Hugo Sánchez is less excited about the 2026 World Cup.

▲ In recognition of his legendary career, Hugo received a sculpture of his feet, titled Golden Roots , created by Italian artist Dante Mortet. Photo by Marco Peláez

Erendira Palma Hernández

La Jornada Newspaper, Friday, April 25, 2025, p. a12

The greatest lesson that Hugo Sánchez learned was when he played for Atlético de Madrid under the command of Luis Aragonés, a coach who told him a phrase that would be transcendental: Do great things, if you do, you will live forever .

There isn't as much excitement (for the 2026 World Cup) as there was in other occasions, when we had more quality, talent, and seriousness. Now the national team isn't as prepared as it was in 1986 , he noted.

Regarding the case of León, which was excluded from the Club World Cup for violating the regulations against timeshare ownership, he considered that there is a lack of unity among the owners of Liga MX teams to defend the spot obtained by the emerald team in a sporting manner.

He earned it on the field, and now this is outrageous; it's shameful to me. I'm a great defender of FIFA; I was a member of the organization for many years, but I think they're doing things wrong , he asserted.

Hugo received a sculpture of his feet as a tribute, titled Golden Roots, created by Italian artist Dante Mortet, who also made one for Pelé.

In addition to the piece, Mortet's son created another work for the former Mexican striker, reusing a photograph of Sánchez when he played for Atlético Madrid, just as he shot at the goal, which he edited to include a golden ball.

This man has a lot of strength, which he transforms into elegance. This photo shows rigor and balance. Art is the great opportunity to transform champions into heroes , Mortet noted when presenting both works to the Pentapichichi.

In this tribute, Sánchez highlighted that Aragonés' words were what would later lead him to win five Pichichi awards as the top scorer in Spain and become the Mexican footballer with the greatest international success.

Road to success

While I was in Spain, I did miss Mexico, but I knew I couldn't return because I hadn't completed my mission. To become a great, I had to go to Europe; if I had stayed here, I'd still be the best player in history to play for Mexico, scoring goals for the national team. I played in Europe for Atlético and Real Madrid. The further you go, the greater the recognition.

However, despite the glory he has achieved, the only regret he still feels is not having achieved a better performance with the national team.

A journalist asked me: Why didn't you win the World Cup in 1986 with Mexico? I replied that back then I hardly had any warm-up matches with the national team, as there were no FIFA dates.

However, Sánchez recounted that he had a rematch to achieve his childhood dream of winning the World Cup with the Tricolor at the 1970 Mexico City International Cup, although he didn't have the support. "When I was introduced as the Tricolor's coach, I told the directors that I needed three World Cups to be champions, and they just stared at me. I told them that then we wouldn't be world champions because they don't believe it ," he concluded.

▲ The red and white team won 2-0 against Pumas in the first quarterfinal match. Photo: Chivas Femenil

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Friday, April 25, 2025, p. a31

Chivas advanced to the semifinals of the Liga MX Femenil Clausura 2025 tournament after defeating Pumas 2-0 in the first leg of the quarterfinals, played yesterday at the Akron Stadium in Guadalajara, Jalisco.

The goals for the Guadalajara team were scored by Esbeydi Salazar (60) and Alicia Cervantes (80), who reached 159 goals in total, thus continuing as one of the league's top scorers.

The red and whites made their home advantage count from the opening minutes and created danger; however, the feline defense, led by Julissa Dávila, became an insurmountable wall, while the offense forgot to attack, so both teams went into the break scoreless.

It wasn't until the 60th minute that Chivas managed to breach the auriazul goal, after Salazar received a pass sent from long distance and defined with a cross shot to beat goalkeeper Wendy Toledo and put the score at 1-0.

The home side extended their lead (2-0) in the 80th minute through Cervantes, who scored with a shot from the center of the box. The goal was nearly disallowed due to an alleged offside by the forward; however, referee Carlos Trejo validated it after reviewing the play with VAR.

In stoppage time, at 90+6, the red-and-whites celebrated a third goal thanks to a header from Adriana Iturbide, which was not counted due to an alleged prior foul.

The second leg of this series will be played this Sunday at the Estadio Olímpico Universitario.