Guillermo ''"El Pando"'' Ramírez Ortega (born 26 March 1978 in

Livingston, Guatemala Livingston is a town, with a population of 17,923 (2018 census), in Izabal Department, eastern Guatemala, at the mouth of the Río Dulce at the Gulf of Honduras. The town serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. It was G ...

) is a Guatemalan former soccer player who was suspended for life from any soccer related activities due to his participation in money laundering and fixing games along with fellow national team members

Yony Flores Yony Flores (born 16 February 1983 in Guatemala City) is a former Guatemalan football defender who last played for CSD Municipal in the Liga Nacional de Guatemala. Club career Flores started his career at Sacachispas. He joined Deportivo M ...

and Gustavo Cabrera. Ramírez was also the captain of the Guatemala national team.

Club career

Los Angeles Galaxy

He played the 2005 season on loan for the

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 ...

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 ...

. He struggled, scoring a lone goal during the regular season, but in the playoffs, in his only appearance, as a substitute in the

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

Final, he scored the game-winner in extra time to give Galaxy its second MLS title. This feat was in high contrast with his poor scoring percentage in the MLS regular season, with 62 shots and 1 goal, which incidentally came from a penalty. Ramírez is perhaps the most unlikely MLS Cup MVP in league history. He was widely lampooned for his poor shooting and during the ’05 campaign failed to connect on any of his 62 attempts during open play – his only goal came on a penalty kick. Relegated to the bench, Ramírez entered the scoreless Cup final between L.A. and the New England Revolution in 66th minute. In the 107th, with penalty kicks looming, the Guatemalan hit a stunning volley from just outside the penalty area to lift the Galaxy to their second league title. Ramírez was gone the following season and went on to play in Guatemala and Honduras. After the 2005 MLS season, Ramírez went back to Municipal, where he remained until 2009, helping the team win four league championships during that period. He then joined

C.D. Marathón Club Deportivo Marathón is a Honduran professional association football, football club based in San Pedro Sula. Founded on 25 November 1925, Marathón currently plays in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras. History Club Deport ...

in the Honduran 2009–2010 league season and had a respectable tournament; he scored in the final to earn the league championship. The following year, he rejoined Municipal, but then in January 2011 he signed a 6-month contract with

F.C. Motagua Club de Fútbol Motagua (), formerly Club Deportivo Motagua up to 2017, is an association football club, located in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. F.C. Motagua was founded as ''Club Deportivo Motagua'' on 29 August 1928. The club competes ...

where head coach

Ramón Maradiaga Ramón Enrique Maradiaga Chávez (born 30 October 1954) is a retired Honduran football player and manager. Club career Nicknamed ''Primitivo'', Maradiaga has played as a midfielder amongst others for F.C. Motagua as well as Salvadoran giant ...

wanted him because of the type of player he was under his tenure managing the Guatemala national team. He appeared in the

2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round The 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round was played from July to August 2011. The first legs were played July 26–28, 2011, and the second legs were played August 2–4, 2011. The draw for the Preliminary Round and the Group Sta ...

, scoring the last goal of a 4–0 win for Motagua against his former club Municipal.

Match fixing allegations and suspension

Ramírez, 34, along with one-time Real Salt Lake defender Gustavo Cabrera and

, also a defender, were found guilty by the National Football Federation of Guatemala in September of conspiring to fix a pair of national team exhibitions and a CONCACAF Champions League game between CSD Municipal and Mexico's Santos Laguna. The trio played together at Municipal in the fall of 2010, when the club finished behind Santos and the Columbus Crew in its first-round group. Banned from the sport inside their native country in September 2012, the players saw their exile extended worldwide the following month.Three Guatemalan players banned for life
- FIFA

International career

Ramírez made his debut for

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 ...

in an April 1997 UNCAF Cup match against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

and has earned 103 caps since. He has been part of the qualification processes for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

s of 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. He captained the squad that reached the final stage of the 2006 World Cup qualification. On 27 May 2012, Ramirez was separated from the Guatemala National Team on basis of suspected "to arrange a match's result of Guatemala against South Africa in 2010." In June 2012, this was confirmed by teammates, Luis Rodriguez and Carlos Ruiz. Currently Ramirez is under FIFA investigation as well as by the Ministerio Publico of Guatemala for treason, money laundering and the investigations are still being made.

Honours

;Municipal *

Liga Nacional de Guatemala Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Lig ...

League Championships (8): Apertura 2000, Apertura 2004, Clausura 2005, Apertura 2005, Clausura 2006, Apertura 2006, Clausura 2008, Apertura 2009 ;Los Angeles Galaxy *

MLS Cup (1):

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

;Marathón *

Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras Liga or LIGA may refer to: People * Līga (name), a Latvian female given name * Luciano Ligabue, more commonly known as Ligabue or ''Liga'', Italian rock singer-songwriter Sports * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga ...

League Championship (1) : 2009–10 Apertura ;Motagua *

League Championship (1) : 2010–11 Clausura

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramirez, Guillermo 1978 births Living people People from Izabal Department Guatemalan footballers Guatemala international footballers 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2003 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2005 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2011 Copa Centroamericana players C.S.D. Municipal players PAS Giannina F.C. players Atlante F.C. footballers Chiapas F.C. footballers LA Galaxy players C.D. Marathón players F.C. Motagua players Super League Greece players Liga MX players Major League Soccer players Guatemalan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Honduras Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players FIFA Men's Century Club Sportspeople banned for life Sportspeople involved in betting scandals Association football midfielders