Javier Hernández Balcázar life and biography

Javier Hernández Balcázar , commonly known as "Chicharito" (Spanish: little pea), is a Mexican footballer who plays as a forward for Manchester United, being the first Mexican to do so. He previously played for Mexican club Guadalajara. He made his début for the Mexico national football team in September 2009 in a match against Colombia and represented them at the 2010 FIFA World Cup scoring two goals. He is the son of Javier Hernández Gutiérrez and the grandson of Tomás Balcázar.

Club career

Hernández began playing with Chivas' lower division team, Chivas Coras in Tepic, Nayarit in the 2005–06 season. He made his debut for Chivas in the 2006 Apertura in a win over Necaxa at Estadio Jalisco. With the score at 3–0, Hernández came on as a substitute for Omar Bravo in the 82nd minute, before scoring the fourth goal of the game five minutes later. It was his only goal in seven appearances in 2006–07. He made a further six appearances in 2007–08 without scoring.

Hernández made ten appearances in the 2008 Apertura without scoring, but he scored four goals in fifteen appearances in the 2009 Clausura. In the 2009 Apertura, Hernández finished as the joint-third top scorer, with eleven goals in seventeen appearances. He started the 2010 Torneo Bicentenario with eight goals in five games. He is currently leading the goalscoring charts for the 2010 Torneo Bicentenario, with ten goals in eleven games.

English Premier League club Manchester United was first made aware of Hernández in October 2009; a scout went to Mexico that December and reported positively after watching a few games. Because of Hernández's age, the club originally planned to wait before making a move to sign him, but his potential involvement with the national team at the World Cup rushed the club into making a bid. United's chief scout, Jim Lawlor, was sent to Mexico for three weeks in February and March to watch Hernández and filed another positive report on him, before the club solicitor went over to Mexico to finalise the paperwork.

On 8 April 2010, Hernández agreed a deal to sign for Manchester United for an undisclosed fee, believed to be £7million, subject to a work permit application. The previous day, Hernández had been present at Manchester United's UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg win over Bayern Munich at Old Trafford. The deal was conducted in complete secrecy; Hernández's agent was kept in the dark, so was his grandfather Tomás Balcázar who thought Hernández was going on a trip to Atlanta in the United States. As part of the deal, United played a friendly against Chivas to open their new 45,000-capacity stadium on 30 July 2010. On 27 May 2010, the work permit was granted, allowing the transfer to be made official on 1 July.

Hernández made his United debut on 28 July 2010, coming on as a 63rd-minute substitute for Nani in the 2010 MLS All-Star Game; he then scored his first goal for the club 18 minutes later, lobbing the ball over Nick Rimando from just outside the area after a long through-ball from Darren Fletcher. Two days later, Hernández scored against Manchester United while playing in a friendly for his old club, Chivas; he started the game in a Chivas jersey and scored after just eight minutes. He switched sides at half-time, but he was unable to prevent a 3–2 defeat for Manchester United. Hernández then scored for the third pre-season game in a row as he came off the bench at half-time to net United's third goal in a 7–1 victory over a League of Ireland XI at the newly built Aviva Stadium on 4 August 2010.

He scored his first competitive goal on 8 August 2010, scoring United's second goal in the 3–1 victory over Chelsea in the 2010 FA Community Shield. Coming on at the start of the second half, Hernández got on the end of a pass from Antonio Valencia before the Mexican's shot deflected off his own face and into the net. On 16 August 2010, Hernández made his Premier League debut as he replaced Wayne Rooney in the 63rd minute of their 3–0 home victory over Newcastle United in the opening fixture of the new season. On 29 September 2010, Hernández scored his first goal in European competition as he netted the only goal in a 1–0 away victory over Valencia in their second group game of the Champions League campaign. Hernández scored his first league goal for United as he opened the scoring in a 2–2 home draw against West Bromwich Albion on 16 October 2010. Eight days later he netted his first brace for the club, also his first away league goals, as he scored twice in a 2–1 win over Stoke City.

International career

Hernández was one of the 21 players called up to the Mexican under-20 national team for the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup being held in Canada; he wore the number 11 shirt.

On 30 September 2009, Hernández made his debut for Mexico against Colombia, where he made an assist in a 2–1 loss. On 24 February 2010, Hernández scored two goals against Bolivia and had an assist for Braulio Luna's goal. On 3 March 2010, Hernández scored a header against New Zealand, giving Mexico the lead in a 2–0 victory. On 17 March 2010, Hernández scored his fourth international goal to give Mexico a 2–1 victory over North Korea. On 26 May 2010, he scored a consolation header against the Netherlands in a 2–1 loss. On 30 May 2010, Hernández scored yet again, netting twice in a 5–1 victory over Gambia.

On 11 June 2010, Hernández made his FIFA World Cup debut during the opening game of the 2010 tournament against South Africa in a 1-1 draw, coming on in the 73rd minute to replace Guillermo Franco. On 17 June 2010, Hernández again came off the bench and this time scored his first ever World Cup goal, netting the first in a 2–0 victory over France by springing the offside trap, latching onto a through ball from Rafael Marquez, sidestepping Hugo Lloris and sidefooting into the net. By scoring he emulated his grandfather, Tomas Balcazar, who scored in the 1954 World Cup against France. He was elected as man of the match. On 27 June 2010, Hernández made his first start at a World Cup and netted his second goal of the World Cup, by turning Martin Demichelis on the edge of the box before sending a left-foot shot into the roof of the net, in Mexico's 3-1 loss against Argentina in the round of 16. FIFA's statistical analysis showed that Hernández was the quickest player in World Cup 2010, reaching a top speed of 32.15 km/h.

He scored another goal in his first match for Mexico since the World Cup, in a friendly against world champions Spain on 11 August 2010. He scored after just 12 minutes of the match, but new Manchester City signing David Silva equalised for Spain in the last minute of play to claim a 1–1 draw.

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