Santi Giménez discusses Chicharito ahead of Mexico friendlies
During the Mexico national team media day, the Feyenoord striker said that the LA Galaxy star has been an inspiration to him since he was a child.
Santi Giménez and Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández are experiencing different situations regarding the Mexico national team. The former is fighting for a spot to play for Mexico during the upcoming World Cup and the latter will not receive a call-up as long as Gerardo Martino is in charge.
Giménez, 21, is just starting his career in Europe after leaving Cruz Azul to sign for Feyenoord in the summer. He has adapted quickly to the Eredivisie side, scoring five goals and providing one assist in seven appearances across all competitions.
The striker is making a case of his own to be one of the three strikers that will travel with the Mexico national team to Qatar. Giménez received a call-up for the upcoming friendlies against Peru and Colombia with El Tri during the last international break of the year and he plans to take advantage of this opportunity to convince Martino he is the right man for the job.
Giménez spoke about his first memory of watching Mexico during a World Cup, recalling that it was during the 2010 tournament in South Africa. That year, Chicharito was El Tri’s leading striker and the Feyenoord player said that since then he became an inspiration growing up.
Giménez on Chicharito
“My first memory of a World Cup was in 2010. The Mexico national team had a great tournament and at the end they played against Argentina. But we had a lot of faith in Mexico and that’s when Chicharito became someone I wanted to emulate, when he was starting, and it was a beautiful World Cup,” Giménez said.
Sadly for Giménez he will never play alongside Mexico’s all-time leading scorer because Martino has made it clear that as long as he is in charge, Chicharito will not receive a call-up. The last time Hernández played for El Tri was in September 2019 in a 3-0 win against the USMNT.