The Mexican-American playmaker survived injury, contract issues, and free agency across 13 clubs, and is finally ready to walk away from the game

Rodrigo Lopez was sleeping in a closet. 

He was in his late 20s, and one of thousands of footballers who every year get syphoned out of the professional game. He had tried everywhere: MLS, PDL, USL, before it was properly USL. And after his final contract ended at Los Angeles Blues – and no deal imminent – he had, in effect, given up. 

Things were bleak. He had a girlfriend and a kid to look after. His bedroom was, quite literally, a tiny room, usually used for storage, in a house shared with his now-former teammates. 

“There was a big, big master bedroom. It was in Orange, California, and the closet was kind of big, to be honest,” Lopez told GOAL.

So, he made it his home. Soccer, it seemed, was out of the picture. 

Then, against all odds, a phone call came. It was Sacramento Republic, a new franchise with big goals. They wanted veteran experience in their team. Lopez had been around the block, and figured to add the kind of leadership they craved. He took a while to accept. But he was eventually swayed, put pen to paper, and moved a couple of hundred miles north. 

And that is how the USL’s greatest player’s career took off.

Sacramento Republic FCThe epitome of greatness

“Greatness” is worth defining here. There are a few out there who can lay a claim to that title. Didier Drogba played in USL. So did Tim Howard. Diego Luna, Tyler Adams, Alphonso Davies, Ricardo Pepi and Joe Cole all – at some point – suited up for a USL Championship club. 

But if greatness is about longevity, work ethic, and a resistance against father time, then Lopez’s career stacks up against pretty much anyone out there. He played for six USL clubs, amassed over 400 appearances, and spent seven seasons at Sacramento Republic. His success there from 2014-2015 helped him achieve a career-defining Liga MX stint – and the fulfillment of his childhood dream. 

And more broadly, Lopez’s career speaks to the unpredictability of American soccer. He took pay cuts, wasn’t paid at all sometimes, played through pain, recovered from at least two potentially career-ending injuries, and worked other jobs to help supplement his growth. There were 13-hour days to keep himself sharp, and training sessions were forced through to avoid benching due to knocks. And by the end of it all, now, 38 years old, Lopez knows it’s time to go. 

“It's time. I didn't want to risk any more injuries and I didn't want to go play anywhere else, and have to come back later on. I just wanted to settle with my family now,” he said.

AdvertisementSacramento Republic FC'How hard can it be?'

It really should have ended in 2014, though. The American soccer system had picked Lopez up, thrown him from club to club, and spat him out. He flirted with the academy of then-MLS’s Chivas, and had a brief cameo in MLS itself, but he was otherwise the prototype of the USL journeyman. Lopez was nearly 30, living in someone else’s house, and supporting a family. That really should have been it. 

In the meantime, he worked construction. His father was a professional soccer player in Mexico, who moved the family to Southern California to work on a farm when Lopez was 11 months old. It’s a cliche, but Lopez knew the definition of sacrifice. 

That didn’t mean it suited him, though. Lopez’s first day working on a site wasn’t the best. For one, he didn’t really look the part. He pulled up in a BMW, complete with fresh sneakers, nice jeans, and a clean tee, ready for what he believed would be a calm day on his new job. His friend immediately told him to get changed – and sent him home. 

“He was like, ‘Hey, get your ass in the car. Go home, get your worst pair of jeans, go buy some boots, get the dirtiest shirt you have, and come back,’” Lopez recalled. 

Lopez spent all day wheeling dirt around from one place to another. How difficult could this be? He thought before his first shift. Well, 12 hours later, he had an answer. 

“I was like ‘wow this is hard’,” he said. 

Still, it paid the bills. There was still room for soccer, too, in the form of a Sunday league not too far from home. 

But then, the kid from Santa Barbara, California, was offered a lifeline. Graham Smith, who was building a new franchise in Sacramento, rang Lopez up. His team was getting off the ground, and he needed Lopez to bring some valuable experience. 

Lopez hesitated. The new coach, two-time MLS MVP winner “Preki”, had cut him in a previous life. The money wasn’t great. He would walk into a new locker room, making less, with a coach who, historically, didn’t rate him. Lopez thought Preki’s criticism was harsh back in the day. The Serbian-born coach questioned his defensive work rate. Lopez disagreed. Going back would require work – and swallowing a fair bit of pride. 

Those around him told him to wake up. 

“I was talking to my family, my wife, and my parents. They were like, ‘They're offering you the chance of a lifetime, you'd be the first player signed, this could change your life, if you really put the work into it, and you go in there focused, you could prove everyone wrong, ’” Lopez said. 

What followed was something out of a movie montage. Lopez put in 13-hour days to make it all happen. It was a taxing routine: gym in the morning, work all day, run on the beach or in the mountains at night. Toss in soccer on the weekends, and Lopez showed up to his new side feeling invincible – sharp and ready to perform. 

