Martin Vasquez (born
December 24,
1963 in
Jalisco,
Mexico) is a former
soccer midfielder from
Mexico. He played for the national teams of the
United States and
Mexico, the only player to do so. He was capped for Mexico in two friendlies against Russia under
Cesar Luis Menotti's spell as Mexico coach. He later earned seven
caps with the
U.S. national team.
Youth
Vasquez moved to
Los Angeles area at the age of 12, but returned to Mexico to play for the B side of the now defunct Leones Negros U de G. He then played
college soccer at
California State University, Los Angeles from 1980 to 1983
Professional
His debut in the Mexican league came for his old club U de G (Universidad de Guadalajara, not to be confused with
UAG), where he played from 1988 to 1990. He played for
Puebla FC in the 1990-91 season and
CD Veracruz in 1991-92. During this period he was capped 3 times for Mexican national team. In 1992 he joined
CF Atlas, whom he left in 1996 to return to the United States with the establishment of
Major League Soccer. That year, Vasquez was
allocated to the
Tampa Bay Mutiny. Vasquez played for the now-defunct team between 1996 and 1997, and rounded off his career with the
San Jose Clash in 1998.
National team
Mexico
Vasquez played three games with the Mexican national team.
United States
Having gained American citizenship, Vasquez was called up to the
U.S. national team by
Steve Sampson. Vasquez earned six
caps with the U.S. between 1996 and 1997. His first cap was a December 21, 1996 tie with
Guatemala in a world cup qualifier. His last game was a 4-2 victory over
El Salvador another world cup qualifier. He started the game, then came off in the 63rd minute for
Mike Sorber.
He elected three outstanding players Kevin Cazares and Jonathan Vargas from the Arroyo High School Varsity soccer team to join the United states U-17 this summer. As for the third player, Andy Vega he was sent to the Mexico U-19 team where he will compete this summer as well.
Coach
After retiring from his playing career, Vasquez worked as assistant coach with
Cal Poly Pomona (1999-2000) and the now-defunct women's team
San Diego Spirit (2001-2002). After one season as assistant with the
Los Angeles Galaxy, he joined the newly-created team
Chivas USA as an assistant coach on January 2, 2005.
In July 2008 he started work as assistant to Jürgen Klinsmann at German club FC Bayern Munich.
External reference
References