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More honorable than a knight in shining armor, more glorious than saving the world, becoming a superstar footballer is not just any dream, it is the one that we go to bed every night hoping to experience. Mexican international Hector Herrera is living that dream.
He plays for FC Porto, the flagship franchise of one of the biggest leagues in Europe, under the bright lights at exotic European locales, going toe-to-toe with the best of the best in the Champions League. Not bad for a guy that used to be known as “Zorilla” — that’s “skunk,” for my fellow English speakers — and he’s just getting started.
Herrera is already the best box-to-box midfielder that El Tri has. That means he can do it all, wherever he wants: he can start attacks, finish attacks, make runs, track runners, and shut down the opposition with tackles of uncompromising precision. In a game that often glorifies attackers at the expense of everyone else on the pitch, Herrera is the hybrid that forces the world to recognize the utility of what he does. A walking medium between attack and defense, the man is the cornerstone of the midfield, any midfield, it doesn’t matter whether he is wearing the green of Mexico or the blue and white of Porto.
Photo: Ninoramirez09 | telemundosports | Twitter
As he rounds into the amazing player that we all hope he can become, Herrera is already starting to put his name down among the greats of Mexico’s illustrious history. He is chasing greatness, immortality, with a generation of Mexican players that can only be described as golden — Vela, Hernandez, Layun, Corona — and in that pursuit he is about to pass the first meaningful milestone. One set by the greatest player in the history of Mexican soccer: Hugo Sanchez. Herrera has a chance of becoming the highest scoring Mexican in a single Champions League campaign.
It started inconspicuously enough, as all record breaking feats do, with his first against Athletic Bilbao back in October, and his second against BATE Borisov in November. Two goals, individually special but objectively insignificant, nothing that would make you think that a player in the role of Herrera would add any more. Box-to-box midfielders simply don’t score that often. They have to do everything, so they never produce a lot of anything. Two goals in three games was impressive, but optimism was checked by reality.
Then he made it 3 in 5 against FC Basel, and it was checked that much less.
Suddenly, Hugo Sanchez’ mark of 5 goals in a single campaign has become that much more attainable.
Herrera will need some luck on his side if he is to have any real chance of breaking the record. It is extremely hard to see him scoring against any of the other quarterfinalists except Monaco, but if Porto is drawn with the Ligue 1 side, it becomes much, much more likely that Herrera can improve his scoring record to 5 in 7 across both legs of the quarter final. That would match Sanchez’ record, which would be a feat unto itself. Even more fortune would be required to break it. Herrera has the quality to do it, the only matter affecting whether or not he does is which tool in his ever expanding repertoire will be required the most, his attacking or his defending?
Herrera is already on the fast track to having his name up in lights. If he manages to break this record, he will be able to have it set in stone.
