RGV Grandes News Release – www.rgvgrandes.com
Monday, April 4, 2011
McALLEN, Texas – Mexican soccer star and cult hero Cuauhtémoc Blanco is to bring his team, Irapuato to the Rio Grande Valley to play the RGV Grandes. The friendly game will take place on April 30 at the Bobby Lackey Stadium in Weslaco, starting at 8:30 p.m., according to the Grandes general manager, Zeke Morales.
Blanco was born and raised in Tepito, a poor neighborhood of Mexico City. He is widely considered one of the greatest and most talented Mexican players. His distinguished career includes over 400 games played for teams in Mexico, Spain and the Chicago Fire of the Major Soccer League in the United States.
Now in the twilight of his career, Blanco often appeared as a substitute in Mexico’s World Cup games in South Africa last summer. He has scored over 150 goals during that span that began in 1992 with América in the Mexican League. He is the only Mexican football player to win a major award from FIFA, the world’s governing body for soccer. He won the Golden Ball and the Golden Shoe awards in the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. He was also awarded the most valuable player five times in the Mexican First Division.
In addition to his prowess on the pitch, Blanco is currently filming a telenovela in Mexico and has appeared in different reality shows in the neighbor country to the South.
Blanco’s latest team, Irapuato, plays in the Mexican Liga de Ascenso.
The RGV Grandes are the Valley’s newest sports franchise. An expansion team, they will kick off their first season in the Premier Development League of the United Soccer League.
The Grandes began putting a squad together in February and March with tryouts at Brownsville, San Antonio and McAllen respectively. That process of developing a final roster will continue throughout the month of April through practice sessions and the exhibitions against world-class Mexican teams. The team will begin the season with a final roster of 22 players.
“These are obviously big games for our players. A lot of our players have tried to make the pro circuit and now will see what it takes to make it,” said Grandes head coach Gary James Hamilton, himself a former English Premier League player for Middlesbrough.
“Defensively we look very strong, the midfield looks good and we are still looking for a top goal scorer. One thing I can promise is a very passionate team that wants to do well. Our guys want to play,” added Hamilton in characterizing the current look of the Grandes team.
The team opens the season at Laredo on May 6th and will debut at home at Edinburg Field on May 13th.