Bravo or Not?

It’s no secret that Omar Bravo hasn’t been doing too well at Deportivo.

His buddy from the national team, Andres Guardado, who also plays at Deportivo, has exploded on to be an important part of the team. Currently, he’s out injured.

The same couldn’t be said about Bravo who seldom started and failed to live up to his summer hype.

After a defeat in the UEFA Cup to Aalborg of Denmark, in which Bravo scored a goal that was deemed offsides, Mexican club Tigres and Deportivo held talks.

So why isn’t Bravo returning to Chivas? Since Chivas acquired the services of Aaron Galindo(previously from Cruz Azul), they had to give up their rights to Bravo to Cruz Azul if he ever returned to Mexico. Cruz Azul then traded a favor with Tigres and that’s how Bravo lands with them. A little fishy and all part of the “Gentlemen’s Pact.”

Manager Miguel Angel Lotina of Deportivo said

Omar needs to change scenery. His head isn’t here and for him its difficult to play. He’s not in the conditions to give to the football here. He needs to recuperate. He wants to go and that’s why we opened the doors.

Meanwhile Bravo had a slightly different opinion.

I had a light talk with the manager and told him that if there was any team interested in me, to consider it, but I never said I wanted to leave.”

While being in Europe basically guarantees a call-up from Mr. Ericksson to the national team Omar will now move back to Mexico. With Chivas he was a more prominent figure of the team hitting 100 goals. In the La Volpe era it seemed like the base of El Tri was from Las Chivas and Omar had more exposure. Now he’s going to a struggling Tigres. Will his national team career be over because of this? It seems more likely. All I can say is good luck.