Mexican star Giovani Dos Santos left Europe for MLS last summer, and he had a quick imprint with the LA Galaxy, scoring and/or assisting goals in each of his first five competitive appearances and tallying four goals with eight assists in 13 appearances last season across league play, MLS Cup playoffs and CONCACAF Champions League. He'll make his 2016 debut with LA in Wednesday's CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Santos Laguna (10 pm ET; FS1, UDN - US; Sportsnet World - CAN). In the meantime, get to know more about Dos Santos:
A diverse background
Gio was born in May 1989 in Monterrey, Mexico where he father played pro soccer, and he headed to FC Barcelona's famed La Masia academy when he was 12. He's half-Mexican, through his mother, and his father is Brazilian, from Sao Paulo.
He comes from a soccer-playing family
Gio's dad, Zizinho – Geraldo Francisco Dos Santos – never played professionally in his native country, spending his pro career in Mexico (with America, Leon, Nexaca, Monterrey and the indoor Monterrey La Raza), El Salvador (with FAS) and in the United States (1986-87 with the MISL's Los Angeles Lazers).
All three of his Mexican-born sons went on to pro careers: Eder, born in 1984, with second-tier Mexican club Socio Aguila and briefly with América; Giovani with Barcelona, Tottenham, Ipswich Town, Galatasaray, Racing Santander, Mallorca and Villarreal before coming to the Galaxy; and Jonathan, born in 1990, with Barcelona and Villarreal.
He is a member of Mexico's multiracial population.
Gio is multiracial, his mother mestizo and his father Afro-Brazilian. While a mestizo identity is prevalent in Mexico, the African roots of some of the population, while present in the country for centuries, has not always been highlighted historically. The rise of the Dos Santos brothers has helped shed some light on Afro-Mexicans' contributions to their country.
His hero is Ronaldinho.
Gio's favorite player? It's one of his teammates when he first reached Barcelona's first team, in 2007. He loves Ronaldinho, who's in the conversation for Brazil's greatest player of the past 25 years.
Asked by Sports Illustrated who was his best teammate, he mentioned the two-time FIFA World Player of the Year honoree.
“As a person he's just incredible,” Dos Santos said. “He's very humble. He's a nice guy, and he always looks after everyone. He's always happy, and he's a guy you always want to be on your team.”
His greatest moment was among the US national team's worst
Gio is perhaps most celebrated for that audacious goal that secured Mexico's 4-2 victory over the U.S. in the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup final at the Rose Bowl.
He celebrates it, too.
“My favorite goal? That’s an easy answer: Against the United States in the Rose Bowl when we won the Gold Cup,” he told Sports Illustrated. “I think it's the best goal I've scored in my life. It was a very difficult goal, a dream goal. It can just happen once in your life, and it happens at that moment.
“I just saw the defender on the post and thought quick, 'I have to put it in the top corner.' So I tried, and it was perfect.”
He nearly missed the 2010 World Cup, if you believe his dad
Gio was runner-up to Germany's Thomas Muller for FIFA's Young Player of the Tournament award at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, a tournament he appeared on the verge of missing.
When his brother Jonathan was left off Javier Aguirre's roster for the tournament, Zizinho was apoplectic, claimed that Gio might pull out of Mexico's squad and would reassess his future with Mexico's national team.
“Gio is very hurt, and he wants to be at home with us,” his dad told media. “He is there now, and he's not well. We don't know if he will play [at the World Cup] or not. We still don't know anything.”
Gio, of course, did play and has continued to represent El Tri since.
He's an Olympic gold medalist. And a World Cup champion, too
Gio scored three goals as Mexico marched to Olympic gold in London four years ago, although a hamstring injury forced him to miss the final, a stunning 2-1 victory over Brazil.
“We want the people in Mexico to believe in this young generation of players,” Dos Santos said afterward. “This gold medal goes to all of those in Mexico who always believed in us. For those who didn’t believe in us? Well, let them celebrate, too.”
He won the Silver Ball, more or less the MVP runner-up, after assisting half of Mexico's goals en route to its first FIFA U-17 World Cup title in Peru in 2005, when El Tri beat – who else? – Brazil in the final.
He also won the Bronze Ball two years later at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, when Mexico reached the quarterfinals.
He was a star in Dallas before he came to LA
Before he was a star, Gio played for his father's team in the Dallas Cup, one of the planet's most prestigious youth tournaments, but that shouldn't be much of a surprise. Others who played in the event include David Beckham, Raul, Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen, Rafael Marquez, Andres Guardado, Kleberson, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, Peter Crouch, Jermaine Defoe, Giuseppe Rossi, many top US players – including Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Michael Bradley – and, yes, former NBA star Hakeem Olajuwon, a goalkeeper for Lagos Stars.
He hasn't always been as dedicated as he should be
Nobody has ever questioned Gio's talent – he's off the chart – but his commitment wasn't quite what it needed to be when he was younger. When he was with Tottenham, he found himself on the wrong side of manager Harry Redknapp, who sent him on loan deals to Ipswich Town and Galatasaray.
Dos Santos, then in late teens and early 20s, had a reputation for hitting the nightclubs and had received ample coverage in the UK after he had to be carried out of a club Christmas party in 2008. Redknapp was furious when he'd show up late for the Monday training sessions.
After signing with the Galaxy, Dos Santos reflected on his tenure in North London with ESPN FC.
"I have more experience now, I'm older, and I have learned a lot of things in football, so I feel more mature now," he said.
He loves tacos
Street tacos are one of the great delicacies in Mexico, and you can find them in Southern California, too. Gio has quite the taste for them. While playing in Spain, he told FourFourTwo about heading home for Christmas break, where “I'll eat too many tacos on my first day.”
He can't imbibe very often.
“I love tacos,” he said, “but they're not the food a professional footballer should be eating, so I limit myself to a day in winter and a week in the summer.”
With the move to MLS, it's surely a winter delicacy these days.
