Chino Huerta, the “promise” who has not been able to take off in Liga MX.

César "Chino" Huerta, once considered a promising player in Mexican soccer, has shown flashes of talent, but his career in Liga MX has been marked by inconsistencies and a lack of consolidation, preventing his definitive takeoff and leaving his future in the Old Continent in doubt.

In a friendly match between the Mexican national team and Australia, César Huerta miraculously managed to score the last-minute goal that meant the tie for Mexico after a disastrous match where the Oceanians were on the verge of taking an important victory against the national team. After saving the Tri from international ridicule, speculation began and Chino Huerta was called a “promise” but this never came to fruition.

Within the history of Mexican soccer, it is no secret that there are continuous narratives about potential promises, players with flashes of quality and dynamism who end up stagnating at a medium level without ever making it to the Old Continent. César Huerta, better known as El Chino, a player who began his career in the youth teams of Pumas de la UNAM, the team he currently plays for, however, during his career he had stints in other Mexican soccer teams.

He was part of the Chivas Rayadas del Guadalajara where, due to personal differences between several players of the club, including Antonio “Pollo” Briseño, he did not appear on the team and had to go directly to Zacatepec.

The winger was a member of the first team of Mazatlán FC, the emergence of the Sinaloa team arose after the disappearance of the Monarcas Morelia franchise where he was playing, a team that after the Covid-19 pandemic was fighting relegation.

During his time with the Kraken team, Huerta scored three goals and one assist, in fact, he was the author of the first goal in the history of the club, exactly on July 27, 2020 in the Guardianes 2020 Tournament after a break of almost 3 months due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Huerta could not remain with the gunnery team because the player's card still belonged to Chivas and his card was worth around 10 million dollars.

Therefore, at the end of his time with Los Cañoneros in December 2020, he returned to his third stage with Chivas Rayadas del Guadalajara, where he again failed to fully consolidate his position. Two and a half years later, he ended up leaving the Guadalajara team with nothing more to offer.

César Huerta currently plays for the club that saw him take his first steps as a footballer, Pumas de la UNAM. Despite having flashes of quality and dynamism on certain occasions, he has not managed to become a benchmark for his team.

A very characteristic defect of Chino Huerta is not being able to convert clear opportunities in front of the rival goal when he has to take off his marks or control the ball, which requires a lot of technique. Many times his shots go too far from the goal and his crosses are not effective either. Despite this, his peculiar way of taking penalties has also been heavily criticized by the press and fans, since on more than one occasion he has missed the penalty due to his exaggerated feint on the goalkeeper, which rather than a distraction seems to be an announcement of where he is going to place the ball.

Currently there are only rumors about a possible departure to Europe by the Mexican national team. One of the teams that asked about the winger was Girona from La Liga in Spain, but so far it has remained a simple doubt and without an offer beyond that.

Esponda Armando