Arango, the Caribbean Hurricane
If we go back a couple of decades, Venezuela was not a country that was associated with football, it was mostly associated with baseball and that prejudice perhaps limited the options of the country's football players and at the same time, those of its national team since its players had little experience outside their league. All that changed thanks to Juan Arango who left Venezuela around the year 2000 and waved the tricolor flag for Mexico, Spain, Germany and the United States.
The beginning of the career
Juan Arango was born on May 16, 1980, in Maracay, Venezuela, a city famous for having produced many artists and baseball players. His parents immigrated from Colombia a few years before Juan was born. Even though at that time, baseball was the sport par excellence in Venezuela, little Juan opted for football at just 6 years old, when he started to play football in the youth teams of Universidad Central. After 10 years, he would go to Nueva Cadiz FC where he would coincide with Cesar Farias (who would later coach him in the national team) and Alexander Rondon (future teammate in the national team).That team based in Cumana, managed to be crowned champion of the under-20 category, a promotion to Second Division and in its first year at that level, to be crowned champion to go to First Division. That promotion led to the club being changed headquarters, moving from Cumana (eastern Venezuela) to Maracaibo (western Venezuela) and changing its name to Zulia FC. With only a handful of matches in the First Division, he was called up for the first time to the Venezuela national team, in 1999, beginning a 16-year journey with the colors of his country. After 12 games with Zulia FC, he was signed by Caracas FC, one of the biggest in the country, although he would not stay for long since only 19 games later, he would have his first experience abroad.
First steps abroad
Benito Floro, the Spanish coach of Monterrey in 2000, noticed Arango and signed him for his team. In 4 years, he would go through 3 Mexican clubs; Monterrey, Pachuca and Puebla. With the Tuzos he would win the 2002 CONCACAF Champions Cup, beating Morelia 1-0 in the final. In that tournament, the Venezuelan was one of the top scorers, tied with Alex Fernandes. With the arrival of Benito Floro to Mallorca in 2004, the coach decided to take Arango to the Iberian team.
Estadi Mallorca Son Moix - Juan Arango home stadium for a few years
His time in Mallorca
The reality was that the bet at that time seemed risky for the Spanish team since the contract offered to Arango was for one year with an option to extend it for three more years, possibly doubting the Venezuelan's ability and the few precedents of players of that nationality that had played in Europe. His debut in Spain was against Real Madrid and not just any Real Madrid, the Galacticos who on that occasion would win 1-0 with a goal from Ronaldo. Mallorca's start was not good and one victory in the first eight games meant the dismissal of Floro and the arrival of Hector Cuper, who maintained faith in the Venezuelan.On March 20, 2005, in a match between Mallorca and Sevilla, in the 40th minute, Arango received a hard blow from Javi Navarro that caused him to have a cardiorespiratory arrest and he had to be taken to the hospital, putting his life at risk. In the end, he would only be off the pitch for a month and would return wearing a protective mask. That season, Mallorca finished in seventeenth place, just two points away from the relegation spots. In September of that year, he scored his first hat-trick against Real Sociedad, one of the goals being an incredible half-turn volley.
That same season, the Venezuelan would be the protagonist in a visit by Real Madrid to Palma de Mallorca, as on that rainy day, the island's team would beat the Madrid club 2-1, with Arango scoring the winning goal by taking on and beating Casillas and scoring into an open goal. That defeat marked the end of Florentino Perez's first era as president of Real Madrid, as he left his post shortly after that match.
As the seasons went by, Arango's importance in the club grew and the team progressively improved in the final positions of the table. In the 2007-08 season, the native of Maracay would score another hat-trick, this time against Recreativo de Huelva, in his team's 7-1 victory, the biggest win for Mallorca in the First Division and in turn, Arango became the first player in the history of the club to score two hat-tricks in the first tier.
Next stop: Germany and Gladbach
Arango's left foot had earned him a reputation in Europe as one of the finest and most accurate, especially with free kicks, and that had sparked the interest of many teams, however, after five seasons in Mallorca, Borussia Mönchengladbach paid 3.5 million euros to take him to Germany. The reality is that the fast-paced German football and the German climate did not seem to be the right place for the Venezuelan. But nothing could be further from the truth, his adaptation was spectacular, to the point of leaving a very pleasant memory among the fans of Gladbach and the Bundesliga.Something similar that what happened at Mallorca, Arango arrived at a team that was close to relegation and together with Lucien Favre and other great players such as Marco Reus, they led the team to compete in the European cups. In fact, Marco Reus has stated on several occasions that "Arango is like a teacher to me. I learned a lot playing alongside him". In Germany, Arango had 111 free kicks, which resulted in 9 goals, for a conversion rate of 8.61%, the second-best average in the history of the Bundesliga, in addition to scoring great goals like the one from almost halfway against Mainz.
During the Venezuelan's time in Germany, the 2011 Copa America took place, which was played in Argentina. Destiny would bring Arango and Cesar Farias together again, when the coach became the national coach of the "Vinotinto" (as the Venezuelan national team is called). In that tournament, Venezuela would achieve fourth place, its best position in history, remaining in the semifinals against Paraguay, losing on penalties.
After five years in Germany, Arango would finish his career with a brief stint in Tijuana, New York Cosmos and a return to his country with Zulia FC, which curiously, this time was managed by Daniel Farias, Cesar Farias' brother.