Javier Mariona Jacutin (born 17 October 2004) 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 last played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for USL Championship club

Oakland Roots Oakland Roots Sports Club is an American professional soccer team based in Oakland, California. The club was formed in 2018 by a group of Oakland natives, and began play in the National Independent Soccer Association in the fall of 2019. In 2021, ...

and their reserve team

Project 51O Project 51O is a soccer club from Oakland, California competing in the Southwest Division of USL League Two. They are the reserve club of USL Championship club Oakland Roots SC. The name 51O is partly inspired by Oakland's 510 area code, althou ...

. Born in the United States and of Salvadoran and Filipino descent, he is a youth international for El Salvador.

Early and personal life

Mariona was born in Los Altos, California to a Salvadoran father, Rodrigo Mariona (son of Salvadoran football legend

Salvador Mariona Salvador Antonio Mariona Rivera (born 27 December 1943) is a Salvadoran former footballer who played as a defender. At international level, he represented his country at the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico. Club career Born in Santa Tecla, Mar ...

), and a Filipino mother, former tennis player Marisue Jacutin (daughter of Dicky and Suzette Jacutin). He has one sister, 5-star tennis recruit Bella Jacutin-Mariona. As a child, he enjoyed food, watching extreme sports (he is a fan of Travis Pastrana), and playing

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 ...

, tennis, taekwondo, skateboarding and golf. At age six, he played for a 7 to 8-year-old

team because of his "superior talent". According to his mother, "Javier loves sinigang, nilagang baka, adobo, pancit and he’s a big rice fan! Javier completely understands Spanish and some Visayan, but answers back in English since it is the language commonly spoken at home." When asked what he would do if not a footballer, she said "Javier the Monster Truck Driver". At just twelve years old, he was already receiving offers from European clubs.

Club career

Mariona was signed as a USL Academy player by

on 24 July 2021. He made his debut as a late substitute in a 3–1 win against Tacoma Defiance on 29 August. He made his

UPSL The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is an American soccer league that was founded in Santa Ana in Southern California, with teams in regionalized conferences throughout the United States, and recently Canada and Mexico. The league was foun ...

debut for

the next day, wearing the number 10 shirt and scoring the only goal for his side in a 1–1 draw against MCSC Jaguars.UPSL on Twitter
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mariona, Javier 2004 births Living people People from Los Altos, California Soccer players from Santa Clara County, California American men's soccer players Salvadoran men's footballers Men's association football forwards Oakland Roots SC players USL Championship players El Salvador men's under-20 international footballers Salvadoran people of Filipino descent Sportspeople of Filipino descent American sportspeople of Salvadoran descent American sportspeople of Filipino descent De Anza Force players