Gerson Levi Mayen Villavicencio (born 9 February 1989) is a 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 le ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for C.D. Águila. Born in the United States, he represents the El Salvador national team at international level.

Career

Youth

Mayen attended

Manual Arts High School Manual Arts High School is a secondary public school in Los Angeles, California, United States. History Manual Arts High School was founded in 1910 in the middle of bean fields, one-half mile from the nearest bus stop. It was the third high scho ...

, and started playing soccer when he was young with a club named Gilbert Lindsay Youth Soccer Club, then with the club soccer with Alta Loma Arsenal where he won four Cal South State Cups, four Regional Championships and three National Championships. Mayen also won two Golden Boot awards. Rather than opting to play collegiate soccer, Mayen joined the

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...

U-18 team.

Professional

Mayen was signed to a full professional contract by

on 27 March 2008, after training with the club throughout preseason. He did not make an appearance with the first team in his rookie season, but made 12 appearances in the

MLS Reserve Division The MLS Reserve League was a soccer league for the reserve teams of Major League Soccer with teams in both the United States and Canada. It was inaugurated on April 9, 2005, with the first official reserve game being a 2–0 victory by Chivas ...

, playing primarily as a defender and defensive midfielder. He made his professional debut on 29 March 2009, in Chivas's game against

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

. On 6 August 2010, Chivas USA sent Mayen, along with teammate

Chukwudi Chijindu Chukwudi Ibegbunaneke 'Chuck' Chijindu (born February 20, 1986) is an American professional soccer player. Career Youth A native of Fontana, California, Chijindu attended Damien High School in La Verne, California, He was a 4-year Varsity lette ...

, on loan to

USSF Division 2 Professional League The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding Un ...

side

Miami FC The Miami FC is an American professional soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 2016 se ...

. Mayen returned to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

in July 2011 when he was loaned to NASL club

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994), member of American Soccer League from 1988 to 1989 and American Profes ...

. Mayen was traded with Justin Braun to MLS expansion side Montreal Impact for James Riley and allocation money on 23 November 2011. However, Mayen was waived by Montreal on 1 March, prior to the start of the 2012 season.

International

United States

Mayen has made one appearance for the

United States U-20 men's national soccer team The United States U-20 men's national soccer team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation. The highest level of competition in which the team competes is the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which is held every two years. The United States' b ...

, in the Campos Verdes International Tournament in Portugal in 2008. Mayen was also named to the 2009 Under 20 World Cup in Egypt where he started and played 90 minutes against Germany.

El Salvador

On July 5, 2011, Mayen was given permission by the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

to be part of the

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 ...

team. "After a thorough review of the documentation submitted by the Salvadoran Football Federation, the judge concluded that the player Gerson Mayen Villavicencio meets the objective conditions stipulated in Article 18, paragraph 1 of the Regulations Applicable Statutory of the

: in particular, the player Gerson Mayen has never played an international "A" match in an official competition representing the U.S. Soccer Federation," reads the resolution of

. Mayen made his international début at the

2013 Copa Centroamericana The 2013 Copa Centroamericana was the 12th Copa Centroamericana, the regional championship for men's national association football teams in Central America. It was organized by the ''Unión Centroamericana de Fútbol'' or UNCAF, and took place in ...

, coming on as substitute at the 86' minute in

1–1 draw with

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 ...

Statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list El Salvador's goal tally first.''

Honours

* Santa Tecla ** Primera División (1): Clausura 2015, Apertura 2016

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mayen, Gerson 1989 births Living people American soccer players Salvadoran footballers Chivas USA players Miami FC (2006) players Fort Lauderdale Strikers players LA Laguna FC players C.D. FAS footballers Santa Tecla F.C. footballers American sportspeople of Salvadoran descent Citizens of El Salvador through descent Major League Soccer players USSF Division 2 Professional League players North American Soccer League players USL League Two players United States men's under-20 international soccer players El Salvador international footballers 2013 Copa Centroamericana players 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2017 Copa Centroamericana players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Soccer players from California Salvadoran expatriate footballers Association football midfielders 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Homegrown Players (MLS)