Celebration of the son of soccer player Julio César ‘Cata’ Domínguez, on January 5, 2023.RR.SS.
It is well known that Mexican soccer professionals live in a bubble. In a country where millions of people barely manage to get their nose out of the water every day, the swagger, eccentricity and, why not, nonsense of many league MX players is more shocking financially if possible. than their peers who stock up on gold in the European or Asian leagues.
The most recent episode of this disconnect between reality and the “stars” of pedaling in Mexico was performed by Cruzazulino centre-back Julio César Cata Domínguez, who got into the ring of controversy for having thrown a themed party this weekend in honor of his 12- year old son. But not a themed party like kids that age usually need. No Marvel superheroes or Star Wars Jedis or manga and anime characters. The party of Cata’s son revolved around drug trafficker Joaquín El Chapo Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloa cartel, imprisoned in the United States and whose son and partial successor to his power, Ovidio, was arrested in Culiacan, Sinaloa the last 5 dated January.
The arrest of Ovidio sparked a vicious cartel response that left 29 dead, 10 of them military personnel, in addition to dozens of injuries and a stream of stolen or burned vehicles, looting, illegal blockades and vandalism across the city.
None of this discouraged Cata, who, despite the fact that one of the consequences of the incident was the disruption of the Liga MX game between Mazatlán and León on Friday 6th, decided that it would be a good idea to use badges related to Wearing El Chapo at his party, like the initials JGL or the word “Chapiza” on attendees’ caps, in addition to bringing toy guns for the invited children. Other Cata colleagues at Cruz Azul were also present, such as Erik Lira, Carlos Rodríguez and Argentinian Carlos Rotondi.
The social networks, where the player came up with the idea of uploading the photos of the birthday in question, exploded against him. Users called him everything: unconscious, cynical, rascal… Many of the harshest against him were the Cruz Azul fans themselves, since Cata (Arriaga, Chiapas, 1987) is no ordinary player in the club’s history.
This is a youth squad player who has been fighting for his colors since the distant 2006 season, almost 17 years ago. In fact, he is the player who has worn the La Noria team shirt on the most occasions of all time. And a guy who, although it has cost him blood, tears and a lot of jokes and memes, has won everything with the team of his loved ones: league, cup, super cup and even a conca champions. He also defended the Mexican team in 24 games in his career, but was never able to assert himself there.
This isn’t the first controversy Cata has faced. In 2020, Héctor Huerta, an employee of the sports network ESPN, assured that both Domínguez and other Cruz Azul colleagues had “received calls” before the semifinals in which they were eliminated by the Pumas de la UNAM, suggesting possible manipulation pointed out . . . On that occasion, those accused expressed outrage and demanded that the company retract its statements. The topic ended watered down.
On this occasion, the pressure has grown so much that Domínguez had to apologize with a statement that he published on his networks on Saturday night, now awaiting the possible sanctions that both his club and the Mexican league authorities will impose. Will the episode serve as a wake-up call for the rest of the “stars”? The next scandal will show us.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS México newsletter and receive all the important information about current events in this country