The Passion of Cuauhtémoc

Chicago's Cuauhtémoc Blanco lifts the MVP trophy following this year's All-Star Game between the MLS All-Stars and West Ham. Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images

Reprinted from SI Latino

Despite the fact that he makes about $2.5 million a season, Cuauhtémoc Blanco complains at the gas pump just like the rest of us.

"I put in $60 and didn't even fill up the tank," says Cuau as he drives away in his Toyota Sequoia SUV from a Shell station in Bridgeview, Ill. The hour-long commute from his apartment in downtown Chicago to the Toyota Park stadium and back, however, is his only grievance.

"I'm very happy here," says the Fire captain, who has tallied four goals and six assists, was named MVP of the 2008 All-Star Game and has helped his team reach second place in the Eastern Conference standings. "We Latinos need to change our mentality that MLS is weak. I used to think it was an easy league and I was wrong -- it's very competitive. But ever since I got here everybody knew that I didn't come to steal a paycheck. I came to work."

Blanco is part of a recent wave of signings by MLS clubs that has brought over the kind of playmaking leadership not seen since Carlos "El Pibe" Valderrama hung up his boots with the Colorado Rapids. Along with Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew), Marcelo Gallardo (D.C. United) and Jorge Rojas (New York Red Bulls), the fiery Mexican can control the tempo of a game as well as anyone. "I think that, having established its physical game, the MLS is trying to slow it down and see the ball move around more," says Gallardo. "Sometimes the game here is so vertical that everybody collides."

Blanco provides something else that was missing from American soccer: At 35, he quarrels with opponents, refs and teammates in win-at-all-costs, no holds barred performances unmatched by his younger brethren.

Cuauhtémoc's emotions, though, sometimes get the better of him. He proved that in Mexico, where he once punched a TV reporter and another time started an all out brawl during a Copa Libertadores match. It was no surprise then that it would also happen here. In a now-infamous U.S. Open game against D.C. United, Blanco was red-carded for punching the ball as Clyde Simms was holding on to it. As he exited the field, he also had a physical altercation with a D.C. United employee.

"He thinks he can do whatever he wants," D.C. defender Marc Burch told the press after the game. (Blanco publicly apologized for the incident.)

But for all those people thinking that -- after a superb 2007 MLS rookie season, which saw him win Fire MVP and goal of the year honors -- Blanco is reverting back to his old habits, not so fast.

"Cuauhtémoc hates losing, even a U.S. Open game," says Telemundo Chicago sports anchor Óscar Guzmán, who also hosts a radio show with Blanco. "Hitting the ball to get it back from an opponent who's wasting time, that's something he's always done in Mexico when his team is losing. Everything else that happened is due to the bad blood between the Fire and D.C. United, especially between their South American players and Cuauhtémoc."

The image of Blanco as an ultracompetitive, mischievous and violent force on the field contrasts with his easy demeanor while driving through the streets of Chicago. Despite the heavy traffic on Lake Shore Drive, Cuauhtémoc doesn't lose his temper and actually comes off as an amiable tour guide, albeit one with a political conscience.

First he points to Lake Michigan, where he likes to hang out in his friend's boat and people watch. Then, upon entering the lively downtown bar and restaurant scene, he champions his fellow immigrants ("They do the work nobody else wants to do") and the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee from his adopted city ("You know, I really like Obama"). Before saying goodbye, Blanco recommends a couple of good places to eat and be seen on Rush St., but warns that "there's no good Mexican food here."

Blanco's contradictory on the field, off the field personas tends to surprise the people that get to know him. "I didn't like him at first, I thought he was too explosive," says Marisabel Álvarez, a farmer from Veracruz who met Blanco when he played there for the Tiburones Rojos in '04, and who traveled to Chicago to see her hero with the Fire. "Then I realized he's good people. In Veracruz we love him. He lifted our team."

A similar feeling is expressed by some fans of América, the first and last club Blanco played for in Mexico. "When he made his debut with the Azulcrema jersey, I hated him, then he became my idol," says Luis Ramón Pérez, a cab driver who got Blanco's autograph after a practice session at Toyota Park.

Between 1992 and '07 -- with several interludes in between (Necaxa, Real Valladolid of Spain, Veracruz) -- Cuauhtémoc played 333 games and scored 125 goals for América, the team the majority of Mexicans love to hate, which is the reason Blanco earned a nickname that he despises: The Hunchback.

The other team linked to Blanco in the collective consciousness is El Tri. Blanco played in the '98 and '02 World Cups; was banished from the national squad by Ricardo Lavolpe, and then made a comeback during the Hugo Sánchez reign. In June, shortly after Sven-Göran Eriksson was named Mexico's coach, the debate over Cuauhtémoc's role in the national team resurfaced in his native country, especially when the Swedish manager and El Tri traveled to Chicago for an international friendly. Blanco attended the game against Peru, but did not pay a visit to his former Tricolor teammates. "I have no friends in the national team," he explains.

A day before El Tri thumped Peru 4-0, Eriksson made his way to Toyota Park to see Cuauhtémoc and the Fire take on D.C. United in a June 7 regular season game. The start of the match played before 19,000 Fire fans and a small Barra Brava contingent couldn't have been more auspicious. Blanco electrified the crowd with a nutmeg and a couple of back heel passes from his bag of tricks, and then unleashed a left-footed shot that nearly opened the score. The Fire finally got on the board in the first half when Blanco stole a pass and fed a beautiful through-ball to Chad Barrett, leaving him one-on-one to score.

"Blanco is a true, classic playmaker who makes everyone around him look good," says Fire forward Calen Carr. "I keep my eyes open because he's known for doing the unexpected."

Eriksson also must have liked what he saw from Blanco, but everything changed in the second half. Chicago coach Denis Hamlett inexplicably took Barret out of the game, leaving Cuauhtémoc all alone up front. Without the speed or energy to push the D.C. United defense, Cuauhtémoc ceased to be a factor. To make matters worse, two defensive mistakes cost Chicago the game.

Eriksson didn't make any comments after the match, but the fact that he was even there left the door open for a call-up: But should Cuauhtémoc -- arguably the best Mexican player of the last decade -- be given another chance with El Tri? Clearly he does not have the pace or stamina to play 90 minutes of competitive international soccer.

Nevertheless, Mexico lacks a field general, someone who can step up when the team is in trouble. El Tricolor is enjoying its most talented generation of players in history (Carlos Vela, Andrés Guardado, Nery Castillo), but it hasn't found an undisputed leader. Blanco, for his part, can only hope. "My dream is to return to El Tri," he says.

Cuauhtémoc's other dream is to retire playing for América. In the meantime, when he's not back in Mexico doing promotions (he's now hawking a CD with his favorite Latin pop songs), Blanco spends his days practicing, playing and driving around Chicago, where he's under contract until December.

"They want to keep me at least for another season," Cuau says, hinting that he has yet to make a decision. With no end in sight to the rising oil prices, maybe the Fire should consider offering him gas vouchers.