Carlos Llamosa (born June 30, 1969) is an American retired

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 who played as a defender. He currently serves as an assistant coach for the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

Early life and education

Llamosa began his professional soccer career in 1986 with Colombian third division club Colmena. In 1990, he moved to Colombian first division side Huila. In 1991, Llamosa emigrated to the United States to join the rest of his family, which was at the time living in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Llamosa found a job at the

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, where he was working during the terrorist attack in 1993.

Playing career

In 1995, Llamosa reignited his professional career, playing a season with the

New York Centaurs The New York Centaurs were an A-League professional soccer club, based in New York City. The team played only one season in 1995. The New York Fever of the USISL Pro League, debuted in 1994, playing two seasons in the league before merging with ...

of the

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 ...

. In his second season with the club, renamed the Fever, Llamosa was named to the All A-League first team. Llamosa was subsequently picked up by

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

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 ...

, and soon earned a starting spot on the team, finishing the season with 20 starts in 25 games played, while helping the team to a second consecutive

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 ...

. Llamosa remained a fixture in 1998, starting every game that he played in. On October 23, 1998, Llamosa was naturalized as a U.S. citizen, and earned his first cap on November 6 against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, just two weeks after becoming a U.S. citizen. Llamosa would go on to play in 29 games for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, including the

1999 Confederations Cup The 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup was the fourth FIFA Confederations Cup, and the second organised by FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Mexico between 24 July and 4 August 1999. It was won by Mexico, who beat Brazil 4–3 in the final. Mexico bec ...

and 2002 World Cup Qualifiers. He made two substitute appearances during the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. Llamosa remained with D.C. for the 1999 season, again starting every game he played, including the 1999 MLS Cup, where he helped United to their third championship. Llamosa again was a fixture for United in 2000, starting 20 games and playing 1974 minutes. However, at the end of the 2000 season he was traded to the

Miami Fusion The Miami Fusion was a professional soccer team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for four seasons, from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one of the league's first two expansion teams, their best seas ...

in exchange for Brian Kamler and a first round draft pick. Llamosa continued his solid play with the Fusion, organizing the defense of one of league's best-ever offensive teams, making 20 starts and playing 1827 minutes. After the Fusion folded at the end of 2001, Llamosa was selected 5th overall in the

2002 MLS Allocation Draft The 2002 Major League Soccer SuperDraft was held on February 10, 2002 in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. One month earlier, MLS had contracted two clubs: Tampa Bay Mutiny and Miami Fusion. In conjunction with the contraction, the league conducted bot ...

by the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

. He would play a significant role for the team over the next two seasons, helping lead the Revs to a 2002

appearance, and starting 23 games for the team in 2003. Llamosa missed all of the 2004 season, however, after injuring his ACL during preseason. He was released in early 2005. In 2006, Llamosa came back to the league, signing with Chivas USA. Llamosa was waived by Chivas USA at the end of the 2007 season.

Coaching

Llamosa first joined the coaching ranks in 2010 as an assistant coach for Chivas USA. He spent three seasons with the club before joining the New York Cosmos as an assistant coach on February 7, 2013. Llamosa was part of the Cosmos coaching staff for the team's return to professional soccer after 28 years dormant. Llamosa helped guide the Cosmos to an undefeated record at home (W-D-L: 5–2–0) and the 2013

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

Fall Season title with an overall record of 31 points from 14 games (W-D-L: 9–4–1). The Cosmos would cap the season by winning the 2013 NASL

Soccer Bowl The Soccer Bowl was the annual championship game of the North American Soccer League, which ran from 1968 to 1984. The two top teams from the playoffs faced off in the final to determine the winner of the NASL Trophy. From the league's founding ...

, defeating the

Atlanta Silverbacks The Atlanta Silverbacks FC were an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1998 as Atlanta Ruckus, the club played in many leagues over the years before folding after the 2015 season. The team played its home game ...

1–0 to take home the title. Llamosa is currently joined by fellow assistant coaches

Alecko Eskandarian Alecko Eskandarian (born July 9, 1982) is an iranian American retired soccer player,He is the son of Andranik Eskandrian, a former player of the Iranian national team and the Esteghlal team . He is a former assistant coach for New York Cosmos ...

and fellow Colombian Guillermo "Memo" Valencia on the Cosmos' coaching staff working under head coach

Giovanni Savarese Giovanni Savarese (born July 14, 1971) is a Venezuelan football manager and former player, who is the head coach for the Portland Timbers. Club career Professional Breakthrough Savarese made his professional debut at 15, with Venezuelan club ...

Career statistics

All-Time MLS Player Register

References

External links

New York Cosmos profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Llamosa, Carlos 1969 births Living people United States men's international soccer players American soccer players Colombian footballers New York Centaurs players D.C. United players Miami Fusion players New England Revolution players Chivas USA players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players Colombian emigrants to the United States Naturalized citizens of the United States Atlético Huila footballers Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars D.C. United draft picks Chivas USA non-playing staff Association football defenders American sportspeople of Colombian descent People from Palmira, Valle del Cauca Sportspeople from Valle del Cauca Department