Junior Gustavo Izaguirre Puerto (born 12 August 1979) is a Honduran retired

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 ...

defender, who most recently played for

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 ...

in the Honduran Liga Nacional.

Club career

Izaguirre started his professional career at Honduran giants

with whom he stayed for 8 years. He was the hero of the 2001 Apertura championship final when he scored all three of Motagua's goals against Marathón. In 2005, he moved abroad only for an unsuccessful campaign at Uruguayan top team

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

, due to an injury. He only played one match for them before his contract was terminated in April 2006. He returned to Honduras to have a short spell at Marathón, then signed for

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. He returned to his first club,

, before the 2011 Clausura championship. He is the top-scoring defender of Honduran football with 37 goals.

International career

Izaguirre played at the

1999 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Nigeria between 3 and 24 April 1999. This was the 12th edition of the tournament. Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. :1.Teams that ...

and was a member of the national squad at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

. Izaguirre then won many caps for the

Honduras national football team The Honduras national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de Honduras) represents Honduras in men's international football. The team is governed by the Federación Nacional Autónoma de Fútbol de Honduras (FENAFUTH). They are nicknamed ...

around the start of the 21st century, playing regularly in central defense. He made his international debut against Canada on May 30, 2000, and received his final cap against Nicaragua on February 15, 2007.Courtney, Barrie
"UNCAF (Qualifying Tournament for Gold Cup) 2007 - Details"
''

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

'', March 2, 2007. Retrieved on April 19, 2013. The high point of Izaguirre's international career came in the consolation match of the

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil national football team, Brazil ...

against Uruguay, when he scored in regulation time and hit the decisive penalty in the shootout to secure third-place honors for Honduras. He has represented his country in 2

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches and played at the

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and

2007 UNCAF Nations Cup The 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup was the ninth version of the biennial football tournament for the CONCACAF national teams of Central America. The event took place in San Salvador, El Salvador from February 8 to February 18, 2007. It was the second time ...

s as well as at the

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the eighth edition of the Gold Cup, the football championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was contested in the United States in July 2005. The United States emerged victorious ...

.CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2005 - Full Details
- RSSSF

International goals

:''Scores and results list Honduras' goal tally first.''

References

External links

*
Profile
- Diez {{DEFAULTSORT:Izaguirre, Junior 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Tegucigalpa Association football defenders Honduran footballers Honduras international footballers Olympic footballers of Honduras Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2001 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2001 Copa América players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup players F.C. Motagua players Peñarol players C.D. Marathón players C.D. Victoria players Honduran expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Uruguay Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Uruguayan Primera División players Pan American Games silver medalists for Honduras Footballers at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Pan American Games medalists in football