20 years later, Jesus Gallardo makes the same mistake as Luis Hernandez

Jesus Gallardo has been one of the big revelations from the win over Germany. While questioned by a lot fans and media all through Juan Carlos Osorio’s tenure, Gallardo played his best game with the national team and has all eyes on him after an impressive game against the World Champions.

But in a similar way, Gallardo has already made the same mistake that Luis Hernandez made 20 years ago in 1998. Just as European clubs probably start to ask questions about Gallardo, the Pumas defender has already signed for Monterrey, coincidentally the team of the same city where Luis Hernandez went to after his great 1998 World Cup performance. Hernandez was the talk of the town after scoring four goals, the most ever by a Mexican in a World Cup. What most clubs didn’t know was that Luis Hernandez’s sale to Tigres had already been done before the World Cup, and in turn the Mexican striker would miss his best opportunity to play in Europe.

Jesus Gallardo’s play was a surprise to many in Mexico. He had been criticized for the fact he was getting playing time as left back, even though he had previously played in that position under coach Francisco Palencia. As such, not even Pumas thought their players would shine the way he did, and perhaps that was the thinking behind selling Gallardo to Monterrey before the World Cup. Pumas is in desperate need of money, and looking back, it was bad move for both the univeristarios and Gallardo. Now it is Monterrey who is set to benefit, although it is unlikely they sell Gallardo anytime soon. If Monterrey thinks about the future of the Mexico national team, they might be open to it, but the reality is that Regiomontano teams aren’t big sellers because they don’t need the money. Hopefully they realize what is important, offers do come and Gallardo doesn’t have the career that Luis Hernandez had post World Cup.