El diablito de España: "The Best Player You’ve Never Heard Of"

On February 20, 1980, the Diplomats held a press conference to introduce their new "play maker and field general," as stated by Gordon Bradley. Juan Jose Lozano had just signed the most lucrative contract in team history, up to that time.

Within a month, however, the Dips added Wim Jansen and Johan Cruyff, both of whom had demonstrated leadership qualities and creative athletic ability on the world stage. In December the team would cease operations.

Like his time in Washington, Lozano's career never truly reached it's full potential. He suffered a career ending injury in April, 1987. The link at the bottom of the page provides an excellent overview of his football career.



Lozano's biggest goal as a Diplomat came against the Cosmos on August 17, 1980, at the Meadowlands. With this header, he tied the match, 1-1, just 25 seconds after Giorgio Chinaglia scored on a penalty kick. The Dips went on to win, 2-1, breaking a streak of three straight Cosmos victories over the Dips via the shootout. Of the win, and the fashion in which it was clinched, Carmine Marcantonio stated, "God finally did justice."

 

The link below is courtesy of http://soccernostalgia.blogspot.com.

 

http://soccernostalgia.blogspot.com/2012/08/juan-lozano-best-player-youve-never.html