Nearing 40, Suarez still a wonder in defense

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CARSON – He raised a trophy over his head while waving his right hand as he basked in the adulation of the cheering crowd.

Claudio Suarez was honored by his club as the player who best represents the spirit of Chivas USA before a match last week.

It was a brief tribute in front of a sparse Home Depot Center crowd, and the triangular-shaped glass award was just one more to stack on his mountain of career accolades.

A trophy recognizing a near-perfect soccer career might be even more appropriate.

Suarez is slated to play in his 60th match for Chivas USA Saturday against host Real Salt Lake in a Major League Soccer Western Conference playoff match.

But the Mexican central defender's time with the Los Angeles-based team is a grain deposited on a beach of career accomplishments.

Suarez, who turns 40 in December, is an icon of the Mexican national team. He was part of El Tri's 1994, 1998 and 2006 World Cup squads. A leg injury kept him out of South Korea-Japan World Cup in 2002. He also played in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.

Suarez won a pair of league titles with Mexican clubs Pumas and Chivas de Guadalajara. He reached back-to-back finals with UANL Tigres.

He's stifled some of the globe's top attackers, earning a reputation as the best central defender in Mexican soccer history.

But if you ask Suarez, he'll tell you he's done more off the field.

He's married to his best friend, Irma. They have three children, Claudio Jr., and daughters Maria Fernanda and Sandra Irma. Suarez overcame the death of his father, Vicente, in March. He cleared his name in a defamation case, when he was accused of doping in 1997. He even met the late Pope John Paul II.

A Mexican journalist needed 145 pages to chronicle Suarez's career in a biography, “Claudio Suarez: Historia de un Guerrero,” or “Portrait of a Warrior.”

“I never thought all these things would happen,” said Suarez, whose 178 international caps are second all-time behind Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Mohamed Al-Deayea. “Even when I started with Pumas I didn't think I would play so many games with the national team. Little by little I began to be inspired to reach more goals.”

But with fame, Suarez, known as “El Emperador,” didn't change his modest demeanor off the field or on it, say those who know him.

“He never fought for fame. He's simple,” said Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti in Suarez's book. Ferretti was Suarez's coach on all three Mexican league teams for which he played. “He's humble in every possible positive aspect.”

That's something he learned from his dad and mother, Francisca Suarez, while growing up with eight brothers in Texcoco, Mexico.

Suarez appreciated every opportunity in life. That included having to play on dirt fields wearing oversized cleats he inherited from an older brother.

But that didn't matter. Suarez had fun kicking a flat ball, breaking windows then patching them up with cardboard.

The windows had to be fixed before mom and dad came home from selling “antojitos Mexicanos,” or Mexican cookery.

Suarez helped out as a pre-teen. He sold some of his mom's cuisine at local markets to scrounge up a few pesos for his family and to pay his bus rides to practice with Pumas' youth team in Mexico City. He hasn't stopped working since.

Suarez has been a solid physical specimen throughout his 19-year career. The older he gets, the more fit he seems. He remains productive. Think Jerry Rice or Brett Favre of the NFL.

“Brett Favre is a pretty flashy guy, more flamboyant,” said Chivas USA midfielder Jesse Marsch, an avid Green Bay Packers fan and 10-year MLS veteran. “I think the comparison they have is that they both enjoy playing the game so much.”

That's what keeps Suarez from retiring.

So what can make him quit?

“If I stop playing soccer it will be because of physical complications,” Suarez said. “When I start to feel like I can't (play), I think that's when it's time to stop.”

When that will be is uncertain. Suarez said he'll most likely return for another MLS season in 2009. And when he retires as a player, he'll have a shot at entering the next phase of his life as a head coach in Mexico.

“A lot people have tried to get me to retire so I can coach,” Suarez said without revealing what teams have shown interest. “There's better money out there as a coach than a player. But money is not a factor.”

What could be a factor is if he can add another trophy to his résumé: a title with Chivas USA.

When asked to describe his career in a few words, Suarez needed one.

“Satisfying,” he said.

Perhaps that's the best trophy he's attained.