José Villegas

José Gerardo “Jamaicón” Villegas Tavares (born 20 June 1934) is a Mexican former footballer who played as a defender for the Mexico national team at the 1958 and 1962 World Cup matches.[3]

José Villegas

Personal information
Full name	José Gerardo Villegas Tavares
Date of birth	20 June 1934
Place of birth	La Experiencia, Mexico[1][2]
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[1][2]
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1953–1971	Guadalajara
National team
	Mexico
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Biography

Villegas was born in the neighborhood of “La Experiencia” in Zapopan and as many in his town he was a textile industry worker. In his infancy he was nicknamed “Jamaicón” because he cried too much (in some regions of Mexico, “Jamaicón” is considered a polite way to call someone a whiner). He began his football career playing for “Club Imperio” in 1949 and he was selected to the Jalisco State youth league in 1951. In the second round of his selection his team went to play for the National Championship final in the state of Nuevo León.

He was raised at the center of a typical Mexican family, and as most other youth in his town, he would work in textiles, and then play in his spare time. His ability to play as a defensive player allowed him to play with one of the best Mexican football club, C.D. Guadalajara, knows as “Chivas del Guadalajara”.[4] He won 8 championships with the Chivas league, assisted in 13 World Cup play-offs and played in two World Cups. As a right defensive player he could not be passed by and faced world-renowned players to which he stopped from scoring., perhaps the most memorable being Garrincha of Botafogo.

1962 World Cup

While Mexico prepared to play in the World Cup at Chile in 1962 it was said that if Villegas had defeated Garrincha time and time again, surely there was enough defensive strength in the Mexico national team for the World Cup. The Mexican Football Federation went on a tour of trial games with Ignacio Trelles at the head and their first stop was London, England. Trelles decided to line up “Piolín” Mota, a second-string goalkeeper. Mota was quite concerned with the startup but Trelles told him he had nothing to worry about as Villegas would be there to defend the goal. Mexico lost 8–0 against England. As a reporter approached him to interview him on his disappointing performance, he said he missed his mother and days had gone by where he could not eat "birria" and that life was not worth it if he was not in his town.

Another interesting fact was that, even though he had defeated Garrincha in league games, he was so afraid of him during the 1962 World Cup he constantly asked where the attacker was.

Jamaicon Syndrome

A story also tells that one day he sneaked out of a dinner that was served to the Mexican team in Lisbon, prior to the Sweden World Cup of 1958. The trainer was made aware of this and found him in the Hotel garden, sitting under a tree hugging his legs and looking at the stars with melancholy. As he asked him if he had eaten dinner and everything was Ok, “Jamaicón” answered “How can I eat dinner if that was prepared for a bunch of presumptuous people? All I want are my “chalupas”, some “sopes” and not that trash that's not even Mexican”.

Ever since, the phenomenon of Mexicans missing Mexico when they are out of the country is known as “The Jamaicón Syndrome”.[5][6]

References

1. José Villegas at National-Football-Teams.com
2. José Villegas at WorldFootball.net
3. FIFA Player Statistics: Jose Villegas, FIFA
4. Classic Club: C.D. Guadalajara, FIFA, archived from the original on 12 September 2014
5. Fonseca backs Sanchez for Mexico job, FIFA, 6 October 2006
6. Williams, Tom (2018). Do You Speak Football?: A Glossary of Football Words and Phrases from Around the World. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 53. ISBN 978-1472947222. Retrieved 11 June 2020.

Further reading

• Calderón Cardoso, Carlos (2006). Anecdotario del futbol Mexicano. Ediciones del Futbolista. ISBN 9685382409.