— Last Thursday, Omar Bravo flew to Mexico from Raleigh upon learning his mother-in-law passed away the previous day. The Carolina RailHawks’ coaches and staff told Bravo to take as much time as he wanted to mourn with his family, while the team continued preparations for Saturday’s match at the New York Cosmos with the understandable presumption that they would be without their high-profile loanee.

On Friday, Bravo booked a flight from Mexico and arrived in New York City around 9:20 p.m. He played with the RailHawks the following evening.

Omar Bravo is a superstar of Mexican soccer. He’s the all-time leading scorer for Chivas de Guadalajara, an immensely venerable and popular club founded in 1906. He earned 66 caps and 15 goals for the Mexico National Team from 2003-2013, including a brace in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Two days after Bravo captained and scored a goal for Chivas to win the Supercopa MX in Los Angeles last month, he stepped onto the pitch of WakeMed Soccer Park as a RailHawk for their friendly against West Ham United. Whatever the internal factors that facilitated his departure from Chivas, it shocked Chivas fans to learn their longtime team captain was headed on loan to, of all places, a second-division American club in North Carolina.

The one person seemingly unruffled by this abrupt change of scenery was Omar Bravo, who agreed with the loan to Carolina following a productive telephone conversation in June with RailHawks manager Colin Clarke.

“There are a lot of Chivas fans, and I knew there would be lots of questions about why I was making this change,” Bravo told the Inverted Triangle Soccer Podcast earlier this month. “But I sat down my wife and told her my ego isn’t that big. If a team really wants me that bad and they show me that they have my best interests at heart, then I’m willing to take that route.”

Many aging soccer stars greet the final stops along their playing careers with a degree of detachment bordering on disdain. Although still under contract with Chivas, the 36-year-old Bravo has embraced the RailHawks community. He scored a goal in each of the four matches he’s started since his arrival. The only game he missed, in Ottawa, was due to visa delays that, once cleared, permitted him to fly alone to join the team for a game in Edmonton four days later.

“Everyone thinks of Omar coming in and scoring goals,” Clarke said two weeks ago after Carolina’s 3-2 win over Indy Eleven. “He brings so much more to the table, just as a leader. He’s a quality person, very humble, but he wants to win trophies. He’s had his talks with the boys and made his comments, and they sit up and listen. It’s coming from someone who has won at every single level he’s ever played. He knows what it takes to win.”

Bravo clearly feeds off the adoration of fans who press against the railings after home matches hoping for an autograph or selfie. The only autograph Bravo has declined was for a misguided supporter who asked him to sign a jersey of Club América, Chivas’ bitter rival. But he did it with a smile.

“The fans pay for tickets to watch us play,” Bravo said. “They don’t have to follow us. The minimum we can do is to give them our time. We have fans who drive hours, and for us to not be able to give them a little bit of our time is not fair. They deserve it.”





Bravo’s biggest impact has been at the turnstiles, where the RailHawks’ first Mexican player in the club’s 10-year history has partly solved the longstanding riddle of how to attract area Hispanic soccer supporters. Since Bravo’s arrival, the RailHawks have drawn crowds exceeding 6,000 for three consecutive league home matches, a first for the club. Carolina’s average attendance is 6,076 over those three games, compared to the 5,109 averaged over the preceding six NASL home games this year.

Carolina was already besting last year’s to-date average attendance by six percent prior to Bravo’s arrival. Now, the RailHawks are averaging 5,430 through nine home league matches in 2016, an increase of 16 percent over the same nine-game span last year.

The surging crowds, many clad in Chivas and other Liga MX garb, have generated a heightened energy level in the game-day atmosphere. When Indy Eleven was whistled for a penalty late in added time, a large portion of the crowd began to chant, “Om-ar Bra-vo!” Bravo obligingly stepped to the spot and converted the game-winning penalty kick.

Many new fans have also brought a less-welcome chant. “¡Puto!” is a Spanish slang term for “male prostitute” traditionally hurled by Mexican fans at the opposing team’s goalkeeper during goal kicks. The slur’s homophobic overtones have made it taboo in many soccer venues.

The RailHawks’ front office proactively acted to stem the “puto” proliferation. It met with local supporters groups to enlist their assistance. The club has played a PSA on the stadium’s video board at varying intervals throughout past two matches, an English- and Spanish-language video featuring Bravo and midfielder Austin da Luz urging fans to refrain from using the invective. A RailHawks staffer says the next step is distributing flyers containing the same admonishment at the ticket window and throughout the grandstands.

The RailHawks have seven home games remaining on their 2016 schedule, beginning this Saturday against the Jacksonville Armada. Between Labor Day weekend and the opening day of college football season, it’s a date that will put the Bravo effect to the test.

Regardless of the country or league, Bravo’s mission remains the same.

“I love to play [football], it’s my passion,” Bravo said. “I want to win. I want a title, and I want to be champion.”