“It was crazy how strong I felt, how good I felt. The last month or two that I was preparing to go to preseason with Sacramento, I was flying, man, and I showed up to preseason and I killed it,” Lopez said. 

The Republic were excellent in year one. And Lopez was the architect. He was an MVP finalist and an all-league selection. He made the team of the week four times and captured the playoff MVP. They also won the USL Championship – just for good measure. 

“And,” he paused. “The story changes there.”

Sacramento Republic FCLiga MX offers a new dawn

That might have been it. Lopez was the star for Sacramento, the best player in the league. He was in a successful setup that could offer him good soccer for, in theory, years to follow. He also lived in his native state and close enough to familiar territory. 

But other options beckoned. The San Jose Earthquakes were so impressed by one of his U.S. Open Cup games against them that they offered to buy him just two days later. They also promised him that he would start for the club week in, week out. Sacramento offered to let him go. Lopez declined the offer. 

That’s because he had always wanted to play in Liga MX. It was not only a childhood dream but also a nice story. His Dad had played pro in Mexico in the 80s and 90s. He grew up watching Mexican soccer. Lopez remembered the roar of the crowds and smells of the stadium from visits to watch Mexican club teams play during his formative years. A Liga MX move would complete the cycle, son following father.

“I grew up watching Mexican soccer. My dad played with a lot of the players that played for the national team and stuff like that. So every time they went to LA, we would always go and see them and visit them. So I was kind of around them a lot,” he said. 

He had represented the U.S. at youth levels, but he felt like he belonged in a league south of the border. 

And the paycheck wasn’t bad either. 

“The money was just life-changing,” Lopez joked.

Sacramento Republic FCA mixed Mexican career

So, the options came in. He had a chance to renew with Sacramento in 2015, but he declined it on the understanding that a Mexican side would make an offer. The Chicago Fire also enquired, and an NASL team was willing to spend big. By the end, he had to choose between two Mexican clubs. 

The first was Atlas, an established power, in the first division, whom most of his family had rooted for. The other was Celaya, a club with a fine history but stuck in the second tier. Atlas couldn’t promise minutes. Celaya could, and with Mexican soccer still in a promotion-relegation system, they offered the same cash and a chance to make it at the big time. 

He performed well there, and a year later, two more offers came in – both from first division sides. Lopez didn’t necessarily want to leave, but the offer to play top-flight soccer immediately was hard to turn down. 

Once again, he was left with a choice. Toluca and Queretaro both wanted him. The latter would have given him immediate playing time. But Toluca appealed more – mostly because of family ties. 

“I remember every Sunday waking up and watching them play. My wife's dad is a Toluca fan. So I don't know, something reeled me into Toluca,” he said. 

Lopez penned the deal, and had one of the best preseasons of his life. Sure, he was 30 – basically an unheard of age to debut in the Mexican top flight – but everything was clicking. There was competition for spots, but Lopez was right in the mix. 

And then, in the penultimate preseason friendly in the United States, disaster struck. He felt a sharp pain in his heel and could barely walk after the match. Lopez hobbled to the plane, convinced that something was wrong. He prepared for a spell out and was already accepting the likelihood that his debut had to wait. 

But then, when they landed back in Mexico, the GM and owner met him on the tarmac, and told him that he had done enough to start the season opener against his boyhood club, Chivas. 

“I got goosebumps. I started getting kind of nervous, but I was like, How am I going to play if I can't even move? I couldn't walk,” he said. 

He went to see the club doctor the next day and was told, definitively, not to train. Lopez needed an MRI. Playing would be a massive risk. But the assistant coach ran in and implored him to lace up. They had injuries at the position. Never mind the fact that this was also the opportunity of a lifetime. 

It helped, too, that Lopez had played through pain before. As a teenager, he broke his nose during a Rondo. Back then, the assistant checked that he wasn’t bleeding and sent him back into the drill. 

“I had the gauze in my nose, the whole thing, purple eye. People probably thought I was in a fight or whatever. The next day I had to be back in training,” he said. 

In that spirit, Lopez just jogged around the pitch, ignoring the sharp pain in his foot. 

“I put on my runners. I go out there. I'm, like, barely jogging in pain,” he recalled. 

The injury got worse, day by day. He needed injections to get through a scrimmage. But he somehow managed to start the first game of the season. His whole family was there, delighted for him. 

But Lopez couldn’t even pass the ball. He labored through 30 minutes and was hooked. 

“I did what I could,” he admitted. 

Lopez enjoyed 10 games of glory before fizzling out. In most games, he was the first sub. He knew he wasn’t anywhere close to his lofty potential. And by that time, other players had recovered. Lopez was on the bench. The dream – at least in Mexico – was over. There was one other stop, a brief cameo with Veracruz. But they were in dire financial trouble. Lopez didn’t get paid for seven months. He still hasn’t been fully compensated. The club folded in 2019.