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Five Minutes With… Rodrigo Lopez, Rio Grande Valley FC

By NICHOLAS MURRAY - nicholas.murray@uslsoccer.com, 05/04/21, 5:22PM EDT

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The veteran midfielder talks about his career-defining goal, joining the Toros, and a long-ago connection with Coach Wilmer Cabrera


Veteran midfielder made his debut for Rio Grande Valley FC this past Saturday night as the club opened the new season with a 1-0 win against New Mexico United at H-E-B Park. | Photo courtesy Christian Inoferio / Rio Grande Valley FC

One of the veteran heads signed by Rio Grande Valley FC as it began its new era this offseason, midfielder Rodrigo Lopez remains one of the best-known figures in the USL Championship’s history. The 2014 Championship Final MVP with Sacramento Republic FC, Lopez held the league’s record for regular-season assists before a four-year stint in Mexico that saw him compete in Liga MX for Toluca.

Ahead of Thursday night’s nationally televised contest with San Diego Loyal SC on ESPN Deportes (8 p.m. ET), I caught up with Lopez to look back on his career-defining goal, what it means to be part of the Toros as they look to transform into a Championship Final contender in the  coming years, and a long-lost encounter with Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera in the U.S. Youth National Team ranks.

Nicholas Murray: You get to pick one goal that sums up your career so far. What is it?

Rodrigo Lopez: I definitely want to say the Miracle at Bonney.

NM: The third one, the free kick?

RL: The free kick, yeah.

NM: What does that night still mean to you?

RL: It means a lot to me. It was a night that I think summed up what Sacramento and the Republic was all about. It was incredible in the first year of franchise history, to be able to come back from a two-zero deficit and obviously get a hat trick in stoppage time to put the team into a good opportunity in the final to win a championship. For us, we kinda knew it was going to be the championship anyway, so winning that game was definitely a big factor in winning.

NM: You’re in Rio Grande Valley now. We spoke in the offseason, and this was one of the places that I figured might make sense for you and for the Toros given they’re going through and everything that’s they’re becoming now. What did it mean to step on the field on Saturday and earn that first three points in the new colors, the new regime, the new era they’re launching?

RL: Oh, man, it meant a lot to me. It felt extra-special. I’m going to be quite honest, the minute I started training with RGV, I truly felt at home. You could tell that they’re turning things around as a franchise here and they’re doing the right things. Being independent now, apart from Houston, I think it’s a big plus. The ownership’s being serious, they have [Toros President] Ron [Patel] running the front office side and obviously they hired the perfect coach for the job and for the team. It was special, man.

The first game is always the toughest game and I felt like the players who were on the field did a great job in handling that pressure and that first game, those goosebumps and the adrenaline and the excitement for this first game, we handled it pretty well.

NM: Had you worked with Wilmer Cabrera before you got to RGV?

RL: You know what, we talked about this when I saw him for the first time. I think he was an assistant coach in one of the camps I was in with the national team with the U-18s back in 2005, I want to say. We were kind of talking and he said, “yeah, I went to a tournament in Portugal that year,” and I remember that I was in that tournament as well. I was the captain in the U-18s back then, so I’m sure we were there, but honestly I have a terrible memory, I can’t remember that far back.

Obviously, after that I heard about who he was and the success he’s had in MLS and obviously with RGV their first time around and going to the playoffs in their first season of existence, but now that I’ve got to know him, he’s an amazing manager, he’s very, very smart and knows the game very well. Like I said, he’s the perfect man for this new Toros era.


New Rio Grande Valley FC Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera is leading the new era for the Toros on the field with a balanced roster of youth and experience that's aiming to become a playoff contender in short order.

NM: What are you enjoying most so far about Rob Patel?

RL: You know, he was with New Mexico, and I was in Mexico when New Mexico came into the league and I saw the excitement that came with the franchise and all the fans they had. I’ve met him  a couple of times and talked to him, but he seems to be very passionate for the game, very passionate for the Valley, and he wants nothing but the best for this franchise and this city. They’re on the right path to building something special and continuing the success we had on Saturday.

NM: If you could have one super-power, what would it be?

RL: [Laughs] If I were to have one super-power, what would it be… Man. To fly.

NM: Why is that?

RL: I love adrenaline and I’d love to be able to get places a lot faster than we do now.


"The mindset of the players is we’re all united, we all know what we can give to the Toros and we’re starting to understand the philosophy that Coach Wilmer is implementing." | Photo courtesy Christian Inoferio / Rio Grande Valley FC

NM: Thursday night, ESPN Deportes, national television coming in, San Diego coming in, what are you looking forward to most about that opportunity to show where the Toros are now, but more importantly where they’re heading?

RL: It’s a very, very important game for us. We started with three points at home, our first three games are at home, so we want to take advantage of those three games. We take every game at a time, we got done with Saturday now it’s time to move onto San Diego and our minds are on San Diego. They’re well coached, they have a good team, they had a good season last year, unfortunately didn’t make the playoffs, but they were in a hard bracket. It’s a team that’s very dangerous, that likes to play, which is good. We just have to continue with what we were doing on Saturday, it wasn’t our best version, but we’re on the right path.

The mindset of the players is we’re all united, we all know what we can give to the Toros and we’re starting to understand the philosophy that Coach Wilmer is implementing. Obviously, we have the right group of players to be able to play that way and play the way that he likes, so Thursday’s a good test for us. We have to impose our homefield advantage, and it’s going to be the most important game of the season since it’s the next one.

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