Sports Column
Once a Legend, Always a Legend
The Mexican soccer player from Chivas de Guadalajara has broken the record that every Chivas fan in this generation has been waiting for. In August 13, 2015, Chivas captain, Omar Bravo, led his team to a 2-0 victory over Monarcas. In this victory, Bravo claimed himself to be part of a new history written for Chivas de Guadalajara team. Bravo scored two goals in the game leading him to a total of 123 goals scored with the team breaking previous record of legend Salvador Reyes whose record was of 122 goals.
Bravo gave Chivas their first win of the Apertura 2015 season with his two goals. Chivas had not taken any win in the first three games since the season started and this was crucial to the team because they were facing relegation zone along with Monarcas, Veracruz and Dorados. This game was a great opportunity to take a win home since they were going against Monarcas and would be a very competitive game. The game started and the scoreboard broke ties in minute 27 when Bravo scored in the first half. It was at that very moment when Omar Bravo scored one of the most important goals in his career. The 1-0 meant he had matched Salvador Reyes’s record of most goals with the team with 122 goals. But that was not the end of the night. Bravo had no idea that that same night not only would he had tied the record but break it and give his team their first win of the season. Only three minutes later after Bravo scored the leading goal, Carlos Fierro came through the right wing and centered a ball that Bravo was able to connect with and scored his second goal of the game. At that moment he became the soccer player with most goals scored for Chivas de Guadalajara and he celebrated with great blessedness. The thousands of fans speculating in the Omnilife Stadium didn’t stay behind. They celebrated with him with cheers and engaging him and his team.
Fifteen minutes before the game ended Bravo had a small muscle cramp and was substituted by Michel Vazquez. Every fan in the stadium cheered loudly and applauded him as he left the field in his substitution. At the end of the game his team and family celebrated in the field with thousands of fans witnessing the night he made history. His wife was there too with their newborn baby as well. The coach spoke some words and congratulated him giving him the net of the goal net where he scored his two goals. It was an honorable day for Bravo and a night he would never forget keeping legendary Salvador Reyes in his mind. In a press confess after the game he said, “Don Chava will always have a place in this team, he and his companions are owed the greatness of this club”. Omar Bravo was player of the year
It was one of the greatest days for Omar Bravo especially since he was going to retire from this club at the end of the season at the age of 35. Bravo’s first official debut was with this same club, Chivas, in 2001. After fourteen years since his debut in one of the greatest clubs in the Mexican League, Bravo broke a record that he wouldn’t have imagined. Bravo left to Europe in 2008 and came back to the Mexican League in 2009, but it wasn’t until 2013 that Bravo came back to Chivas again when he was close to retiring due to his age. Bravo did poorly when he came back to Chivas and had lack of goals, he wasn’t as fast as he used to be and his whole game style was a lot slower. It would be difficult for him to break Reyes’s record at this pace. Surprisingly he had the best season in his last season with Chivas since he came back to the club in 2013. Omar Bravo was claimed the player of the year for the Mexican League in 2015. It couldn’t have been a better time since this was his last season with the club; a team with a new legend to remember.
