MLS: Javier Hernandez retirement comments lost in translation

Javier Hernandez has clarified his retirement comments. His explanation helps reveal a little about his future and the true reputation of MLS.

Language is a crazy thing. One word can change the entire tone of a message. Even the intonation of the same word can make it mean completely different things. The complexity of language, especially when translating between different languages, was on display when a video of Javier Hernandez showed him using the word ‘retirement’ in regards to coming to Major League Soccer.

Hernandez posted a video to his YouTube channel in which he was on the phone to his father, explaining the impending move to the Los Angeles Galaxy that had been widely reported in the previous days and was to be made official later that day.

In the conversation, Chicharito said, “Well, it’s like the beginning of my retirement <…> We’re saying goodbye to a career we put a lot of effort into, and we worked, and I know you guys feel it and we’re gonna look at the bright side and it’s going to be amazing, but whether we like it or not, we are retiring from the European dream.”

Obviously, when you hear this you start to groan. Just another player choosing to retire to the States. MLS has been doing its best to shed the ‘Retirement League’ label. Chicharito’s move to MLS seemed to be the first step in doing so.

But then again the message was in Spanish. I am no master of the language but it seems like Hernandez confirmed that he actually meant that this was the start of his retirement. Hernandez later clarified his comments. “They didn’t really listen to what I said,” Hernandez explained. “‘The beginning of the retirement.’ The retirement could last 10 years, you never know.”

In this context, his meaning changes. Hernandez uses the word retirement differently than how many might understand it. Rather than it being the final stop of his career before he truly hangs up his boots, Hernandez views it as a process that could last years, and this is just the beginning of that process, ‘retiring from the European dream’, as he puts it.

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We will see just how far Chicharito is from retirement. MLS will be a new challenge for the striker. Fans will probably see Hernandez get a lot more playing time. He is used to be a super-sub who comes in to snag a late goal. But for the Galaxy, he will not only be the starting center-forward; he will be tasked with leading the attack.

With Zlatan Ibrahimovic leaving LA for Italy, Chicharito will be in his shadow, no matter if he likes it or not. We saw how much of a showman Zlatan was. He racked up goals at an amazing rate. 56 across two seasons is utterly staggering. Hernandez has never scored that many goals. In the 2009-10 Mexican Primera Divison season, he scored 21 goals. It pales in comparison.

Hernandez will score goals in MLS, just not at the level of Ibrahimovic. And he will also work hard. This may be the beginning of his retirement, the end of his efforts to make it in Europe, the pinnacle of the sport, but it is not a death knell for either his career or the reputation of MLS.

So let’s put down the pitchforks and torches. Javier Hernandez isn’t saying that MLS is such a terrible league. He’s saying that he has reached a certain point in his career. Retirement is closer than it was before, and there is nothing wrong with admitting that.