Javier Hernández, also known by his nickname Chicharito (; Mexican Spanish: little pea), is a professional association football player who has represented Mexico (nicknamed "El Tri") in international football from 2009 to 2019. He is the country's all-time top scorer with 52 goals in 109 appearances, . Hernández plays primarily as a "goal poacher", with most of his goals from close-range and within the penalty area, and is Mexico's star player.

Hernández found club success with C.D. Guadalajara in Liga MX, where his grandfather played and his father coached. He was called up to the national team and made his debut alongside four other players on 30 September 2009 in a friendly match against Colombia, assisting on Mexico's sole goal during the 2–1 loss in Dallas, Texas, United States. He scored his first two goals in his second appearance, a 5–0 friendly win over Bolivia on 24 February 2010 in San Francisco, California, United States. Hernández was called into Mexico's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he scored two goals against France and Argentina. His first goal against France mirrored his grandfather Tomás Balcázar's debut at the 1954 FIFA World Cup, also against France and at the same age of 22. He scored his first international hat-trick against El Salvador during the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States and finished the tournament as the top goalscorer, with seven goals, and was named the most valuable player after Mexico's victory.

Hernández went on to score three goals at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup against Italy and Japan, but struggled to score in subsequent friendlies and World Cup qualification matches. He was not chosen to start at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, but did score one goal as a substitute against Croatia to help Mexico qualify for the knockout rounds. By the following spring, Hernández had scored goals during several friendlies, but was ruled out of the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup due to a shoulder injury. He returned to the national team for the 2015 CONCACAF Cup, a special one-match tournament against the United States to determine qualification for 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup; Mexico won the match 3–2, with Hernández scoring the first goal of the match and his first against the United States.

Hernández scored one goal for Mexico at the Copa América Centenario in 2016, during a group stage match against Jamaica, and came within one goal of tying the all-time goal-scoring record for Mexico. He tied Jared Borgetti's record of 46 goals on 24 March 2017, during a 2–0 victory over Costa Rica in World Cup qualification. Both players reached 46 goals in 89 appearances, but Hernández had reached earlier milestones of 20, 30, and 40 goals faster than any other Mexican player. He surpassed Borgetti's record on 27 May 2017, during a friendly against Croatia in Los Angeles that Mexico lost 2–1. Hernández became the first Mexican player to score 50 international goals on 23 June 2018, during a group stage match at the 2018 FIFA World Cup against South Korea. He also became the third Mexican player to score in three different World Cups, after Cuauhtémoc Blanco and Rafael Márquez, and tied Luis Hernández's record for most total goals at the World Cup.

International goals "Score" represents the score in the match after Hernández's goal. "Score" and "Result" list Mexico's goal tally first. .

+List of international goals scored by Javier Hernández Date Cap Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 24 February 2010 2 Candlestick Park, San Francisco, United States 2–0 5–0 Friendly 2 4–0 3 3 March 2010 3 Rose Bowl, Pasadena, United States 1–0 2–0 4 17 March 2010 4 Estadio Corona, Torreón, Mexico 2–1 2–1 5 26 May 2010 10 Schwarzwald-Stadion, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany 1–2 1–2 6 30 May 2010 11 Hans-Walter-Wild-Stadion, Bayreuth, Germany 1–0 5–1 7 2–0 8 17 June 2010 14 Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane, South Africa 2–0 2–0 2010 FIFA World Cup 9 27 June 2010 16 Soccer City, Johannesburg, South Africa 1–3 1–3 10 11 August 2010 17 Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico 1–0 1–1 Friendly 11 12 October 2010 20 Estadio Olímpico Benito Juárez, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico 1–1 2–2 12 9 February 2011 21 Georgia Dome, Atlanta, United States 1–0 2–0 13 26 March 2011 22 Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, United States 1–0 3–1 14 3–1 15 5 June 2011 24 Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, United States 3–0 5–0 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup 16 4–0 17 5–0 18 9 June 2011 25 Bank of America Stadium, Charlotte, United States 1–0 5–0 19 5–0 20 18 June 2011 27 New Meadowlands Stadium, East Rutherford, United States 2–1 2–1 21 22 June 2011 28 Reliant Stadium, Houston, United States 2–0 2–0 22 2 September 2011 30 Pepsi Arena, Warsaw, Poland 1–1 1–1 Friendly 23 11 November 2011 33 Estadio Corregidora, Querétaro, Mexico 2–0 2–0 24 31 May 2012 35 Soldier Field, Chicago, United States 2–1 2–1 25 3 June 2012 36 Cowboys Stadium, Arlington, United States 2–0 2–0 26 11 September 2012 41 Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico 1–0 1–0 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification 27 12 October 2012 42 BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston, United States 4–0 5–0 28 16 October 2012 43 Estadio Corona, Torreón, Mexico 2–0 2–0 29 22 March 2013 45 Estadio Olímpico Metropolitano, San Pedro Sula, Honduras 1–0 2–2 30 2–0 31 31 May 2013 47 Reliant Stadium, Houston, United States 1–0 2–2 Friendly 32 2–2 33 16 June 2013 51 Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1–1 1–2 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup 34 22 June 2013 53 Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil 1–0 2–1 35 2–0 36 23 June 2014 65 Arena Pernambuco, São Lourenço da Mata, Brazil 3–0 3–1 2014 FIFA World Cup 37 9 October 2014 67 Estadio Víctor Manuel Reyna, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico 1–0 2–0 Friendly 38 12 November 2014 69 Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands 3–1 3–2 39 28 March 2015 71 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States 1–0 1–0 40 27 June 2015 73 Citrus Bowl, Orlando, United States 2–2 2–2 41 8 September 2015 75 AT&T Stadium, Arlington, United States 1–0 2–2 42 10 October 2015 76 Rose Bowl, Pasadena, United States 1–0 3–2 CONCACAF Cup 43 25 March 2016 79 BC Place, Vancouver, Canada 1–0 3–0 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification 44 1 June 2016 82 Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, United States 1–0 1–0 Friendly 45 9 June 2016 84 Rose Bowl, Pasadena, United States 1–0 2–0 Copa América Centenario 46 24 March 2017 89 Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico 1–0 2–0 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification 47 27 May 2017 91 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States 1–2 1–2 Friendly 48 18 June 2017 93 Kazan Arena, Kazan, Russia 1–1 2–2 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup 49 6 October 2017 98 Estadio Alfonso Lastras, San Luis Potosí, Mexico 2–1 3–1 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification 50 23 June 2018 104 Rostov Arena, Rostov-on-Don, Russia 2–0 2–1 2018 FIFA World Cup 51 26 March 2019 108 Levi's Stadium, Santa Clara, United States 3–0 4–2 Friendly 52 6 September 2019 109 MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, United States 1–0 3–0

Statistics

By year

Year Goals200910201019112011131220121052013137201412320158420161032017114201871201932 Total 109 52

By competition

Competition Goals Friendlies 49 27 FIFA World Cup qualification 27 8 CONCACAF Gold Cup 8 7 FIFA Confederations Cup 7 4 FIFA World Cup tournaments 12 4 Copa América 4 1 CONCACAF Cup 1 1Total10952

See also List of men's footballers with 50 or more international goals List of Mexico national football team hat-tricks

References