Darren Dimitri Mattocks (born 2 September 1990) is a Jamaican 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 ...

who last played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Phoenix Rising FC Phoenix Rising Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 2014 as Arizona United Soccer Club, the team is a member of the USL Championship. History On March 13, 2014, Kyle Eng, owner of an advert ...

and the

Jamaica national football team The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), ...

College career

Mattocks played for the

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

where he made 47 appearances and scored 39 goals over two years. He was nominated for several awards during his tenure, including one to the first-year All-American teams by several different media outlets.

Professional career

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Mattocks was selected by

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

with the second overall pick in the 2012 MLS SuperDraft. He made his club debut on opening day against the Montreal Impact coming off the bench. Soon after his club debut he suffered severe burns from a cooking accident and missed almost two months before returning to the line-up on 9 May against

FC Edmonton FC Edmonton was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club was founded in 2010 and competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 2011 to 2017. The club went on hiatus when NASL ceased competitive operat ...

when he scored his first goal for the Whitecaps in the 93rd minute. Mattocks scored his first

MLS 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 ...

goal on 26 May 2012 against the Portland Timbers. Mattocks scored six goals in his first nine MLS appearances in 2012. In the Whitecaps' first ever playoff game versus the LA Galaxy, Mattocks scored the first ever playoff goal for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the fourth minute of play. He earned the team's Golden Boot award that year with seven goals.

Portland Timbers

Mattocks was traded in March 2016 to Portland Timbers in exchange for targeted allocation money and general allocation money.

D.C. United

On 10 December 2017, Mattocks, after having his contract option rejected by Portland, was traded to

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 exchange for an international roster slot. D.C. United exercised Mattocks' option for 2018, but he lost his starting role after

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional football manager and former player, who is the manager of Major League Soccer club D.C. United in the United States. He spent much of his playing career as a forward while ...

arrived in the mid-summer as a

Designated Player The Designated Player Rule, nicknamed the Beckham Rule, allows Major League Soccer franchises to sign up to three players that would be considered outside their salary cap (either by offering the player higher wages or by paying a transfer fee ...

. On 11 March 2018, Mattocks scored his first MLS regular season goal for D.C. United. He scored the only goal for D.C. United in the 3–1 loss against

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

. In his time with DC United, he appeared in 25 games and scored 10 goals.

FC Cincinnati

In December 2018, Mattocks was drafted by

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team succeeded the lower-division team of the ...

in the 2018 MLS Expansion Draft.

Al-Merrikh

After nearly a year without a club, Mattocks joined Sudan Premier League side

Al-Merrikh Al-Merrikh Sporting Club ( ar, نادي المريخ الرياضي) is a Sudanese football club based in Omdurman. Their home stadium is Al-Merrikh Stadium, which is locally known as The Red Castle. Founded in 1908, Al-Merrikh is one of the ol ...

in February 2021, ahead of their

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and co ...

campaign.

Phoenix Rising FC

Mattocks signed with

of the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

on August 18, 2021.

International career

Mattocks made his international debut for Jamaica in 2012, coming on in the 55th minute in a 2–0 win over

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 ...

. He scored three times during the 2014 Caribbean Cup, making him the tournament's joint top scorer, as Jamaica won the tournament for the sixth time. In 2015, Mattocks was included in Jamaica's squads for the

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

and

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

tournaments. On 22 July 2015, Mattocks scored the opening goal in the 2–1 semi-final victory over 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 ...

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, as the ''Reggae Boyz'' qualified for their first ever Gold Cup final. He also scored in the 3–1 defeat to

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Personal life

Mattocks received his U.S. green card in May 2014, which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Career statistics

Club

International goals

: ''Score and result list Jamaica's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* *
Akron Zips bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mattocks, Darren 1990 births Living people People from Saint Catherine Parish Jamaican footballers Jamaican expatriate footballers Jamaica international footballers Association football forwards Akron Zips men's soccer players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Portland Timbers players D.C. United players Expatriate soccer players in Canada Major League Soccer players FC Cincinnati players Vancouver Whitecaps FC draft picks Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in Canada 2014 Caribbean Cup players 2015 Copa América players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Al-Merrikh SC players Sudan Premier League players Phoenix Rising FC players USL Championship players Jamaican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in Sudan Expatriate soccer players in the United States