Javier “Chicharito” Hernández is a darling of Mexican soccer aficionados, but El Tri and Hernández miserably failed at Copa América, suffering a soul-crushing and unforgiving 7-0 defeat by Chile in the knockout phase of the centennial tournament.
The post-mortem has been dominating the Mexican sports media for days and ESPN’s John Sutcliffe has dragged Hernández further into the fallout. Sutcliffe claimed that Chicharito arrived at the Mexican camp well overweight.
“Javier Hernández, in the search for the required mark, reported [to the camp] four kilos [8 lb] overweight,” said Sutcliffe.
“I was very surprised when I heard and I think when he finished the season at Bayer Leverkusen, the free time [afterwards] may have affected him,” continued Sutcliffe.
At Copa América Centenario, Hernández performed below par. He scored a goal against Jamaica and their exotic coach Winfred Schafer, but he failed to overtake Jared Borgetti as record goalscorer for El Tri. Chicharito remains stuck on 45 goals, one less than the illustrious Borgetti.
At this time, FEMEXFUT remains undecided about the future of El Tri coach Juan Carlos Osorio.