Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández breaks his silence over Mexico national team absence

The 6th of September 2019 was the last time that Javier Hernández played for the Mexican national team. On that night, the top scorer in Mexican history bagged a goal against the USA in a famous win for El Tri. After that international break, Chicharito has not been called up at all, due to being punished for a disciplinary issue.

Almost four years after the incident, the player has lifted the lid on what happened in an interview with Fox Sports, in which he explains the punishment he received from the Mexican Football Federation (FMF) and then-manager Gerardo Martino. “Unfortunately, what do you want me to say? Of course I make mistakes. If I’m the first to get something wrong and I can say to you that I made an error.

“That was the problem, in that situation”, he continued, “the price I paid was very high. I got made an example of when [the punishment] should have been a lot less. Why me? When others have done even worse things; there must be a reason for it”, he said.

In the same sense, Hernández said he was conscious he should accept the responsibility of his mistake and he even mentioned that he fell a little out of love with the national team, choosing to spend more time with his children. “During these two years I realised it was a price to pay for the error I made, but also for the decision I made, for a teammate, and that’s how it was going to be. If people thought my interest in the national team had died down, it was a lie, although there was some truth to it.”

If I had been going with the national team at that point, I wouldn’t have seen my children. I don’t see them all year, I wasn’t going to do that. Everything happened how it had to happen, and in the end everything ended how it needed to”.

Finally, Hernández made clear that the situation was not about finding a guilt party, as everyone was responsible for the situation, but he hinted that things could have been managed in a better way: “time will put everyone in their rightful place”; he said.

Will Hernández return to the national team under Diego Cocca?

Now, with Tata Martino gone and Diego Cocca in charge of the side, the possibility for Chicharito to return to the national team has been reactivated. The Argentinian has said that everyone has a chance of being called up, and that the ex-Manchester United striker is one of those players. In summer, Mexico will play in the Final Four of the Nations League and, after that, in the Gold Cup.