Víctor Rangel

Víctor Rangel (born March 11, 1957 ) is a former Mexican soccer player who was mostly used in the position of center forward and was under contract with Chivas Guadalajara between 1976 and 1984 . He also played one season each for Club León and Atlético Potosino before ending his active career with the Ángeles de Puebla between 1986 and 1988 . Since then, Victor Rangel has coached various clubs in Mexico and the USA .

Career

Although Víctor Rangel was seven years in the service of Club Deportivo Guadalajara - a club that was the record champions of the Mexican Primera División for a long time - Rangel literally went "empty" in this sense. Because he played for this club in an era that went down in history under the name “ Chivas flacas ” (lean goats) and in which the club did not win a single title.

At the beginning of his career, Rangel was an extremely successful whiz kid who made his international debut at the age of only 20 and also had the much-cited “debut made to measure” in this regard. In his first international match against Haiti on October 9, 1977, his three goals played a key role in his team's 4-1 triumph. This victory in qualifying for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina was not only a milestone on the way to participation in the next World Cup, but also a successful revenge for the elimination in the qualification for the previous World Cup 1974 , which had taken place in Germany without the Mexicans, because the Haiti team qualified in their place. In his second international match against El Salvador , which took place just three days later, Rangel was once again the decisive pioneer of his team's 3-1 success with his two goals.

In 1976 he took part in the Olympic football tournament in Montreal , where he was eliminated with Mexico in the preliminary round, but was able to score three goals, making him, together with Vicente Pereda and Héctor Pulido , who both scored three goals in 1968, the best Mexican goalscorer at the Olympic Games is.

Rangel also played all three games that the Mexicans played at the 1978 World Cup and was also the only player in the Mexican national team to score a field goal at this World Cup, which was so disappointing from the Mexican perspective; the other was scored by Arturo Vázquez Ayala with a penalty. Nevertheless, Rangel's star began to decline rapidly after this World Cup. From now on he was only occasionally used as a substitute in the national team and never scored an international goal.

In total, Rangel came to 17 international appearances, in which he scored seven goals. For the last time he wore the dress of the national team on January 22, 1980 in a friendly against Czechoslovakia , which Mexico won 1-0.

Even though he didn't score in the national team recently, he hadn't generally lost his scoring potential. After all, he was three times the most successful goalscorer of his club in the four seasons between 1978 and 1982. He scored nine goals each in the 1978/79 and 1979/80 seasons and even had 13 goals in the 1981/82 season.

Web links

• Víctor Rangel in the Medio Tiempo database (Spanish)