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And just like that, the first quarter of this century has banished and we start the next one..as anticipated in the 2023 in hindsight for the Gomez’s publication, this year needed to have a decreased emphasis on traveling and a pronounced focus on health and that’s what we did. In the process, we managed to partake in a few running races.

On the other hand, our “eyes” did not anticipate witnessing much beyond sports but as luck would have it, not only did we witness our 2nd full Solar Eclipse (first in 1990 in Mexico City) but also witnessed our first Space X launch (with its booster catch included) live. These events will live in our hearts forever.

This year also marked the beginning of an action packed football (soccer) events leading up to the 2026 Men’s and 2027 Women’s World Cups respectively. The first half of the year was benevolent with our family while the second half tested our resilience. This is how our year went down…

January

Personal

The year started strong for Joana in football. Her club team captured the first championship Showcase they participated in Florida.

Joana – College ShowCase

On January 12th, we traveled to Orlando for Joana’s first out of town showcase tournament. Four days later, and after five 80-minutes games played, her team returned home with the championship hardware.

National

On January 9th, the Michigan Wolverines defeated the Washington Huskies (who had in turn defeated my longhorns) by a score of 34-13 in the NCAA National Championship game played at the Cowboys AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas (our backyard).

Global

Tennis

On January 27th, Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka won the 2024 women’s Australian Open defeating Chinese sensation Zheng Qinwen in straight sets. In 2023, she had also won the prestigious tournament. If you haven’t read her story, I encourage you to do so.

On January 28th, after being down to Daniil Medvedev the first two sets 3-6, 3-6. Italian 22 year-old Jannik Sinner took the next three sets in an epic comeback to win his first Men’s Grand Slam: the Australian Open. In the semifinals, he had previously defeated Novak Djokovik. Jannik Sinner would go on to win the US Open in September. Unfortunately for Medvedev, he has lost a total of 6 Grand Slam finals portrayed below.

Football

On January 5th, shortly after the one year anniversary of Pele’s death (December 29th, 2022), the world of football suffered another great loss as Brazilian legend Mário Lobo Zagallo died at age 93. The “Lobo” is the winningest footballer having won the FIFA World Cup four times. He won it in 1958 and 1962 as a player, he won it again in 1970 as a manager and in 1994 as assistant manager. He was the first of three footballers to have won the Men’s FIFA World Cup as player and manager. The other two are Frenchman Didier Deschamps and German Franz Beckenbauer.

On January 8th, the world of football legends suffered yet another great loss as German superstar Franz Bekenbauer died at age 78. The “kaiser” (the emperor) as he was known not only won the 1974 FIFA World Cup as captain of his national team but he also won it as a manager in 1990 in Italy. He started his career playing as a midfielder but his best years occurred while playing as a central defender.

February

Personal

After a long and arduous document gathering process, I traveled to Spain to ensure all paperwork was properly handled and submitted.

National

The Smokehouse Creek Fire, the largest wildfire on record in the state of Texas (and second in the US up to that point) burned 1.1 million acres (approximately 426,600 hectares). It started on February 26 in Hutchinson County and rapidly spread across multiple counties. Governor Gregg Abbott declared it a national emergency.

Global

Superbowl

On February 11th, while in Germany visiting Johan, the Kansas City Chiefs rallied to defeat the San Francisco 49ers in overtime by a score of 25-22 in Super Bowl LVIII (58th). Texas native (and neighbor) Patrick Mahomes was named, for the second straight year, the MVP of the game. The Chiefs became back to back Super Bowl Champions and started what some predict could become a dynasty.

The halftime show, featuring Rihanna, reached a high of 118.7 million viewers. As usual, the commercials stole “the show”.

March

March was a month full of basketball record breaking events.

Personal

U23 – US Olympic Soccer

Johan was called for the third consecutive time to the U23 US National team in preparation for the Summer Olympics in Paris 2023. Jonathan was also called; however, once again, CD Mirandés’ Sporting Director did not release him.

Note: CD Mirandés was in the middle of a close race to retain the class. When asked about the lack of a release, Sporting Director Alfredo Merino stated that he could grant Jonathan the release in exchange for a signed pre-contract with Mirandés for the 2024-2025 season (which RS would have had to approve anyway). We of course, opted to sacrifice the U23 call-up (and possibly the Olympics) on account of not getting in trouble with Real Sociedad. Truth be told, the experience with CD Mirandés has been the best so far in Europe. We would go back there any day.

High School

After a solid season in her second year of varsity, Joana made the All-State 1st team as a sophomore.

