Armando Enrique Cooper Whitaker (born 26 November 1987) is a Panamanian 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 ...

who plays 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 ...

for Israeli club

Maccabi Petah Tikva Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. ( he, מכבי פתח תקווה) (Full name: "Maccabi Avshalom Ironi Petah Tikva F.C., ) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva. It is part of the Maccabi World Union for international Jewish spo ...

and the Panama national team.

Club career

Cooper began his career in the youth ranks of Panama's Árabe Unido. In 2006, he debuted for the professional side, and went on to help the team to achieve various domestic titles in the

Liga Panameña de Fútbol The Liga Panameña de Fútbol (LPF) ( en, Panamanian Football League) is the top division football league in Panama. Until 2009, the league was named ''Asociación Nacional Pro Fútbol (ANAPROF)''. Competition format The league's season is divide ...

. During January 2011 it was reported that

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 ...

side

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

were interested in signing Cooper. However, the transfer did not go through. In July 2011, he signed with Godoy Cruz of the

Argentine First Division Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

. In February 2015, Cooper joined 2. Bundesliga side

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St Pauli (), is a German professional football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. The football department is part of a larger sp ...

, only to return to Árabe Unido in September 2015 after playing a mere 125 minutes for the German club. Cooper was loaned to

side

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

on 18 August 2016. He scored his first goal with Toronto FC on 30 November as Toronto FC beat Montreal Impact 7–5 on aggregate to advance to the 2016 MLS Cup Final. After the 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs, Cooper signed full-time with

. On 14 December 2017, Cooper's contract option was declined by Toronto, and he subsequently left the club.

International career

Cooper was part of the Panama U-20 squad that participated in the

2007 U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the score ...

held in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. He made his debut with the full national team on 7 October 2006 against the national team of

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

. On 16 January 2011, he scored his first goal for Panama in a 2–0 victory over

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

in a

2011 Copa Centroamericana The 2011 Copa Centroamericana ( en, 2011 Central American Cup) was the eleventh edition of Copa Centroamericana (formerly known as the UNCAF Nations Cup), an international association football, football championship for national teams affiliated w ...

match played at

Estadio Rommel Fernández The Estadio Olímpico Rommel Fernández Gutiérrez, named after the Panamanian football star Rommel Fernández (1966–1993), is a multi-purpose stadium in Panama City. It is used for different sports, but mainly football (soccer) games. It was ...

Panama City Panama City ( es, Ciudad de Panamá, links=no; ), also known as Panama (or Panamá in Spanish), is the capital and largest city of Panama. It has an urban population of 880,691, with over 1.5 million in its metropolitan area. The city is locat ...

. In May 2018, he was named in Panama's preliminary 35 man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Cooper played in Panama's first two games against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, but after receiving yellow cards in both games he was suspended for the final match against

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

Style of play

Cooper is known for his energy on the pitch, as well as his creativity and

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

skills. A versatile midfielder, he is capable of playing in several midfield positions, although he usually favours a more

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

role.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Panama's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cooper goal.''

Honours

Toronto FC *

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

; runner-up

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

* Eastern Conference Championship (Playoffs):

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship (french: Championnat canadien) is an annual soccer tournament contested by premier Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. It is contest ...

Trillium Cup The Trillium Cup is an annual rivalry between the Columbus Crew and Toronto FC. The Trillium Cup is named after the trillium, which is both the official flower of the Canadian province of Ontario, and the official wildflower of the U.S. state of ...

: 2017

References

External links

* * *
possofutbol.com ProfileConcacaf Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Armando 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Colón, Panama Association football midfielders Panamanian footballers Panamanian expatriate footballers Panama international footballers FIFA Century Club C.D. Árabe Unido players Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba footballers ASC Oțelul Galați players FC St. Pauli players Toronto FC players Universidad de Chile footballers FC Dinamo București players Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. players Hapoel Tel Aviv F.C. players Liga Panameña de Fútbol players Chilean Primera División players Liga I players 2. Bundesliga players Israeli Premier League players Major League Soccer players Expatriate footballers in Argentina Expatriate footballers in Chile Expatriate footballers in Romania Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate soccer players in Canada Expatriate footballers in Israel Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Israel 2011 Copa Centroamericana players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2014 Copa Centroamericana players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Copa América Centenario players 2017 Copa Centroamericana players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players