A familiar face is coming to Carson on Sunday night.
When the LA Galaxy meet Chivas de Guadalajara in a spicy Leagues Cup showdown, it will also mark the return to Dignity Health Sports Park for a player who was once the face of the club (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is back.
Mexico’s all-time leading scorer tallied 39 goals and had six assists in 82 games across all competitions in four injury-plagued seasons with the Galaxy. He was the team’s leading scorer twice (2021, '22) and departed with the seventh-most goals in club history.
“Obviously [Chicharito] is a competitor," said LA head coach Greg Vanney. "That’s the one thing with 'Chich' that you get always is he’s a super competitive guy.
"He understands the game within the game and I’m sure he’s going to be super motivated to come here and perform well and score goals against us. I’m sure his motivation will be high to be in this game and to try to execute.”
After closing the door on his Galaxy career, Chicharito re-opened one in Guadalajara, signing with his boyhood club in January 2024.
From 2006-10, Chicharito made 75 appearances for Chivas, scoring 30 goals and helping the club to a LIGA MX Apertura title during the 2006-07 season.
An illustrious career on the global stage followed, including stops at Manchester United and Real Madrid, and winning a host of trophies.
Chicharito then made a much-ballyhooed move to LA in 2020 from LaLiga side Sevilla. When healthy, he was one of the league’s best strikers and served as the Galaxy’s captain and spiritual leader.
“I think you saw when the team was functioning well and he was in good health and on the field, he was a goal-scorer,” Vanney said. “He was an assassin like he always has been everywhere in his career.”
Chicharito led the Galaxy back to the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs during a 2022 season in which he had 18 goals and two assists, plus was a finalist for Landon Donovan MLS MVP. It was LA’s lone postseason appearance in the last four seasons.
And now, at age 36, he’s back in LA, hoping to lead the Goats to the knockout round of Leagues Cup against his former club.
Chicharito didn’t appear in Chivas’ opening Leagues Cup match, suffering from what Chivas head coach Fernando Gago called “muscle pain.” Instead, the wild 4-3 loss on penalties to the San Jose Earthquakes in front of a Leagues Cup-record crowd at Levi’s Stadium was Cade Cowell’s return to San Jose.
Will Chicharito make his mark on Sunday? Stay tuned.