National

The month was marked by record breaking events. Side note: Ironically, we normally end up talking about the March Madness conclusion in April.

Basketball

On March 7th, after winning back to back national women’s basketball association (NWBA) championships in 2022 and 2023, the Las Vegas Aces, announced that the entire 2024 season had been sold out. This is unprecedented in league history.

Caitlin Clark

On March 1, Caitlin Clark breaks the all-time NCAA Division I college basketball career scoring record that had been held by Pete Maravich with 3,685 points She proceeded to shatter the record in her senior year amassing a total of 3951 points and 548 three-pointers leading all D1 (men’s and women’s) programs. She decided to forego a fifth year of eligibility (due to COVID in 2019) to declare for the WNBA draft.

Global

On March 2nd, Lebron James becomes the first NBA player to reach 40,000 points against the Denver Nuggets.

April

Personal

On April, 20th, Johan scored an important goal against Vfl Osnabruk to help his club be in the hunt to preserve the class in the 2.Bundesliga. Being his first season in the German second division, his playing time (and production) was always impactful starting most games in multiple positions. Most importantly, he did not sustain any major injuries which is always the priority as a professional player.

National

March Madness

On April 8th, the 2024 NCAA March Madness tournament came to an end. UConn defended its 2023 title by defeating the Purdue Boilmakers by a score of 75 to 60 (2023 score was 76 to 59) to claim the 2024 NCAA national title.

This was the 6th championship for the Huskies men’s basketball program. As a side note, my running horns made it to the Round of 32 before collapsing against the other orange guys: The University of Tennessee.

Global

Solar Eclipse

On April 8th, I got to witness the second fully solar eclipse in my life. Back on July 11th, 1990 in Mexico City, I had witnessed the first one but this one was more special as I witnessed it with family.

May

Personal

Eintracht Braunschweig:

On May 12th, in a must-win game, Eintracht Braunschweig retained the Bundesliga.2 class by beating SV Wehen Wiesbaden by a score of 1-0. After a first long arduous season playing in the 2nd division in Germany, Johan secured playing with the club another year which in June was extended given his good form.

ECNL:

Joana’s team finished the 2023 – 2024 in first place once again. She continued her soccer maturity and high school soccer helped a lot. Her minutes and contributions were solid. We are very proud of the footballer she’s becoming.

National

Johan was called to the last training camp in Kansas before the Paris Olympics. He was ultimately selected as an alternate to join the team in France.

Global

On May 19th, the final day of the season, Manchester City beat West Ham United 3–1 at home to become the first club in Premier League history to win four consecutive titles. They won the title with 91 points – two points ahead of their title rivals Arsenal, who defeated Everton 2–1 at home. Arsenal finished runners-up with 89 points, becoming the third-best second-placed team in the history of the Premier League.

June

The beginning of the second half of the year started out in a brutal way for the family.

Personal

Mirandés:

On June 2nd, Jogo played his last game of the season where CD Mirandés secured the class. In a home game of “winner retains the class”, Mirandés defeated SD Amorebieta by the score of 1-0 and guaranteed another year in the 2nd division in Spain.

Joana

Joana tore her ACL in her second game of the ECNL playoffs. After surgery (almost a month later), she was told the expected recovery time was about 6 – 9 months. Our summer plans changed radically but more so her soccer year and just like that, the road to recovery started…no pain, no gain.

National

NBA

On June 17th, in the fifth game of the NBA finals, the Boston Celtics defeated our hometown team the Dallas Mavericks. It was a carbon copy of the 2023 finals where the Denver Nuggets also won the NBA finals over the Miami Heat in five games. As most would expect, Serbian center Nikola Jokic was named MVP of the finals.

MLB

On June 18th, the world of baseball lost one of the greatest athletes to have ever played the game. Willie Mays, passed away in his home in California due to a heart failure.

Global

On June 9th, Carlitos Alcaraz won his first major of the year: French Open. Despite winning two major Grand Slams in 2024 (including Wimbledon), the year finished in a frustrating manner after losing the Olympics final to Novak Djokovic, and being knocked out early of the US Open.

July

Personal

Paris Olympics

Johan was selected to the 22-men roster for the US Olympic soccer team. I traveled to Marseille, France to meet up with him (for his birthday mostly) for the first two group stage games. (Un)fortunately, that’s what his club allowed him to participate in. It was a magnificent experience playing against the host nation for the opening game and witnessing the atmosphere live.

