Genaro García Luna and his past at Club América
Ramón Raya remembers the former public official as a hard-working central defender during his playing days.
Genaro García Luna is making headlines for his current trial in the United States. Mexico’s former Public Secretary of Security during Felipe Calderón Hinojosa’s mandate (2006-2012) is accused of facilitating the operations of the Sinaloa Cartel and faces a minimum period of 10 years in prison.
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Those allegations aside, García Luna has a past that is closely linked to sport - specifically soccer and Club América. The man who was also director of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) was a youth player for Las Águilas but never made the grade in football.
In an interview with ESPN, Ramón Raya shared his impressions when he met García Luna at the Nido (Nest): ‘’He wasn’t a very good player, but he was disciplined. It took a lot of effort, he was quiet, because he had a language situation, but he never had problems with anyone,” he explained.
“He made his way up through the different youth categories until he reached the reserves and that’s when I stopped seeing him because I went to the 1985 Under-17 World Cup. That season, he no longer played, he was a substitute in the reserves. América only had the first team, central reserve and national reserve. He made it to the second team at América, just after the season they called him, thanked him and he left”, mentioned Raya, a runner-up with Mexico at the 2007 Beach World Cup.
Prominence off the pitch’
Ángel González was the scout who discovered García Luna. He gave his explanation as to why the former public official did not continue in football: “He was playing in the third division and had to train in the morning but his father did not let him. He tried to continue, but his father didn’t want him training when he should have been at school.
“He wasn’t tall, but he was powerful. Technically, as he developed, he was a good defender. I highlight his character, he was a very dedicated guy and he was good. He made his career as a mechanical engineer. He was prominent off the pitch,” Coca González added. The scout is recognized for discovering players such as Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Hirving Lozano.