Guillermo Mendizábal

Guillermo Mendizábal Sánchez (born 8 October 1954 in Mexico City), is a retired Mexican footballer and manager.

Guillermo Mendizábal
Personal information
Full name Guillermo Mendizábal Sánchez
Date of birth (1954-10-08) 8 October 1954
Place of birth Mexico City, Mexico
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1972–1983 Cruz Azul 266 (19)
1983–1985 UAG 59 (5)
1985–1986 Rayo Vallecano 29 (2)
1986–1991 Club Deportivo Guadalajara 101 (2)
Total 455 (28)
National team‡
1978–1981 Mexico 24 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 12, 2008
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of December 12, 2008
In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Mendizábal and the second or maternal family name is Sánchez.

Club career

He debuted with Cruz Azul in the 1974-75 season, and helped the team win the 1978–79 and 1979-80 league titles.

In his professional day view he played as a central defender substituting Alberto Quintano, later on Raúl Cardenás placed him as a central defensive midfielder where he played the rest of his career.

While playing for Cruz Azul, Atlético Madrid board of directors got interested in Mendizábal, but couldn’t buy his transfer because Cruz Azul owned the players card. In his place Hugo Sánchez was enrolled with the colchonero side.

After Cruz Azul, he played for Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara, from 1983 to 1985. Later on he played a full season with Rayo Vallecano of Spain, before returning to Mexico to play for Club Deportivo Guadalajara, where he won the 1986-87 league title. In that final Guadalajara and Cruz Azul faced each in other in the final with anecdotal emphasis because while Guillermo Mendizabal was playing for Chivas, his brother Marco Antonio was playing for the celestes. In that year whichever team was going to win the title they were going to have Mendizabal in the champion’s team.

During his footballer career he played for Cruz Azul, UAG, Rayo Vallecano, and Club Deportivo Guadalajara.[1]

Guillermo retired at the age of 37 in 1991.

International career

With the Mexico national team he debuted 15 February 1978. In total, he played 24 games and scored 3 goals. He played the 1978 World Cup.[2]

Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result CompetitionRef
1.April 4, 1978Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara, Mexico Bulgaria2–03–0Friendly
2.April 15, 1980Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala Guatemala3–24–2Friendly
3.November 9, 1980Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico United States3–05–11982 FIFA World Cup qualification

As a manager

After hanging his boots, he began his managing career in 1995, at León AC where he only last the 1995-96 season. He would also manage Correcaminos de la UAT in the Primera División A in 2003.

Nickname

At the time he was playing for Cruz Azul his teammates would call him "Mendi" (to shorten his last name) and the "M" was changed to a "W" and since then his being known as "Wendy".

References
  1. Guillermo Mendizabal – Liga MX stats at MedioTiempo.com (in Spanish)
  2. Guillermo Mendizabal – FIFA competition record
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