Talking With Lions

By: Jeremy | May 29th, 2009

Earlier today I had the pleasure of speaking with Juan Carlos Hernandez Jr., Vice President, and Cuauhtemoc Rios, Assistant Coach of the Houston Leones. As you know, the Leones are members of the Premier Development League, which is a division of the United Soccer League.

I noticed the team has nearly a completely new roster than from last year. Other teams, such as Laredo Heat, have about half the same players as last year. Are we to expect the team to be rebuilt each season?

CR: There is only one player back from last season’s team; Jay Ambrosy. This year the coaching staff is new, nobody from last year is back. Therefore we decided to renew the Houston Leones which finished in last place of the Mid-South division.

JCH Jr: For a team to be successful a team must have a base, that is why Laredo has been so successful in the past. Our first season we struggled at forming that base by having more players on our roster from other parts of the world, rather than looking for local players. However, this season as you noticed we changed not only our roster but our coach as well. We wanted our coach this season to focus on creating a base made up of Houston talent, this way the players can practice more and get to know each other through games after the PDL season. This is also why we don’t bring any Cruz Azul talent to our team. However, last season we did bring four players that played in the 1a team of Cruz Azul.

Since the club is affiliated with Cruz Azul, are there any notable players from the Cruz Azul system that have played with Leones?

CR: From last year’s Houston Leones PDL Team there are two players in the Mexican league
1. Alvaro Ortiz Arellano; He plays for Puebla. They made it to the semifinals and just lost to Pachuca last week.
2. Vladimir Guerrero; He is the Goalkeeper for Cruz Azul Hidalgo. This is Cruz Azul’s second division team.

How is the Leones team formed each season?

CR: We have open tryouts, plus we scout college players that can help us complement the local players. We have a total of 13 Houston and surrounding areas players. For next season we expect to see about half of this 2009 roster back like most PDL teams.

JCH Jr: We decided to join the Houston Football Association so we can look at local talent as well as compete in the league. The HFA team is made up of prospective players and our reserve team. The PDL division is an amateur league with professional settings (such as stadium requirements, locker rooms, travel, etc.) for this reason we are not obligated to pay any of our players and we don’t.

How long is the team together before the season begins?

CR: We would like to invite all the Houston Players that are interested in playing next year to be part of our HFA team because that is going to be our base for next year’s PDL team. We will bring college players to help complement the local players, like we did this year.

JCH Jr: The rules that most teams seem to struggle with are the NCAA laws, which will not allow a collegiate player to play with a team until after May 1 of every year. This makes it that much harder to form a united group since the teams are made up of mostly college players.

With last weekend not going very well, what can we expect from Leones this weekend?

CR: Last weekend six of our player’s were not able to travel and four of them are starters. This weekend we are going to see a more dynamic and passionate Leones as we try to get two wins at home.

JCH Jr: The best thing about last weekend is that its over. We are looking forward to the next game against Laredo this Saturday and are confident that the rest of the season will be a whole lot better.

I would like to thank both gentlemen for taking the time to answer my questions.

Remember, the Leones have two games this weekend:
Saturday @ 5:00, vs. Laredo Heat
Sunday @ 5:00, vs. Rio Grande Valley Bravos

All tickets are $8.