Herculez Gómez is the oldest of five children born in Oxnard, California to Mexican-American parents. He grew up in Las Vegas where he played soccer for Las Vegas High School. Starting out small, Gomez played for Cruz Azul of the Mexican First Division and moved around from team to team until he landed with the San Diego Gauchos of the USL D-3 Pro League in 2002 where people finally noticed his talents. That great year with the Gauchos landed him a spot on the L.A. Galaxy roster. A foot injury slowed down his progress to mature into a superstar player, but then his big moment finally came in 2005 where he scored the game-winning goal in the 2005 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, then helped the Galaxy to a rare Cup ‘double’ when they also won the 2005 MLS Cup. Gómez ended the 2005 season with 18 goals scored for the Galaxy (in all matches), and was voted by the local L.A. media as the year’s Most Valuable Player.
A couple of years later, Gómez made the USA National soccer team where so far he has scored 6 goals in 24 appearances. Known mainly as a substitute player, the 32-year-old still plays for the USA team. In 2012, Gómez became the first player to have won both the MLS Cup and the Primera División championship when he helped lead Santos Laguna to a 3-2 victory over Monterrey. As a member of the Santos Laguna club, Gómez scored 11 goals in his first 12 appearances for the team across all competitions. He now plays for Tijuana in the Liga MX. This year, Gómez has scored 2 goals in 4 starts for the USA national team.
As you can see, the veteran striker has moved around for a very long time, trying to find a place where his skills are needed. It may seem like God does not have a plan set in stone for him, but Gómez is confident in the Lord’s ability to get him through any tough situation that life might throw at him.
“I’ve learned that there are things that are not in my hands and you’ve got to leave them in God’s hands,” Gómez said. “He has a plan for you. There’s a quote that I remember growing up where it says for a rich man to get into heaven it’s as hard as it would be for a camel to get through the eye of a needle, so it kind of makes me think like this is great, but there’s still more out there; this isn’t all there is, you still gotta do a lot more.” (Credit: christianexaminer.com)
Gómez understands that this life is not ours to live and everything belongs to God. It’s up to His divine authority whether or not we live our lives the way we want to. Our mission is to glorify God in all ways possible. If that means going to hardships, then so be it. Everything we do should be for the will of God and we have to let Him take over our lives so that He gets the glory in all things. Gómez recognizes this and we should to as we let God take control of everything going on around us.
The Basket Foot 