Luis Ernesto Michel

Luis Ernesto Michel

Personal information
Full name	Luis Ernesto Michel Vergara
Date of birth	July 21, 1979 (1979-07-21)
Place of birth	El Grullo, Jalisco, Mexico
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Chivas
Number	1
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999–2003	Tapatio	26	(0)
2004–2005	→ Santos Laguna (loan)	2	(0)
2006–	Guadalajara	166	(0)
National team‡
2007–	Mexico	10	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of July 1, 2008. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of March 24, 2010

Luis Ernesto Michel Vergara (born July 21, 1979, in El Grullo, Jalisco) is a Mexican professional footballer who currently plays in Guadalajara of Primera División de México as a goalkeeper. Michel stands at 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) and weighs 75 kilos.

Club career

Michel debuted against Irapuato, replacing the suspended starting keeper Oswaldo Sánchez on September 24, with Chivas winning 3–2. Three years later, Michel found himself playing in the Clausura 2006 playoffs, when the usual second-choice keeper, Alfredo Talavera, was not playing well and head coach José Manuel de la Torre gave the starting spot to Michel, who wore #31. Luis Ernesto played well, despite receiving 6 goals in 3 games, and being eliminated by Pachuca on an injury-time goal, but he proved that he could be an effective substitute for Sánchez. Months later, Michel played in the Copa Libertadores for 2006, playing in the first match against Veléz Sarsfield of Argentina in the quarterfinals. Throughout Michel's career he has received some nicknames for the jerseys he wears as in the Clausura 2006 playoffs, Luis Ernesto Michel traditionally wore a red goalie uniform, earning him the nicknames "El Diablo" (The Devil) and "El Coloradito" (The Little Red One). After wearing a white goalie jersey on occasions during the 2007 season, he switched to an all-black uniform, leading some fans to call him "El Caballero Negro" (The Black Knight).

After Oswaldo Sánchez was dealt away to Santos Laguna for the Clausura 2007 tournament, Michel was promoted to starting goalkeeper, wearing jersey #23. After months of playing, they switched his jersey number to #1. During a Superliga match against Atlante F.C., he suffered a double fracture on the radius and ulna bones in his forearm after erroneously diving to save a loose ball. Michel was ruled out for the Apertura 2008 season by doctors, making him miss his chance to play with his national team. He was replaced by 2nd choice goalkeeper Sergio Rodriguez until he was replaced by Victor Hernandez. However, Michel made his comeback, and won the Interliga 2009.

On January 11, 2010 Jose Luis Real named Luis Michel as team captain after Ramon Morales was released. He captained Chivas for their historic 8–0 run, which is now the record of most wins in a row at the start of the season. They received their first loss at the hands of Jaguares 4–0 ended their run. When Michel was called up to the national team, Victor Hernandez took over until his injury, in which Liborio Vicente Sánchez filled in. Received his first red card on Nov. 5, 2011 against Pachuca

International career

Michel was first called up to the national side in 2007 by then coach Hugo Sanchez, but did not play. He debuted for the national side against New Zealand and won 2–0. His second appearance was against Iceland which ended with a 0–0 draw. Michel was selected by Javier Aguirre for the Pre-World Cup squad and played in the first preparation match versus Ecuador, which again ended 0–0. He also appeared against Gambia in which he conceded 1 goal. He was called to the Mexico national football team U-22, as one of the over-22 reinforcements, that will participate in 2011 Copa América. In one preparation friendly against Venezuela national football team he got 3 goals against, as of now the highest number of goals in all of his appearances.

International appearances

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	GA	Result	Competition
1.	March 3, 2010	Pasadena, United States	New Zealand	0	2–0	Friendly
2.	March 24, 2010	Charlotte, United States	Iceland	0	0–0	Friendly
3.	May 7, 2010	New York, United States	Ecuador	0	0–0	Friendly
4.	May 30, 2010	Bayreuth, Germany	Gambia	1	5–1	Friendly
5.	June 12, 2011	Las Vegas, United States	Venezuela	3	0–3	Friendly
6.	June 22, 2011	Pereira, Colombia	Colombia	0	0–0	Friendly
7.	June 25, 2011	Quito, Ecuador	Ecuador	0	1–0	Friendly
8.	July 4, 2011	San Juan, Argentina	Chile	2	1–2	2011 Copa América
9.	July 8, 2011	Mendoza, Argentina	Peru	1	0–1	2011 Copa América
10.	July 12, 2011	La Plata, Argentina	Uruguay	1	0–1	2011 Copa América

Personal life

Luis Michel married on December 11, 2009, in Guadalajara, Mexico. He has a brother that is a well known doctor in Guadalajara. His family is originally from El Grullo, Jalisco. As a kid, he split his time between Guadalajara and El Grullo where he played in the local football leagues as a goalkeeper.

Club honours

Chivas

• Primera Division de Mexico: Apertura 2006
• InterLiga: 2009
• Best Goalkeeper in Apertura 2007, Clausura 2008

International

Mexico

• CONCACAF Gold Cup (1): 2011 * Replaced Guillermo Ochoa during the Clembuterol scandal .

External links

• Luis Ernesto Michel stats at Medio Tiempo.com (Spanish)
• Luis Ernesto Michel at National-Football-Teams.com

Preceded by Ramon Morales

Club Deportivo Guadalajara captain 2009–2010

Succeeded by Hector Reynoso