Enrique Alfaro (born 11 December 1974) is a Mexican former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

midfielder. He spent most of his career with

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...

, playing from 1994 to 2002. An attacking midfielder who normally lined up on the right side of the midfield line or in a three-forward attack, Alfaro played a key part in Toluca's championship runs during the Verano tournaments of 1998, 1999, and 2000. Alfaro also had a successful international career. As part of the Under-23 selection, he represented

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 ...

at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

in Atlanta, appearing in all four matches.FIFA
"FIFA Player Statistics: Enrique Alfaro"
Retrieved on 17 January 2013. He also collected 20 full caps for Mexico, including five qualifiers for the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

, and played on Mexico's title-winning squad at the

1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the fourth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). The tournament was once again held in the United States, in Los Angeles, Miami, and O ...

. A favorite selection at the beginning of the regime of

Bora Milutinovic Bora may refer to: Geography * Bora (Australian), the site of an initiation ceremony in Australian aboriginal culture, sometimes known as Bora rings * Bora, Punjab, a village in India * Borá, a city in the São Paulo state in Brazil * Bora (wind ...

, Alfaro gradually slipped down the pecking order with the emergence of Luis Hernandez and

Cuauhtémoc Blanco Cuauhtémoc Blanco Bravo (; born 17 January 1973) is a Mexican politician and former professional footballer who is the current Governor of Morelos under the coalition '' Juntos Haremos Historia''. He formerly served as the municipal president ...

as the preferred strikers under Milutinovic's successor,

Manuel Lapuente Manuel Lapuente Díaz (born 15 May 1944) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager. Playing career He has played 13 matches for Mexico and scored 5 goals. Career as manager He coached Mexico at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and lead ...

. He collected his first cap against

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

in a 1–0 win at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas on 8 June 1996, and made his last international appearance on 18 March 1998, in a 1–1 draw with

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

.Morrison, Neil
"International Matches 1998 - Intercontinental"
''

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

'', 2 February 2005. Retrieved on 17 January 2013.

References

External links

* * 1974 births Living people CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Mexico Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Footballers from Mexico City Association football midfielders Mexico international footballers 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Mexican footballers {{Mexico-footy-midfielder-stub