GUADALAJARA, Mexico – Just one month after suiting up in a US national team shirt and singing the "The Star-Spangled Banner" at the U-20 World Cup in Turkey, 20-year-old left back Juan Pablo Ocegueda has officially become a Chivas Guadalajara player.
The offshoot, as a Chivas press statement released Friday evening explained, is that “he will reject future calls to the US national team, in line with preserving the strict tradition of the Rebaño Sagrado.”
The Riverside, Calif., native arrives at Chivas on loan from Tigres UANL, with Guadalajara having an option to buy the player outright, according to the press release.
Ocegueda previously played in Southern California for club side West Coast before Dennis te Kloese, who was formerly youth director at Tigres and now the sporting director at Chivas, signed him for the Monterrey club in January 2009.
The 20-year-old has been part of the US youth national team set-up since U-18 level and has previously turned down opportunities to play for Mexico, but if the Chivas press statement is to be believed, that could potentially change.
“This decision also gives him the possibility of being eligible to defend the Mexico shirt in the future,” reads the text.
Ocegueda has traveled to Chiapas with the Chivas squad and could debut on Saturday in the team's Under-20 game against Chiapas FC.
Coincidentally, Chivas' current starting left back is California-born Miguel Ponce, who is now cap-tied to El Tri.
Tom Marshall covers Americans playing in Latin America for MLSsoccer.com. E-mail him at tom.marshall.mex@gmail.com.
