Professional
Gómez started his soccer career in 2001 with Cruz Azul of the Mexican First Division on their second-division squad, and transferred to second-division team Aguilas Blancas de Puebla later that year. The following season, he returned to first-division soccer with Durango. However, playing opportunities were scarce for him there, so he left, thinking he would quit soccer, but instead he joined the San Diego Gauchos of the USL D-3 Pro League in 2002, where he excelled, scoring seventeen goals in seventeen appearances. The Los Angeles Galaxy staff noticed him during a friendly match and he joined the team in September.
Gómez broke his foot while on loan to the Seattle Sounders of the United Soccer Leagues, and recovery took a long time. When he was able to play again, he joined the San Diego Sockers of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He returned to the Galaxy for the 2005 season on a developmental contract, but played well enough to make it to the first team. His big chance came when Landon Donovan was called up to the national team. Donovan's absence gave Gomez many more starts at striker, and he was able to shine as a breakout goal-scorer.
He scored the game-winning goal in the 2005 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final, then helped the Galaxy to a rare Cup 'double' when they also won the 2005 MLS Cup. Gómez ended the 2005 season with eighteen goals scored for the Galaxy (in all matches), and was voted by the local L.A. media as the year's Most Valuable Player.
Early in the 2006 season, Gómez was moved to the bench with then-coach Steve Sampson. Sampson used Gómez as a midfielder to see if he could score goals running at defenses. After Sampson's firing, however, Gomez scored several times under new coach Frank Yallop, and ended that season with five goals.
On December 1, 2006, Gómez was traded to the Colorado Rapids along with Ugo Ihemelu in exchange for Joe Cannon. He scored the first goal in the history of Dick's Sporting Goods Park in his first game for Colorado, a 2-1 win over D.C. United on April 7, 2007. Gomez tore his ACL during training with the Rapids in September of that year and was forced to undergo a lengthy recovery process.
On September 3, 2008, Gómez was traded to Kansas City Wizards in exchange for allocation money, a fourth round 2009 MLS SuperDraft pick and a first round 2009 MLS Supplemental Draft pick. His first goal for the Wizards was an injury time winner against San Jose Earthquakes, a must win game in their 2008 play-offs push.
Gómez signed with Mexican club Puebla F.C. in January 2010. He scored ten goals in the 2010 Mexican season to tie for the lead for most goals; this feat marked the first time any American player led a foreign league in goals.
Read more about this topic: Herculez Gomez
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