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Chris Armas

Chris Armas (born August 27, 1972 in Brentwood, New York) is a former American soccer player from Puerto Rican descent, who last played with the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer.

Biography

Chris Armas was born in Brentwood, New York on August 27, 1972. His main background is as an American that has loved the game of soccer from a very young age. Armas attended Adelphi University from 1990-1993, amassing 17 goals and 15 assists over the four years, and was named an NCAA Division II First Team All-American his senior year. After graduation, Armas spent 1994 and 1995 playing for the USISL's Long Island Rough Riders, being selected as a USISL All-Star. In 1995, the Rough Riders defeated the Minnesota Thunder in the USISL's Pro League Championship. Besides Armas, the 1995 Rough Riders also included such future MLS standouts like Tony Meola, Giovanni Savarese and Jim Rooney.

In 1996, Armas was drafted by the Los Angeles Galaxy in the first round of the Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft, and played a significant role in their first and second seasons. The Chicago Fire acquired Armas in a trade for their inaugural 1998 campaign. It was with the 1998 Chicago Fire team that Armas emerged as an exceptional player, helping them win their first (and only) MLS Championship that year. Between 1998 and 2001, Armas was named to the MLS Best XI four consecutive times, his streak only being broken by an unfortunate ACL injury that kept him out of much of the 2002 campaign -- Armas was named to his fifth Best XI after the 2003 MLS season, in addition to being named the MLS Comeback Player of the Year. He was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 2000. In ten years in MLS, he totaled 11 goals and 41 assists, plus added four goals and four assists in the playoffs.

Armas played for Puerto Rico in the 1993 Shell Caribbean Cup. The competition was not then recognised by FIFA and so his five matches were classed as friendlies. He was therefore later allowed to switch his allegiance to the USA, for whom he made his debut November 6, 1998 against Australia. He has since registered 66 caps. Unfortunately for Armas, he did not break into the squad until soon after the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and his ACL injury came just before the 2002 FIFA World Cup, so he was never able to play for the United States in the world's most prestigious soccer competition. He was named as a standby player for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and did not feature in the final squad.

On April 19, 2007, Armas announced that the 2007 MLS season with the Chicago Fire would be his last, as he decided to retire. His retirement was made official on November 13, 2007 after spending 12 years in MLS.

Career statistics

|- |1996||rowspan="2"|Los Angeles Galaxy||rowspan="2"|Major League Soccer||22||1|||||||||||||||| |- |1997||28||3|||||||||||||||| |- |1998||rowspan="10"|Chicago Fire||rowspan="10"|Major League Soccer||31||1|||||||||||||||| |- |1999||22||1|||||||||||||||| |- |2000||16||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2001||21||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2002||4||0|||||||||||||||| |- |2003||25||2|||||||||||||||| |- |2004||21||1|||||||||||||||| |- |2005||22||2|||||||||||||||| |- |2006||27||1|||||||||||||||| |- |2007||25||0||||||||||||||||264||12||||||||||||||||264||12|||||||||||||||| |}