Mexico
	1. a	2000-01	27	7	3	0	-		30	7	0.23
		2001-02	14	2	3	0	5	1	22	3	0.14
		2002	2	0	-		-		2	0	0
	Total club		43	9	6	0	5	1	54	10	0.19
L.A. Galaxy United States
	1. a	2000	16	5	-		-		16	5	0.31
		2001	14	8	-		-		14	8	0.57
	Total club		30	13	-		-		30	13	0.43
C.D. Veracruz Mexico Mexico
	1. a	2003	18	5	-		-		18	5	0.28
	Total club		18	5	-		-		18	5	0.28
Jaguares de Chiapas Mexico Mexico
	1. a	2004	5	1	-		-		5	1	0.2
	Total club		5	1	-		-		5	1	0.2
Wolves B.U.A.P. Mexico Mexico
	2nd	2004-05	9	4	-		-		9	4	0.44
	Total club		9	4	-		-		9	4	0.44
Total career			402	135	26	4	25	7	450	144	0.32
(1)It includes data from the Mexico Cup, Pre Pre Libertadores (2000 and 2001) and Supercopa Argentina (1997). (2)It includes data from the CONCACAF Champions Cup (1994 and 1996), Pre Libertadores (2002), Copa Libertadores (2002), Recopa CONCACAF (1993, 1994 and 1997) and Recopa Sudamericana (1997).

National team

Luis Hernández starred in great performances with the Mexican national team, with which he debuted on February 1, 1995 against Uruguay after being called up by coach Miguel Mejía Barón (who also led to his signing for Necaxa). In his third match against Yugoslavia on November 15 of that year in Monterrey he scored his first goal.

Already in 1996, coach Bora Milutinovic believed in him, but in his 6 games he failed to score a goal, so he could not find a regular place.

He performed great performances alongside striker Cuauhtémoc Blanco, with whom he teamed up on many occasions. Especially notable were his participation in the Concacaf Gold Cup (which the Mexican team won in 1996 and 1998), in the 1997 Copa América held in Bolivia, where Hernández showed the world his skills as a scorer and great player (competition in the that Mexico occupied third position, and of which Hernández was top scorer with six goals).

Then came his stellar moment, playing in his first World Cup, in the final phase of the 1998 Soccer World Cup held in France. Mexico reached the round of 16 and Hernández scored four goals, thus becoming the Mexican with the most goals in a World Cup, winning the Bronze Boot of the World Cup (he scored two against Korea, one goal against the favorite Netherlands in the last minute in the 2-2 draw and one more against the powerful Germany with Mexico losing 2-1).

He was present a year later at the 1999 Copa América (in which his team reached third place again and where he scored 3 goals). He was part of the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup squad but an injury prevented him from playing in the tournament, so Mexico was crowned without the & # 34; Matador & # 34; on the court.

In 2000, with the arrival of Enrique Meza, he stopped being an immovable starter because he fought for the goal. He barely scored one all year with TRI. Jared Borgetti's good moment sends him to the bench.

For 2001 he was nominated on a few occasions, the team experienced a deep crisis, stumbling in the CONCACAF qualifiers and scoring only one goal. From the arrival of Javier Aguirre he is completely erased.

In 2002, given his good performances in the 2002 Copa Libertadores and his experience, he was finally called up by Aguirre to compete in his second World Cup in the World Cup held in Korea and Japan, although this time with less participation, alternating on the team., since the owners were Blanco and Borgetti. The Mexican team fell again in the round of 16 against the United States.

Participations in final phases

Competition	Headquarters	Outcome	Parties	Goles
Copa Oro CONCACAF 1996	United States	Champion	2	0
Copa América 1997	BoliviaBolivia	Third place	6	6
FIFA Confederations Cup 1997	Saudi ArabiaSaudi Arabia	First phase	3	1
Gold Cup CONCACAF 1998	United States	Champion	4	4
FIFA World Cup 1998	France	Final Octavos	4	4
Copa America 1999	Paraguay	Third place	5	3
FIFA Confederations Cup 1999	Mexico Mexico	Champion	1	0
CONCACAF 2000 Gold Cup	United States	Final rooms	1	1
FIFA World Cup 2002	South KoreaSouth Korea and JapanJapan	Final Octavos	3	0
	-		29	19

