Juan Carlos Medina Alonso (born 22 August 1983) is a Mexican former 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 ...

who played 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 ...

Club career

Juan Carlos Medina debuted with

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

on 31 August 2003 in a

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

match against

Tecos UAG Tecos Fútbol Club (often referred to by its nickname "Tecos") is a Mexican professional Association football, football club associated with the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara AC. It plays its home games in the ''Estadio 3 de Marzo'' (March ...

. With Atlas, he made 160 league appearances, scoring eleven goals. In 2008, Medina was transferred to league giants

Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...

. He had an unsuccessful first stint with América, being loaned out to clubs

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

and San Luis. In 2011 Medina returned to América, only to make three appearances in the Apertura tournament, in which the club finished in an abysmal 17th place. After the arrival of coach

Miguel Herrera Miguel Ernesto Herrera Aguirre (born 18 March 1968), popularly referred to by his nickname "Piojo" (Spanish for "louse"), is a Mexican former professional footballer and current manager. He is the head coach of Liga MX club Tijuana. A former ...

, his former coach whilst at Monterrey, Medina began to see more playing time, and eventually cemented his place in América's starting-eleven. On 26 May 2013 he played in his first league final against

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

, playing the whole match. América won the final on penalties, and were crowned

champions A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the Victory, victor in a challenge, Competition, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and w ...

. This would be Medina's first league championship as a player. Medina announced his retirement on June 11, 2018.

International career

Youth

Medina was a squad member at the 2003 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (The Middle East). It is located at th ...

. in which he played 3 matches.

Senior

Medina played three games in 2003 with the Mexican U-20 team, and he played his first game with the senior team in 2004. His good form brought him a first summons to the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

under new coach

Hugo Sánchez Hugo Sánchez Márquez (born 11 July 1958) is a Mexican former professional footballer and manager, who played as a forward. A prolific goalscorer known for his spectacular strikes and volleys, he is widely regarded as the greatest Mexican fo ...

. His first game was in a 3–1 win against Venezuela on 28 February 2007. During the match, Medina was able to earn a crucial penalty for the Mexican side, as he was knocked down in the box. In 2013, he returned to the national team against Finland. Then Miguel Herrera called Medina for the qualifying games against New Zealand. Medina made the final roster selection for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

however during the national team training camp he suffered an injury and was replaced by Miguel Angel Ponce.

Career statistics

International

Honours

América *

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

: Clausura 2013

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Medina, Juan Carlos 1983 births Living people Footballers from Coahuila Mexico international footballers Mexico under-20 international footballers Mexico youth international footballers Liga MX players Atlas F.C. footballers Club América footballers C.F. Monterrey players San Luis F.C. players Sportspeople from Torreón 2015 Copa América players Association football midfielders Mexican footballers