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Antonio Carbajal, Lothar Matthaus, Rafael Márquez, Gianluigi Buffon, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Guillermo Ochoa. Only they share with Andrés Guardado the privilege of having played five World Cups. The Mexican center midfielder reached this figure in Qatar and his name was written in the football history book in case he wasn’t already written before. His career, still alive, was a near perfect storm. The Spanish League saw him grow at Deportivo and Valencia and now he glimpses perhaps the last brushstrokes of his magic with his leading role at Betis. He had this fifth World Cup in his sights for a long time and his smile was evident when he enjoyed starting against Argentina in the second of his team’s duels. Now, he looks forward to a more challenging future. Maybe also a handful of illusions that he intends to conquer with Betis before closing these chapters of brilliance. He was never just any winger, nor a full-back, nor a predictable midfielder. He was synonymous with drive and now he is synonymous with leadership and seniority. Saved is football.
The Little Prince knocked on the doors of the world in 2006. He played for Atlas in his country and was called up by Antonio La Volpe to play what would be the first of his five World Cups. He was 19 years old. Months later he won Lendoiro’s heart to sign with Deportivo de La Coruña and land in the League. His mane full of curls and the centers of him from the left band became a classic print. On a sticker that he couldn’t peel off. In a mark that has become indelible for football. All this despite the fact that his evolution was destined to be a hurricane of changes. Guardado’s football evolved in a thousand ways. And always with Mexico under his arm. He arrived at his next World Cup without being a great protagonist and with physical doubts that conditioned him, but yes it was decisive in the version that Mexico deployed in the 2014 event.
His path of history had continuity with the 2018 World Cup in Russia. His inexhaustible physique was no longer so and he began to measure his dreams of reaching the event in Qatar. He got it. Perhaps with less prominence than expected and with the pity of leaving the World Cup without grabbing a round of 16 ticket again. “I never would have imagined playing five World Cups. It is something that remains for me, for my personal pride and, obviously, in the end when this ends you will always have a nice memory”, outlined the footballer before saying goodbye to Qatar in the run-up to a duel against Saudi Arabia that resulted a party and a lament. “Each one analyzes it as they want. I am not here to judge. I tried to work these 16 years of my career at the highest level and that has allowed me to be here. And, later, what I have achieved at the individual level is a sample of the work of each one”. These were the words of a legend just a few days after receiving the AS América Award for this 2022.
“I worked 16 years at the highest level and that allowed me to be here”
Meanwhile, on that journey he was able to draw strokes of greatness in various settings. He went from the Deportivo winger to the Valencia winger and even Bayer Leverkusen. In the Netherlands, PSV fans still remember him. Because if magic leaves a mark. There he conquered everyone as a center midfielder. He was already the most mature Guarded. The one who coordinates spaces and leads from the captaincy. He does it today at Betis even when Manuel Pellegrini gives him a place in his scheme. His goodbye to the Mexican team does not have to mean goodbye to football. He has a contract until the summer of 2023 in Heliópolis and nobody rules out more afternoons of glory with the Verdiblanca shirt after having been part of a growth crowned with the title of the last Copa del Rey.
Guardado, together with Cambiasso during the 2006 World Cup. David Leah
Saved multiplies smiles and dodges tears. It also attracts compliments that come from all quarters. “He yelled my name and asked me to give him my shirt,” the player recounted a few months ago about how José Mourinho looked for him after Betis-Roma to dedicate a huge round of applause to his career. The same one that hasn’t finished yet. The same one that reached the milestone of five World Cups and conquered a handful of hearts.