Cucho Hernández put on a historic performance for the Columbus Crew this weekend for what he did with the ball, and somewhat of another historic performance for what he did off of it. Bring him the MVP and Oscar award.
Watch: Cucho Hernandez pulls Oscar-worthy dive and groundroll in MLS Cup
Hernández was one of the heroes for the Columbus Crew in their 2-1 win over LAFC in the MLS Cup Final this Saturday, crowning themselves as the MLS Champions.
He scored the penalty to put them ahead in the game in the 30th minute and was named as the game's MVP.
M ✨ V ✨ P
Cucho Hernandez is HIM. #MLSCup pic.twitter.com/AN40A0cehg— Major League Soccer (@MLS) December 9, 2023
Ice cold.
However, his penalty and notable performance for the Crew last night were slightly blemished by what was an Oscar-worthy performance at the time reacting to a foul. It was that bad.
In the second half and with Columbus leading 2-0, a late tackle by LAFC’s Carlos Vela on Hernández was enough to have sent the Colombian-international directly to a hospital (or at least that’s what Cucho made it out to be).
The Crew’s No. 9 had a hilarious reaction to the foul — screaming, twitching and rolling out of the television’s frame — trying to force the eventual yellow card from the referee for the LAFC captain.
Vela is given a yellow for this challenge
Do you agree with the call? pic.twitter.com/3sUesqWMRo— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 9, 2023
He went on to play until the 85th minute.
His rolling-reaction went viral on social media, with fans comparing his ‘dives’ to those of Neymar in the 2018 World Cup.
Cucho summoning Neymar pic.twitter.com/FZvJfa8oUK
— Randy Spaulding (@spauldrs1977) December 9, 2023
The question should be where is Cucho Hernández rolling to and is he rolling to meet up with his buddy Neymar? https://t.co/1GcfXX41EB
— Alex Westry (@alex_westry) December 9, 2023
I hope one day, MLS will be the first league to do something against this Cucho-Neymar kind of acting. Cucho is regularly acting as if he's been shot by a sniper to get a foul. @ColumbusCrew https://t.co/qWG7iS5ex4— Pascal (maintenant vieux sage) (@Naud2Paul) December 9, 2023
The resemblance is quite uncanny if you ask us.
Minutes after the foul, however, LAFC’s Jesús Murillo went into a challenge against Hernández at the goal-line, sending the Colombian "flying" out of bounds and into players warming up on the sideline.
Murillo sent Cucho flying pic.twitter.com/EdnkFj1zz1
— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) December 9, 2023
You gotta reward the acting somehow.
