There's a World Cup coming up in seven months, and, unless something big changes, Javier Hernandez won't be there.
The Mexican striker announced himself at international level during the 2010 tournament in South Africa as Mexico stunned France, having agreed a move to Manchester United just months prior.
In 2014, he was on target as Mexico beat Croatia to reach the last 16, Four years on from that, he scored in a group stage win over South Korea as El Tri once again reached the knockouts.
He won his 100th cap in March 2018, just weeks before scoring an equaliser at Chelsea which helped keep West Ham United on track for Premier League survival. However, since Mexico's elimination in Russia, he has played just three times for his country.
Mexico boss Tata Martino was asked about the striker, and answered bluntly. "Javier Hernandez is not here because the coach hasn't picked him in the last three years," he said at a press conference (via Goal ).
"I've got nothing to share with this media. Everything that happens in the national team is dealt with in the national team."
Martino has never used Chicharito in a competitive fixture since taking over in 2019, and left the veteran out of his 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup squad. The former Premier League star has rediscovered his goalscoring touch at LA Galaxy,
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After three successive double-figure seasons, including the final goal of Sir Alex Ferguson's reign, Hernandez saw his Man Utd career fall apart after the Scottish manager's retirement. He started just six times in the league under David Moyes, before Louis van Gaal failed to find a place for him in the side at Old Trafford.
His final game for the Red Devils came in August 2015, in a Champions League play-off win at Club Brugge. A move to Bayer Leverkusen was a relatively productive one, with stints at West Ham and Sevilla following before his MLS switch, but there were still regrets about how things panned out in Manchester.
“If I’d had more chances at United or Real, I’d probably have been ‘the star’ there as well – we’ll never know," he told FourFourTwo in 2016. "I didn’t have the chance. I never had the chance to play 20 games in a row so people could say: ‘He’s a good player who should stay’ or ‘He can’t be the star – he’s not a good player’."
The striker's international inclusion wasn't impacted by his United departure. However, years later - upon moving to MLS after a difficult spell in Spain, he was overcome by emotion after coming to terms with the stage of his career he was at.
"I wanted to speak to you guys because the thing is about to get done," he said in a video filmed before he became a Galaxy player. "It's almost certain that I'm going to LA. It's okay, everything is perfect, it's only that, well it's like the beginning of my retirement.
"What I mean is that we're saying goodbye to a career that we put a lot of effort on and we worked, and I know you guys also feel it. We're going to look at the bright side, but whether we like it or not we are retiring from the European dream."
That dream was undoubtedly realised - more than 100 goals for five different clubs is no mean feat, and the tally included a famous winner for Real Madrid over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League. What not everyone knew at the time, though is that Chicharito was going through a lot more than what he let on regarding his career.
His grandfather, former Mexico international footballer Tomas Balcazar, died in April 2021, and the striker fell into depression. As reported by The Ringer, the footballer's sister said the loss "kind of broke him," explaining "It was like all his world collapsed in a minute".
The 2020 season was a struggle, with just two goals for his new club, and he said societal pressures made it hard for him to overcome the off-field issues. "I wasn’t the great human being I wanted to be,” he told The Ringer in 2021, but it took him time to reach that realisation.
“In society, vulnerability is weakness. For me, vulnerability is one of the most powerful, strong, and loving things that you can do for yourself and for humanity.”
It was not until 2021 that he would open up on how he managed to make a change, with the help of a Jim Carrey interview in which the actor spoke candidly about mental health. “I played a character because that’s what we ask of famous people,” Hernandez told The Ringer. “It’s give me, give me, give me."
The last two seasons have been a different story, with Hernandez scoring 17 times in 21 MLS games last season as Greg Vanney's side narrowly missed out on the postseason playoffs. The goals have continued to flow this term - five in six has been enough to keep Galaxy second in the Western Conference - but there's still no sign of an international recall.
“I decided to call Alan Pulido because he is having a good start to the MLS season with Sporting Kansas City and Henry Martin because he had a good campaign with America, as simple as that,” Martino said upon leaving Chicharito out of his Gold Cup squad in 2021. However, with the veteran's goal record continuing to catch the eye, that explanation has brought questioning glances.
That hasn't stopped the former Barcelona boss, though. Indeed, in an interview with Azteca Deportes, he made similar noises to the ones we have heard over the last year or more.
"I have leaned towards other soccer players, but in no case is there any analysis of Javier's current career that I do not know, I have simply chosen to call others ," he said. In the most recent squad, that meant call-ups for Martin and for 20-year-old Santiago Gimenez, with Wolves striker Raul Jimenez the experienced line-leader in front of them.
Chicharito remains Mexico's all-time leading goalscorer, with 52 in 109 games, and no currently active player is within 20 of that total. However, despite his rebirth at club level, it looks like he won't have the chance to add to that total in Qatar.
