Gilbert Fuentes (born February 21, 2002) 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 an attacking midfielder.

Club career

Youth

Fuentes was born in Tracy, California. He began playing 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 ...

academy side in 2016, first with his regular age group in the U15s. During the 2017-18 academy season, he moved up to the U19 squad and scored three goals in eight appearances. Previously, he played for Ballistic United SC. In November 2017, TopDrawerSoccer.com listed Fuentes as the fourth best player and top midfielder in the nation for the class of 2020. He was only one of five players in the country to be given a five-star ranking by the website.

San Jose Earthquakes

San Jose signed Fuentes to a

Homegrown Homegrown may refer to any plants grown in a domestic setting. It may also refer to: Music *Home Grown, an American rock band formed in 1994 * ''Home Grown'' (Geri Allen album), 1985 * ''Homegrown'' (Dodgy album), 1995 * ''Home Grown'' (Blue Mou ...

contract on January 26, 2018. He was the team's third Homegrown signing of 2018, following the signings of teammates

JT Marcinkowski James Thomas "JT" Marcinkowski (born May 9, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes. Career College and amateur Marcinkowski played for the Georgetown Hoyas fo ...

and

Jacob Akanyirige Jacob Akanyirige (born December 30, 2001) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a right back for New England Revolution II in MLS Next Pro. Career Youth Akanyirige played for Pleasanton, CA's Ballistic United SC during th ...

, and at the time of his signing was the club's youngest ever player and the youngest ever athlete for a

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

sports team. Borussia Dortmund had competed with San Jose for Fuentes' signature before he signed his Homegrown contract, due in part to the fact that he works with the same agent as

Christian Pulisic Christian Mate Pulisic (; hr, Pulišić, ; born September 18, 1998) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for club Chelsea and the United States national team. Pulisic is renowned for his d ...

. On May 3, 2021, Fuentes joined USL Championship side

Austin Bold Austin Bold FC was an American professional soccer team located in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2017, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. In 2021, Austin Bold FC announced it would be moving to Fort Worth, Texas leaving Circ ...

on a season-long loan.

International career

Fuentes made eight appearances for various United States Soccer Federation youth teams in 2017. He was a starter for the U15 squad at the

2017 CONCACAF Boys' Under-15 Championship The 2017 CONCACAF Boys' Under-15 Championship was an international football tournament, the second edition of the CONCACAF Boys' Under-15 Championship. The competition was set to feature up to 40 teams from the CONCACAF region. All times EDT ( ...

, including in the United States' loss to Mexico in the tournament final, and was called up to the United States U17 in November for the Men's Nike International Friendlies, and again in January 2018 for the first-ever USYNT Summit Camp. Also eligible for both Guatemala and El Salvador, it was announced on January 23, 2021, that Fuentes would switch to El Salvador U23 ahead of the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship, but was left out of the 20-man squad.

Personal

Fuentes is of both Guatemalan and

Salvadoran Salvadorans (Spanish: ''Salvadoreños''), also known as Salvadorians (alternate spelling: Salvadoreans), are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvado ...

descent which allows him to play for both

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 ...

and

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 ...

national teams as well as the United States national team having been born in the U.S. His father is from Guatemala and his mother from El Salvador.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
MLS profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fuentes, Gilbert 2002 births Living people American men's soccer players Homegrown Players (MLS) San Jose Earthquakes players Reno 1868 FC players Austin Bold FC players Men's association football midfielders Soccer players from California People from Tracy, California Sportspeople from San Joaquin County, California Major League Soccer players USL Championship players American sportspeople of Salvadoran descent American people of Guatemalan descent Sportspeople of Guatemalan descent United States men's youth international soccer players 21st-century American sportsmen