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Chicharito

West Ham rides early goals to beat Newcastle

By Nicholas MendolaMar 2, 2019, 2:25 PM EDT
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  • Rice scores early header
  • Noble converts penalty
  • West Ham move 9th, four back of 7th

Declan Rice and Mark Noble scored first half goals to lead West Ham United to a 2-0 defeat of Newcastle United on Saturday at the London Stadium.

West Ham United has closed ground on Wolves in the race for 7th with the win.

Newcastle United remains six points clear of 18th place with nine matches to play.

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West Ham struck early through Rice, who lost Federico Fernandez while jockeying for position pre-corner and put a simple header past Martin Dubravka.

Ayoze Perez was offside for a 28th minute equalizer bid. Sean Longstaff then played a beautiful diagonal ball into the West Ham box to no avail.

West Ham earned a penalty, when Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez was taken down in the box by Florian Lejeune. Noble went to the spot and finished well for 2-0.

Fabian Schar nearly turned a second chance off a corner kick into a goal in the fifth minute of first half stoppage, but it was blocked out for a corner and the Irons saw their lead into halftime.

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Perez’s shot across goal could’ve easily been 2-1, but it was too wayward to be a goal and too hard to meet a receiver.

Arthur Masuaku cued up Hernandez with a diagonal beauty, but the Mexican’s first touch wasn’t enough.

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AT HALF: Chicharito on the board, Bournemouth level at Man City

By Nicholas MendolaDec 1, 2018, 10:59 AM EDT
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There are goals in all five 10 a.m. ET kickoffs, including a stunner at Leicester City and two red cards.

Man City 1-1 Bournemouth – NBCSN [STREAM]

Bernardo Silva‘s early goal was answered by Callum Wilson before halftime as the Cherries are hanging with the hosts.

Huddersfield Town 1-1 Brighton & Hove Albion – NBC Sports Gold [STREAM]

It’s level at the John Smith’s Stadium, where Mathias Jorgensen put the Terriers ahead in the first minute. His teammate Steve Mounie took a red card in the 32nd and Shane Duffy restored level terms for Brighton before the break.

Leicester City 2-0 Watford – NBC Sports Gold [STREAM]

A Jamie Vardy penalty and marvelous juggling goal from James Maddison have the Foxes holding the Hornets down.

Newcastle United 0-1 West Ham United – NBC Sports Gold [STREAM]

Javier Chicharito took one of West Ham’s few chances, and Ayoze Perez has missed several chances to level the score at St. James’ Park.

Crystal Palace 1-0 Burnley – NBC Sports Gold [STREAM]

The Eagles are deservedly ahead of lowly Burnley, with James McArthur‘s 16th minute the only goal as Palace is out-attempting the Clarets 9-0.

Lozano, Vela keep Mexico rolling

AP Photo/Lee Jin-man
By Nicholas MendolaJun 23, 2018, 12:53 PM EDT
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Mexico is nearly onto the knockout rounds with plenty of time to spare.

Carlos Vela converted a PK and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez also scored in a 2-1 win over South Korea on Saturday in Rostov-on-Don.

Heung-Min Son buried a shot in stoppage time for South Korea’s goal.

El Tri got another decent performance from Hirving “Chucky” Lozano, who also scored Mexico’s goal in a 1-0 win over Germany.

A Swedish win or draw against Germany at 2 p.m. ET moves Mexico onto the knockout rounds.

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A handball allowed Vela his chance from the spot, and Mexico had its lead after 26 minutes.

Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa made several decent stops for Mexico in the win, though South Korea were admittedly wasteful in the final third.

Lozano then cued up Mexico’s insurance goal from Chicharito, who danced around a defender before bounding a ball home.

[ LIVE: World Cup scores ]

Son scored a beautiful goal in the third minute of stoppage time to put South Korea on the board.

Chicharito says Mexican team “always feels welcome” in the United States

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By Kyle BonnMay 25, 2018, 9:39 PM EDT
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Mexico will take on Wales on Monday at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA as they warm up for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Playing in the United States is nothing new for the USMNT’s southern neighbors, and it doesn’t phase them. In fact, they love it.

Star striker Chicharito told reporters that he and the rest of the squad is more than happy playing north of the border, because according to him, apart from a pair of venues, they can’t even tell they’re on the road.

“We always feel welcome here,” Chicharito said. “It’s like our second country, if we can say that, apart from Columbus [Ohio] and apart from the stadium in Miami when we played Colombia…those two stadiums, that’s the only time I’ve felt that we were the away team.”

Chicharito knows that the high population of his countrymen and women in the United States helps the Mexican team feel close to home when they play over the border. He’s all for the melting pot of the US.

“We feel at home [in the United States],” Chicharito said. “We have plenty of Mexicans here, so I don’t know what else to tell you, we feel welcome, we feel glad, happy to be in touch with those people here. They are sacrificing a lot of things, and they are all enjoying their lives that they decide to live in the USA…it’s great. It’s great when you come to another country and you feel like you are home. You see all the stadium green, shouting and screaming your names, screaming your goals, so yeah, it’s great.”

Mexico will play Wales on Monday at 9:00 p.m. ET, and will return home to take on Scotland at Azteca on Saturday at 8:00 p.m. ET.

Chicharito ready to leave West Ham this summer

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By Joe Prince-WrightApr 10, 2018, 8:45 AM EDT
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Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez seems to be keen on leaving West Ham United this summer.

Mexico’s all-time leading goalscorer, 29, jumped off the bench to score the equalizer at Chelsea on Sunday as the Hammers grabbed a vital point as they continue to climb clear of the relegation zone.

However, Hernandez spoke after the 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge and it seems like he would prefer to be elsewhere next season.

“I am looking to play 90 minutes every game. I want to give a headache to the manager like he has all over the squad. Some players are injured and coming back. We all want to play more than 20 minutes. Everybody wants to give everything to be in the team,” Hernandez said. “I say thank you to the fans. Since my first day here, they have supported me well. They shout my name and sing my songs. It was a good weekend for us because they were singing my name, then I scored and I could celebrate with them. It was a very good point. We are all very happy.”

Earlier this season the predatory striker said something similar as injuries and Moyes’ arrival impacted his minutes significantly.

That said, Hernandez has scored eight goals in the Premier League this season and has four in limited minutes since Moyes took charge in November. The El Tri star started his first 11 games at West Ham and scored four times and since then he has started just five times in his last 14 appearances, also scoring four times in that stretch with two off the bench.

Hernandez has played in 1,455 minutes this season and has four goals in his last seven games.

Whatever way you slice it up, Marko Arnautovic is the main striker at West Ham and Moyes prefers to play with just one central striker. The fact that Moyes benched Hernandez often when he was in charge of Man United in the past is irrelevant as the attacking talent at his disposal back then was far superior to his options at West Ham.

Should Hernandez play more at West Ham? Probably. Will he? Probably not.

Hernandez needs to find a team where he will be the main central striker or one of two up front and play regularly. He left Bayer Leverkusen to come back to the PL and it will be intriguing to see where he wants to go in the summer after the World Cup with Mexico. It seems like plenty of Premier League clubs will want to snap him up and despite limited minutes at West Ham this season his stock hasn’t dropped.