National

On July 14th, Argentina won the Copa America for a 16th time. This time, the defending champions defeated Colombia in overtime by a score of 1-0. The final game was played at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami under a complete lack of logistical organization.

Global

President Trump

On July 13, 2024, Donald Trump, back then the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential election, survived an assassination attempt while speaking at an open-air campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania

Euros

On July 14th, the football world was paralyzed to watch the Euro final between Spain and England in Germany. In a highly close match, Spain eventually prevailed by a score of 2-1. In the 86th minute of the game, then Jogo’s Real Sociedad teammate Mikel Oyarzabal scored the match winner giving Spain its 2nd Euro Cup.

August

Personal

There were offers that came in from some Liga Mx clubs for Jogo whose value artificially inflated his market value. Those immediately impacted Real Sociedad Sporting Director’s (Roberto Olabe) greed and future for Jogo. After a successful pre-season with the first team which included a tour in Japan; it was evident that first team Coach along with Roberto were seeking financial remuneration prior to Jogo’s last contract year. As a result, Jogo expressed his desire to continue in the Spanish market; however, Roberto blocked the offers that did come in from La Liga 2 clubs mostly and a couple from La Liga, thus forcing Jogo to look elsewhere. When Jogo refused to return to Mexico, Roberto made his (and other players such as Roberto Navarro under a similar situation) lives miserable.

We are very grateful with Real Sociedad as the club provided Jogo his first European opportunity. In the end, we know that people come and go and clubs endure the passage of time. Some people however, can certainly impact a club’s reputation. Greed is a horrible thing…

Right before the market closed in September, Olabe finally allowed (thanks to a hefty transfer fee paid by PAOK FC), a transfer to an unimaginable league for us, but at last, escaped Roberto’s constant abuse of players who didn’t align with his financial initiatives. Currently, we are still struggling to find our footing in a foreign market that we were forced into.

Jogo is here! #PAOK #OurWay #transfers #JogoIsHere pic.twitter.com/0pGZPln5Sv

— PAOK FC (@PAOK_FC) August 23, 2024

National

On August 25th, the Columbus Crew defeated Los Angeles FC (3-1) to win the 4th edition of the Leagues Cup. For the second consecutive year using this format, an MLS club prevailed over Liga MX clubs.

Global

Olympics:

On August 11th, the Paris 2024 Olympics came to an end. It was an unforgettable month of sports with many memories made. Here is the final medal tally.

Among the most notable moments were these: The inagural ceremony at the Rhine river on a rainy Friday night, Nadal vs Djokovik match, Simon Biles, Photo finish, etc.

September

Personal

On my 20th anniversary officiating football, Joana and I repeated what the boys and I did several years earlier: we officiated a (albeit rec) game together. As I had anticipated last year in the end-of-year publication. Joana decided to partake in the game from a different perspective.

National

On Saturday, September 7th, 2nd ranked Aryna Sabalenka won her second Grand Slam of the year (third overall) by beating American-Korean 6th ranked Jessica Pegula in straight sets (7-5, 7-5)

On Sunday, September 8th, Jannik Sinner defeated American sensation Taylor Fritz further delaying having an American win the Meadows Grand Slam for yet another year. The US Open became Sinner’s second Slam of the year (and career).

Surprisingly, Jannik defeated Fritz in three straight sets making the match one of the shortest ones in recent history: 6-3, 6-4, and 7-5.

Global

On September 19th, Japanese two-way (pitcher and designated player) baseball player Shohei Ohtani became the first player in MLB history to record a 50-50 (50 home runs and 50 stolen bases) in one season. Ohtani would continue his impact in the month of October helping the Los Angeles Dodgers reach and play through the post-season.

October

Personal

Space X

On October 13th around 7:25 AM, we witnessed history in the making in South Padre Island. The successful launch of the fifth SpaceX Starship was a feat in itself; however, the most amazing experience was witnessing the successful return of its booster back to its launch base where it had taken off five minutes prior. Relive it here where every detail is explained.

Meanwhile, the ship continued its way around earth and re-entered the atmosphere to land in the Indian Ocean.

Greek Super League

Jogo made his official Greece Super League (and European first division) debut on October, 6th in an away game against Levadiakos. Paok FC defeated the home team by a score of 2-0. In October, Jogo also debuted in the Greece Cup (round of 16) on October 30th. This is the 2nd country where he professionally partakes of the Cup competition -Copa del Rey). In this game, Paok FC prevailed over Egaleo by a score of 3-0 with a solid showing.

