Cruz Ivan Medina (born September 24, 2006) is an American 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 who plays as a midfielder for the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

Career

Medina began played soccer at the age of 4 with the Bay City Club, where his father was the manager. From 2017 through 2019, he played for the San Francisco Glens in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, tallying 31 goals and 28 assists at the Under-13 level. On August 4, 2019, he moved to the youth academy of the

. He earned the U15 Golden Ball at the 2021 MLS Next Cup and went on trial with European giants

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

. On June 3, 2022, he signed a homegrown contract with the San Jose Earthquakes until 2027 at the age of 15 years and 252 days old, the third youngest to do so at that time. For his first two seasons as a developing professional (2022–23), Medina played with the Earthquakes' second team in MLS NEXT Pro, which will now be known as The Town FC starting with the 2024 season. He made his Quakes first-team debut at age 15 on July 20, 2022, in a friendly against Spanish club Celta de Vigo. As a member of Earthquakes II in 2023, Medina collected two goals and two assists to help the club qualify for its first ever berth in the MLS NEXT Pro Playoffs. In October 2023, he was named to The Guardian's Next Generation 2023 list of the best young talents in world football.

International career

Born in the United States, Medina is of

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

descent through his grandparents. He played for the United States U-17s as they came in second for the

2023 CONCACAF U-17 Championship The 2023 CONCACAF U-17 Championship was the 7th edition of the CONCACAF Under-17 Championship (20th edition if all eras included), the men's under-17 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted by Guatemala between 1 ...

. He later started multiple games for the U.S. U-17 team in the

2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup will be the 19th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It will be held in Peru fro ...

, reaching the Round of 16. In March 2024, he joined the Mexico U-20 team for training camp before reporting back to the U.S. U-19 team training camp two weeks later.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Medina, Cruz 2006 births Living people Soccer players from San Francisco American men's soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players American sportspeople of Mexican descent The Town FC players MLS Next Pro players Men's association football midfielders 21st-century American sportsmen