{"id":371241,"date":"2026-07-13T15:56:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/371241\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T15:56:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T15:56:12","slug":"ted-lasso-star-cristo-fernandez-gets-yellow-in-pro-soccer-debut-but-not-for-hitting-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/371241\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Ted Lasso\u2019 star Cristo Fern\u00e1ndez gets yellow in pro soccer debut, but not for hitting dog"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Cristo Fern\u00e1ndez, also known as Dani Rojas in the hit Apple TV series \u201cTed Lasso,\u201d showcased his soccer skills in an unscripted role for a West Texas audience Saturday when he entered in the 79th minute for El Paso Locomotive FC in a USL Cup group-stage match against New Mexico United.<\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, he didn\u2019t <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=yOZEfOEnleM\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">hit a dog on a penalty kick<\/a> this game.<\/p>\n<p>But the 35-year-old did pick up a yellow card in his professional soccer debut.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"es\" dir=\"ltr\">Futbol is life! \ud83d\ude4c<\/p>\n<p>Cristo Fern\u00e1ndez makes his <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/eplocomotivefc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">@eplocomotivefc<\/a> debut in the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/PrinxTiresUSLCup?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">#PrinxTiresUSLCup<\/a> \ud83d\udd25 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/AYuur2ZA3M\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/AYuur2ZA3M<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Prinx Tires USL Cup (@USL_Cup) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/USL_Cup\/status\/2076137043940221074?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">July 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The match was scoreless at the time of the substitution, but New Mexico United spoiled Fern\u00e1ndez\u2019s first match, scoring twice in the closing stretch to win 2-0. He had three touches, and in the 87th minute, he got carded for colliding with New Mexico\u2019s goalkeeper on a cross.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7273268\/2026\/05\/12\/cristo-fernandez-el-paso-locomotive-ted-lasso-dani-rojas-usl-championship\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Fern\u00e1ndez signed with El Paso in May<\/a> after an extensive two-month trial with the club, but his debut was delayed for weeks while his work visa was being processed. He was cleared to play ahead of Saturday\u2019s match, the Derby Del Camino Real, one of the USL Championship\u2019s most prominent rivalries.<\/p>\n<p>Fern\u00e1ndez began his professional soccer career at the youth level with Tecos FC in Jalisco, Mexico, before stepping away from the sport at 15 due to injury. He shifted his focus to other ventures, including acting. In 2020, he became one of the many breakout stars from \u201cTed Lasso,\u201d where he portrayed Rojas, a wide-eyed professional soccer player whose tagline throughout the series became \u201cF\u00fatbol is life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fern\u00e1ndez trained with several professional clubs around the country ahead of his trial with El Paso, including with Chicago Fire II, the reserve side of the MLS Chicago Fire.<\/p>\n<p>At the time of his signing, Fern\u00e1ndez became the oldest player on El Paso\u2019s roster and the fifth-oldest in the entire USL Championship.<\/p>\n<p>El Paso returns to league play following the conclusion of Prinx Tires USL Cup group play. The team will travels to Tulsa, Okla., to face FC Tulsa on July 18. El Paso currently sits seventh in the Western Conference, ahead of FC Tulsa for the last playoff spot in the 25-club league.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristo Fern\u00e1ndez, also known as Dani Rojas in the hit Apple TV series \u201cTed Lasso,\u201d showcased his soccer&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[138,140,139,2256,73649],"class_list":["post-371241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-el-paso","tag-el-paso","tag-el-paso-headlines","tag-el-paso-news","tag-sports-business","tag-usl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}