National

On October 23rd, Lebron James (39) and his son Bronny (20) made history by becoming the first father and son to play in an NBA game together. The duo shared the court for about 150 seconds. The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves by a score of 120-113.

Global

Tennis:

On October 11th, 38th year old Rafael Nadal announced that the Davis Cup in the month of November would be his last tournament before retirement.

Commonly known as the king of clay due to his dominance on that surface, Nadal climbed up to the #1 ATP world ranking for the first time by defeating friend and rival Roger Federer in the epic 2008 Wimbledon final. This match is commonly regarded as the greatest tennis match ever played.

Flooding:

On October 29th,  torrential rain caused by an isolated low-pressure area at high levels brought over a year’s worth of precipitation to several areas in eastern Spain, including the Valencian Community, Castilla–La Mancha, and Andalusia. The resulting floodwaters caused the deaths of at least 217 people and substantial property damage

World series

On October 30th, the Los Angeles Dodgers overcame an 0-5 deficit in game 4 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium to win the game 7-6. In doing so, they swept the series to win their 8th World Series and first one since 2020.

This took place a couple of days before recently deceased Mexican former LA pitcher’s Fernando Valenzuela’s birthday on November 1st. What a gift had it been if the Dodgers had won on his birthday.

November

Personal

Johan had his first assist (somewhat fortuitous) of the 24-24 season. Going into the 2nd FIFA break of the 2024-2025 season, at the time, Eintracht Braunschweig was located just outside of the relegation zone and playing well.

National

On November 14th, the USMNT defeated Jamaica (1-) in the first leg of the quarterfinal of the CONCACAF Nations League. In the second leg a few days later, the USMNT won 4-2. In the semifinal game, the USMNT will face Panama.

Meanwhile, the Mexican national team narrowly defeated Honduras by an aggregate score of 4-2. In the first leg, Mexico lost 2-0 and many thought the team would not make it to the semifinals to be played in March 2025.

Global

On Tuesday November 5th (Super Tuesday), the US people (and the electoral college) elected Donald Trump as the 47th president of the US. Now President elect Donald Trump (with his running mate JD Vance) defeated Vice President Kamala Harris by a large margin: 312 – 226 (270 are needed to win). Trump’s victory defied two assassination attempts, two presidential impeachments, his criminal conviction and many other criminal charges. He is expected to take office January 20th.

December

Individual

The family traveled to Germany and Greece to visit the boys for Thanksgiving. Many memories were made.

National

MLS

On December 7th, LA Galaxy (with ex-FC Dallas players Edwin Cerrillo and John Nelson) defeated the New York Red Bulls by a score of 2-1.

NCAA D1 Women’s

On December 9th, in Cary North Carolina, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels defeated first time finalist Wake Forest Demon Deacons in the D1 College Cup Championship. The Tar Heels have won 23 of the 43 editions of the College Cup.

NCAA D1 Men’s

On December 16th, in Cary, North Carolina, the University of Vermont Catamounts defeated Marshall University Thundering (winners in 2022) with a golden goal by a score of 2-1 to claim their first ever NCAA Division 1 Men’s soccer college cup. The game was high in emotions but low on technical level.

Global

POTUS:

On December 29th, Jimmy Carter (39th president of the United States), passed away peacefully at his home in California. In his attempt for re-election going against Ronald Reagan (VP George W. Bush) in 1980, Carter’s 49 electoral votes were the second-fewest for an incumbent president seeking reelection, with only William Howard Taft in the 1912 presidential election defeated more decisively. Jimmy Carter is the only president to have reached 100 years of age. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

F1

On December 8th, Dutch driver Max Verstappen finishes 6th in the season-ending Abu Dhabi GP to claim his 4th consecutive World F1 title.

FIFA

On December 11th, FIFA announces that Morocco, Portugal and Spain will jointly host the Men’s 2030 World Cup, with anniversary matches to be held in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, while Saudi Arabia is confirmed as the host for the Men’s 2034 World Cup.

2025:

As stated a year ago, our intent was to expand our blog coverage to include more content about Joana. We did just that for the first six months prior to her ACL injury. As she recovers, we’ll pick that up this year.

Now that we have some months of recovery time, we have continued to try to pick up where she left off. She’s beginning to take the sport to a different level this upcoming year.

In December, Jogo purchased his first new car in the states just to have when he’s in town. Although rarely, car conflicts do arise when everyone is in town especially now that Joana became an official driver. I will take good care of it for you buddy 😉

Please reach out for any topics you would like addressed #theGomezway.

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