As my readers have probably figured out by now, the topics I write about involve all things New Mexico — historical, hysterical, personal and just plain weird. But for this post, I’m detouring about 45 miles south to focus on a topic that’s going on in our neighboring big brother city of El Paso.
In this case, I recently discovered that an actor who played a soccer (football) player in the popular TV series “Ted Lasso” is actually trying out for a place on the El Paso Locomotive professional soccer team.
Known for his signature statement — “Football is Life” — actor Christo Fernandez and former soccer player is hoping to land a spot on the El Paso Locomotive club of the United Soccer League.
Known as Dani Rojas in the Ted Lasso TV series, Fernandez was a promising youth player in Mexico but left the sport due to serious knee injuries before pursuing acting. His always positive attitude and sparkling personality landed him in some TV commercials as well as a standing role as one of the regular soccer team members on the fictional A.F.C. Richmond club in England in the Ted Lasso series.
Fernandez reportedly was spotted recently in the El Paso area before he participated in a match that resulted in a 4-1 victory over rival soccer team New Mexico United of the USL. He was also involved in a match with the Chicago Fire II, where he scored a goal in a friendly match.
Born in Guadalara, Mexico, Fernandez dreamed of becoming a professional soccer player until he had his knee injury. After recovering from that, he continued to play soccer but at lower levels.
“I played for Estudiantes Tecos (a now extinct Liga MX side),” Fernández told ESPN in 2020. “I played in third [division], second, but injuries made me rethink a lot of things. I ended up playing in Puerto Rico’s first division and we were close to the Concacaf Champions Cup.”
Sending his ambitions in another direction, he moved to England to study acting when an opportunity to star in Ted Lasso came his way.
“It’s (soccer) something that I pursued and things didn’t go as I wanted. But regardless of how much I tried, soccer returned to me [through Ted Lasso] and here we are, that’s life, right?” he said in an interview with Grupo Forumla.
I checked online for updates on Fernandez’ opportunity to earn a spot with the El Paso Locomotive. I didn’t find anything new as of this posting, so the jury is apparently still out.
I hope for the best for him because he seems to have such a positive attitude toward the sport and life in general.
And, as he says “Football is Life.”
aero-cordero.com 