Freddy Alexander García Carrera (born 12 January 1977) is a

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

n 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 ...

currently playing for Heredia in the Guatemalan third division. He has played for several local clubs since 1997, and also in

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 ...

for

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

, where he won the 2002 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Also a member of the Guatemala national team, he has played in four World Cup qualifying campaigns, and is among Guatemala's all-time top scorers.

Club career

An attacking midfielder renowned for his accurate left foot, García was born in

Puerto Barrios Puerto Barrios () is a city in Guatemala, located within the Gulf of Honduras. The city is located on Bahia de Amatique. Puerto Barrios is the departmental seat of Izabal department and is the administrative seat of Puerto Barrios municipality. ...

, and started his professional career with Universidad San Carlos (''USAC''). In 1999, he joined

Comunicaciones Comunicaciones Fútbol Club S.A., better known as Comunicaciones F.C. or Comunicaciones, are a football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football. The most popular and successful footba ...

, where he won two league titles. In 2002, he joined

in the MLS and played five regular season matches that year. He scored the championship-winning goal for Crew at the 2002 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final against

Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began play ...

. The following season, he appeared in 22 matches. Since 2004, he has returned to Guatemala to play for Municipal, helping that club win seven league championships. In June 2009 he left Municipal to join Heredia, going on to score 14 goals for the club in the 2009–2010 season. The following year, he played for

Peñarol La Mesilla Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

, before returning to Heredia for the 2011–12 season.

International career

García is a member of the Guatemalan national team, which he has represented during the

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

, and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

campaigns. In 1997, he was part of the youth national team participating at the ''VI Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos''. He made his senior international debut in a November 1998 friendly match against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

He also played

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

internationally, as he was part of his country's Futsal team competing at the 2000 Futsal World Championship which was held in Guatemala.Futsal World Cup Guatemala team
– FIFA He made his return to the national squad in 2011 for a

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

match against

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines () is an island country in the Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies at the southern end of the eastern border of the Caribbean Sea wh ...

and scored just minutes coming in as a substitute. He then scored two goals against

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

later that year, tying

Mario Camposeco Mario Salvador Camposeco López (6 August 1921 – 17 June 1951) Source: was a Guatemalan footballer. Born in Quetzaltenango, he started his football career in 1938 playing for the local team ''América''. He then joined club Xelajú becoming ...

for 4th place in the all-time goal scorers list for Guatemala with 23 goals.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Guatemala's goal tally first.''

Honors

Columbus Crew

* Champion

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing national soccer competition in that country. The 2023 U.S. O ...

(1): 2002

References

External links

*
Player profile
– CSD Municipal * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Freddy 1977 births Living people People from Puerto Barrios Guatemalan footballers Guatemalan expatriate footballers Guatemala international footballers Universidad de San Carlos players Comunicaciones F.C. players Columbus Crew players C.S.D. Municipal players Expatriate soccer players in the United States 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2001 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2003 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup players Major League Soccer players Copa Centroamericana-winning players Association football midfielders