[AMERICANS ABROAD] U.S national team midfielder Jose Francisco Torres has joined Tigres on a winter transfer from Pachuca. His seven-year stint with the Tuzos was the longest by an American at a Mexican club and one of the longest ever by an American at a foreign club.

The Texan scored four goals in 154 league games for the Tuzos. He made his Pachuca debut at the age of 18 after leaving Longview, Texas, as a teenager.

He was playing for Pachuca's second division team when he was called up to the first team and came on as a sub in the semifinals of the Apertura 2006 season. Two years later, he became a fixture on the first team.

Pachuca won the Mexican Torneo Clausura in 2007 and the Concacaf Champions Cup in 2007 and 2008 and the second edition of the Concacaf Champions League in 2010. Torres played five games for Pachuca in two appearances in the FIFA Club World Cup.

“We thank ‘Gringo’ Torres for his professionalism, dedication and love of the shirt during his time at Pachuca, from playing in youth teams to his debut in the Apertura 2006 to consolidating himself in the first team,” Pachuca said in a statement.

Both Pachuca and Tigres are coming off disappointing fall campaigns. Neither made the 2012 Apertura playoffs in Mexico's new Liga MX, finishing tied for 12th place in the 18-team league.

Former Mexican star Hugo Sanchez was fired as Pachuca coach after the fall tournament. The Tuzos had qualified for six of the previous nine playoffs.

Tigres had won the 2011 Apertura and reached the semifinals in the 2012 Clausura.

While Torres arrives at the Monterrey-based Tigres, Jonathan Bornstein, who played with him on the 2010 U.S. World Cup team, may be on his way out. Bornstein has again been placed on the transfer list. A summer move to Atlante fell through.

Goalie Austin Guerrero, who had joined Tigres from the University of Portland, was transfer-listed along with Bornstein.

Torres joins a club that has aggressively pursued Americans. Tigres' youth program is loaded with Mexican-Americans.

Victor Garza, 20, and Juan Pablo Ocegueda, 19, are two members of the Forzas Basicas U-20s who have played on the Tigres' first team. Texan Uvaldo Luna, 19, has played for both U.S. and Mexican youth national teams.

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'Technically gifted' Torres enjoys new chapter
Jose Torres makes East Texas town proud
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