¡MAZA! To Philips Sport Vereniging Naamlose Venootschap!

By: Edgardo | May 9th, 2008

To shorten it a bit, Francisco Javer “Maza” Rodriguez is headed to PSV this summer. Let me repeat … El Maza …. is going … to Europe. Not Uruapan, but across the Atlantic , to the Netherlands, specifically Eindhoven.

Blink once, blink twice, then rub your eyes. Maza signed a three year deal. Still don’t believe it?

maza contract

My guess is that mediotiempo probably took the picture so people would believe this. So by now, people not familiar with the situation may be wondering why all the surprise that Maza is going to europe. Well, it goes a little something like this…

In his early career, Maza seemed like a decent defender, especially when you consider his then limited experience. Then he showed mental lapses… many of them. And blunders followed them. And stupid tackles. Then stupid unnecessary tackles that lead to red cards. When Lavolpe capped Maza, there was a lot of disapproval from fans. Frequent complaints about his blunders, his mistiming, misjudgment, and poor Maza seemed stuck at a similar level to which he debuted.

After the World Cup, Chivas Owner Jorge Vergara announced that every one of his players that went to Germany was staying in Europe with the exception of Ramon Morales. That meant that Maza, Omar Bravo, Oswaldo Sanchez, Carlos Salcido, and Gonzalo Pineda were all transferring to European clubs, when only Salcido did.

The mention of Maza became a big joke, because many saw him as inadequate for the Mexican league, so if he went to Europe he would get torn to shreds, make Mexico look bad, blah blah blah. In the meantime, Maza was still typecast as a mistake prone klutz.

But little by little, and undetected by many, Maza was improving. Although still the butt of many jokes , he became a pretty solid defender, yet was still given little credit by many non-Chivas fans. Even this year, when he showed improvement on the ball and defensively, he still suffers from the typecasting of his career, and also Vergara boasting of how many of his players are going to Europe, when that wasn’t the case.

So after those circumstances, it wouldn’t be hard to see the situation he’s in, and surely the transfer leaves many people incredulous.Personally, I’m extremely glad he’s going to Eindhoven. For one, I’ve been defending Maza lately swearing up and down he’s improved and that nobody notices his good performances or his improvement, and would rather focus on his blunders of the past.

But this no time to bash Maza… Even if people see him as a clumsy liability, he’s one of our own and moving to bigger things. Also, for his immediate future, he would like to leave to the Netherlands as a champion, and said he was going to go home and cry with his wife and children.

How many scenes are better than the Maza family crying happily in a group hug?

¡SUERTE MAZA!

maza runs