Juan Camilo Hernández Suárez (born 20 April 1999), known simply as Cucho Hernández, is a Colombian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

or winger for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

and the Colombia national team.

Personal life

Born in

Pereira Pereira (Portuguese and Galician for "pear tree") may refer to: People * Pereira (surname) Places *Brazil **Pereira (Bahia) (est. 1534) in the present-day Barra neighborhood of Salvador in Bahia **Pereira Barreto, municipality in São Paulo **Pe ...

, Hernández has been called ''Cucho'' since he was two years old because his father would shave his head leading him to be compared to a prominent Argentine soccer player at the time, Esteban ''Cuchu'' Cambiasso, who would also shave his hair off. Furthermore, people said he looked like an old man which is called ''cucho'' in Colombian slang.

Club career

Early career

Hernández joined

Deportivo Pereira Deportivo Pereira is a professional Colombian football team based in Pereira, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Hernán Ramírez Villegas stadium. History Early years While there are several ...

in 2015 at the age of only 15 years old, after impressing with an amateur side. He made his first team debut on 6 April 2015 at 15 years old, starting in a 2–1 home win against

Deportes Quindío Deportes Quindío is a professional Colombian football club based in Armenia that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. The club was founded on 8 January 1951, and its best achievement was winning the 1956 league tournament. They play th ...

for the

Categoría Primera B Categoría Primera B, commonly referred to as Torneo BetPlay Dimayor due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay (formerly ''Torneo Águila''), is the second-division football league in Colombia. Format DIMAYOR has applied a new forma ...

championship. Hernández scored his first senior goal on 5 September 2015, netting his team's first in a 3–2 away win against

Real Santander Real Santander is a professional Colombian football team based in Bucaramanga, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera B. They play their home games at the Estadio Villa Concha in Piedecuesta, a municipality in the metropolitan area of B ...

. After finishing his first season with three goals, he netted 20 times during his second, being the tournament's top goalscorer; highlights included a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 3–0 home success over

Tigres F.C. Tigres Fútbol Club is a professional Colombian football team based in Bogotá that plays in the Categoría Primera B. They play their home games at the Metropolitano de Techo stadium. History The history of the club began in 1998 when the team ...

on 3 July 2016.

Granada and loan to América de Cali

On 22 December 2016 Hernández joined

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

on loan from

Granada CF Granada Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. (), known simply as Granada, is a Spanish football club based in the city of Granada, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, that plays in the Segunda División, after being relegated from La Liga in the 2021� ...

, after signing for the latter side in September. He made his

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor (between 2015 and 2019 ''Liga Águila'') due to sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a Colombian professional league for association football clubs. It is the ...

debut on 23 February 2017, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 home loss against

Jaguares de Córdoba Jaguares de Córdoba is a professional Colombian football team based in Montería, that plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Jaraguay stadium. History The team was created on December 5, 2012 at a meeting he ...

. Hernández scored his first goal in the main category of Colombian football on 3 June 2017, netting the game's only in an away win over

Deportivo Pasto Asociación Deportivo Pasto, also known as Deportivo Pasto, is a Colombian professional football team based in the city of Pasto, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Estadio Departamental Libertad. D ...

Watford

After Granada was sold to

Jiang Lizhang Jiang Lizhang (; born October 27, 1981 in Fu'an) is a Chinese businessman who owns Granada CF in Spain's La Liga, having bought a controlling stake for over €37m. He is also a part-owner of the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves, having bought 5% of th ...

, former owner

Gino Pozzo Gino Pozzo (born 1965) is an Italian businessman and managing director and legal owner of Watford Football Club, who owns a sports investment group focused on the football sector. Early life He is son of Italian businessman Giampaolo Pozzo a ...

assigned his federative rights to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

ahead of the 2017–18 season.

Loans to Huesca, Mallorca and Getafe

On 8 July 2017, Hernández moved to

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

side

SD Huesca Sociedad Deportiva Huesca, S.A.D., is a Spanish football club in Huesca, in the autonomous community of Aragon. Founded on 29 March 1960, SD Huesca plays in the Segunda División, having played in the Spanish top division for the first time in t ...

on loan for one year. He scored 16 goals during the 2017–18 campaign, as his side achieved promotion to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

for the first time ever. On 4 June 2018, his loan was extended for a further season, and he made his top tier debut on 19 August by starting in a 2–1 away win against

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in eu, Eibar Kirol Elkartea) is a professional Spanish football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the team currently plays in the Segunda División, the s ...

. Hernández scored his first goal in the main category of Spanish football on 2 September 2018, netting the opener in a 8–2 loss at

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

. He finished 2018–19 with four goals in 34 appearances, as his side was immediately relegated back. On 26 August 2019, Hernández signed a new long term contract with Watford and joined

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

on a season-long loan. On 14 August 2020, Hernández remained in Spain and its first division, after joining

Getafe CF Getafe Club de Fútbol (), or simply Getafe, is a professional football club based in Getafe, a city in the Community of Madrid. The team competes in La Liga, the highest tier of the Spanish football system. The club's home stadium (owned and op ...

on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long loan.

Return to Watford

On 14 August 2021, Hernández scored on his

debut in their league opener against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, where

won 3–2.

Columbus Crew

On 21 June 2022, Hernández agreed to join

club

for a club-record fee of

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

$10 million, joining as a Young Designated Player when the secondary transfer window would open on 7 July 2022. Hernández made his debut on 9 July 2022, coming off the bench in the 62nd minute to score the game winning goal against

Chicago Fire FC (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. The following two matches, both coming off the bench as second half substitutions, ''Hernández'' added three additional goals, becoming the first player in MLS history to score four goals in under 90 minutes. On 29 September 2022, it was announced that Hernández had been suspended one match for the use of offensive language in Columbus' match against the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

on 18 September.

International career

After representing

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

at under-20 level in the 2017 South American U-20 Championship, Hernández received his first call up to the senior side on 29 September 2018, for two

friendlies An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. He made his full international debut on 17 October, replacing

Carlos Bacca Carlos Arturo Bacca Ahumada (born 8 September 1986) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Atlético Junior. Bacca began his career at Atlético Junior, where he was top scorer in the 2010 Categoría Primera A Apert ...

and scoring a brace in a 3–1 win over the latter at the Red Bull Arena in

Harrison, New Jersey Harrison is a town in the western part of Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is a suburb of the nearby city of Newark, New Jersey, and is located from New York City. As of the 202 ...

. Hernández also played for the under-20s in the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...

, scoring a hat-trick against

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Colombia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Hernández goal.''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hernandez, Cucho 1999 births Living people People from Pereira, Colombia Colombian footballers Association football wingers Association football forwards Colombia international footballers Colombia under-20 international footballers Categoría Primera A players Categoría Primera B players La Liga players Segunda División players Premier League players Deportivo Pereira footballers América de Cali footballers Watford F.C. players SD Huesca footballers RCD Mallorca players Getafe CF footballers Columbus Crew players Colombian expatriate footballers Colombian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate soccer players in the United States Colombian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Designated Players (MLS) Major League Soccer players