Adrián Charquero Paz (born 9 September 1966) is a Uruguayan football coach and former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

. He played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, notably in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

who were his only team in European football. He also had notable spells across

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography. Etymology T ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

for Vélez Sársfield, Estudiantes,

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

and

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

. He also had spells in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

with Shanghai Pudong,

Tianjin Teda Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and their home stadium is t ...

and Qingdao Etsong and had brief spells with Bella Vista and

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

. He was capped 10 times by

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, scoring once.

Club career

After playing in Uruguay and Argentina, Paz moved to

during the 1994–95 season in a joint transfer with the Argentinian defender

Mauricio Taricco Mauricio Ricardo Taricco (born 10 March 1973) is an Argentine football coach and former professional footballer who is assistant coach at French side Bordeaux. Taricco, whose father was Italian and hailed from Sardinia, was as a full-back capa ...

. He became the first Uruguayan to play in the English

. In January 1996,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

began allocating players to its newly established teams. Paz was sent to the

where he played 27 games. On February 1, 1997, the Crew sent Paz to the

in exchange for the first-round selection in the

1997 MLS Supplemental Draft The 1997 Major League Soccer Supplemental Draft was held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 2, 1997. Round 1 Round 1 trades Round 2 Round 2 trades Round 3 Round 3 trades References {{DEFAULTSORT:1997 Mls Supplemental Draft ...

. He spent two seasons in Colorado before moving to

in 1999. He only played one game for Tianjin as he suffered a serious injury during his first game, against

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in ...

, and was out injured until the end of 1999. He rejoined Bella Vista in Uruguay in 2000, then went back to China for a third time, where he played for Qingdao Etsong before retiring from football at the end of the season.

International career

He made his debut for

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

(1-0 win) on April 30, 1992, in the

Estadio Centenario Estadio Centenario is a stadium in the Parque Batlle of Montevideo, Uruguay, used primarily for football. The stadium was built between 1929 and 1930 to host the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup, as well as to commemorate the centenary of Uruguay ...

Montevideo Montevideo () is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uruguay, largest city of Uruguay. According to the 2011 census, the city proper has a population of 1,319,108 (about one-third of the country's total population) in an area of . M ...

under coach

Luis Alberto Cubilla Luis Alberto Cubilla Almeida (28 March 1940 – 3 March 2013) was a Uruguayan football player and coach. He had a successful playing career winning 16 major titles. He then went on to become one of the most successful managers in South American ...

. He went on to score the winner in that game.

Coaching career

Paz now resides in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and runs a soccer academy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paz, Adrian 1966 births Living people Uruguayan footballers Uruguay international footballers 1993 Copa América players Association football forwards C.A. Bella Vista players Peñarol players Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Argentine Primera División players Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in England Ipswich Town F.C. players Premier League players Columbus Crew players Colorado Rapids players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players Uruguayan expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in China Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in China Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in England Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars