Alejandro Salazar (born February 18, 1984) is an American former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player. He played during the 2000s in the United States and Australia.

Biography

Born in

Eugene, Oregon Eugene ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Oregon. It is located at the southern end of the Willamette Valley, near the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast. As of the 2020 United States Census, Eu ...

, Salazar's father is

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...

runner

Alberto Salazar Alberto Salazar (born August 7, 1958) is an American former track coach and long-distance runner. Born in Cuba, Salazar immigrated to the United States as a child with his family, living in Connecticut and then in Wayland, Massachusetts, whe ...

Playing career

Salazar played college soccer at the

University of Portland , mottoeng = The truth will set you free , established = 1901 , type = Private university , religious_affiliation = Catholic (Congregation of Holy Cross) , endowment = $218 million , president = Robert D. Kelly , students = 3,731 (fall 20 ...

from 2002 to 2004, where he was named WCC Freshman of the Year as a freshman, and was the Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore. He left Portland after his junior year to join the newly formed Australian

A-league A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

, having registered 64 goals and 42 assists as a Pilot. Salazar didn't have much gaming time for

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

and was released after the 10th round of the season. Salazar is still remembered in Sydney as a player who was hyped up by the media but did not make an impact at club. His only pre-season appearance in a Sydney FC shirt in Australia being in the second half of a friendly game in 2005. Salazar made his debut coming on as a substitute replacing

Steve Corica Stephen Christopher Corica ( born 24 March 1973) is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is the current manager of Australian club Sydney FC. A technically gifted and skillful attacking midfielder during his playing ...

on the 66th minute in the Semi Final against Adelaide United assisting

Mark Rudan Marko Ante "Mark" Rudan (born 27 August 1975) is an Australian soccer manager and former player. He is currently the head coach for A-League Men club Western Sydney Wanderers. Rudan was one of the inaugural inductees into the Sydney FC Hall o ...

's winning goal. Salazar featured in Sydney's campaign to qualify for the Oceania Club Championship, scoring 2 goals in 4 matches. He did get into a small rift with then coach

Pierre Littbarski Pierre Michael Littbarski (; born 16 April 1960) is a German professional football manager and former player of 1. FC Köln and the West Germany national team. Known for his dribbling abilities, he was mainly used as an attacking midfielder o ...

, which

sour The gustatory system or sense of taste is the sensory system that is partially responsible for the perception of taste (flavor). Taste is the perception produced or stimulated when a substance in the mouth reacts chemically with taste receptor ...

ed their relationship. In 2007 Lokomotiv Cove, the unofficial football team of Sydney FC supporters, named their lowest grade team ''"Team Salazar"'' in his honour.

References

1984 births Living people American people of Cuban descent American soccer players Portland Pilots men's soccer players Colorado Rapids U-23 players Sydney FC players University of Portland alumni Expatriate soccer players in Australia Soccer players from Oregon USL League Two players Association football midfielders {{US-footy-midfielder-stub