International goals

#	Date	Headquarters	Oponente	Marker	Outcome	Competition
1.	16 November 1995	Estadio Tecnológico, Monterrey, Mexico	YUGYugoslavia	1-2	1-4	Friendly
2.	6 December 1995	Estadio Héroe de Nacozari, Hermosillo, Mexico	SLOSlovenia	1-	1–2
3.	17 January 1997	Jack Murphy Stadium, San Diego, United States	DENDenmark	2-	3-1	USA Cup 1997
4.	13 April 1997	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico	JAMJamaica	6-	6–0	FIFA World Cup 1998
5.	20 April 1997	Foxboro Stadium, Foxborough, United States	USAUnited States	2-	2-2
6.	13 June 1997	Stadium Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera, Santa Cruz, Bolivia	COLColombia	1-	2-1	Copa América 1997
7.				2-
8.	16 June 1997		BRABrazil	1-	2-3
9.				2-
10.	19 June 1997		CRCCosta Rica	1-	1-1
11.	28 June 1997	Stadium Jesús Bermúdez, Oruro, Bolivia	PERPeru	1-	1–0
12.	12 December 1997	King Fahd II Stadium, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia	AUSAustralia	1-2	1-3	FIFA Confederations Cup 1997
13.	8 February 1998	Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, United States	TRITrinidad and Tobago	2-1	4-2	Gold Cup CONCACAF 1998
14.				4-2
15.	12 February 1998	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States	JAMJamaica	1-	1–0
16.	15 February 1998		USAUnited States	1-	1–0
17.	15 April 1998		PERPeru	1-	1–0	Friendly
18.	9 May 1998	Stadio Enzo Mazotti, Montecatini, Italy	ESTEstonia	2-	6–0
19.				4-
20.				6-
21.	13 June 1998	Stade de Gerland, Lyon, France	KORSouth Korea	2-1	3-1	FIFA World Cup 1998
22.				3-1
23.	25 June 1998	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne, France	NEDNetherlands	2-2	2-2
24.	29 June 1998	Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier, France	GERGermany	1-	1–2
25.	17 November 1998	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States	SLVEl Salvador	1-	2–0	Friendly
26.	18 November 1998		WATERGuatemala	1-	2-2
27.	19 February 1999	Hong Kong Stadium, Wan Chai, Hong Kong	EGYEgypt	3-	3–0	Carlsberg Cup 1999
28.	9 June 1999	Soldier Field, Chicago, United States	ARGArgentina	1-	2-2	Friendly
29.	16 June 1999	Dongdaemun Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	CROCroatia	1-	1–2	Korea Cup
30.	30 June 1999	Estadio Antonio Oddone Sarubbi, Ciudad del Este, Paraguay	CHIChile	1-	1–0	Copa America 1999
31.	10 July 1999	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asunción, Paraguay	PERPeru	1-2	3-3 (p.s.o)	Copa America 1999
32.				2-2
33.	9 January 2000	McAfee Coliseum, Oakland, United States	IRNIran	1-	2-1	Friendly
34.	13 February 2000	Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, United States	TRITrinidad and Tobago	2-	4–0	CONCACAF 2000 Gold Cup
35.	31 January 2001	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States	COLColombia	2-	2-3	Friendly

Statistics

Selection	Year	Parties	Goles
MEXMexico	1995	7	2
	1996	6	0
	1997	21	10
	1998	16	14
	1999	18	6
	2000	9	2
	2001	4	1
	2002	6	0
Total		87	35

Statistical summary

Club	Year	Parties	Goles	Media
First Division of Mexico	1990 - 2004	360	118	0.33
First Division of Argentina	1997	3	2	0.67
Major League Soccer	1999 - 2001	30	13	0.43
First Division 'A' of Mexico	2004 - 2005	9	4	0.44
National Cups	1990 - 2005	23	2	0.09
International Tournaments	1990 - 2003	23	5	0.22
Mexican Selection	1995 - 2002	87	35	0.4
Total career		535	179	0.33

Palmarés

National Championships

Title	Club	Country	Year
First Division	I.D. Necaxa	Mexico Mexico	1994-95
Copa Mexico			1994-95
Champion of Champions			1994-95
First Division			1995-96
First Division	C.F. America		2002

International Cups

Title	Equipment	Country	Year
CONCACAF Recouple	C.F. Monterrey	Los Angeles	1993
CONCACAF Recouple	I.D. Necaxa	Miami	1994
Gold Cup CONCACAF	Mexican Selection	Los Angeles	1996
Gold Cup CONCACAF			1998
FIFA Confederations Cup		Mexico City	1999
Copa Gigantes CONCACAF	C.F. America	Los Angeles	2001

Individual distinctions

• Mexican player with the best average in a cup of 4 goals in 4 games.
• Mexico's top scorer in world cups with 4 goals.
• Player who scored more goals for Mexico in a World Cup.
• It is the fourth winner of all times of the national selection, after Javier Hernández, Jared Borgetti and Cuauhtémoc Blanco.
• He has the distinction of being the football player with more goals scored in the span of a year with the Mexican national team (14 so many in 1998).