Julio César Morales Zavala (born 19 December 1993) is a 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 le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. Born in the United States, he represented the Mexico national under-20 team.

Career

Professional

Born in

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from ...

and raised in San Jose, Morales attended

Willow Glen High School Willow Glen High School is a public high school in the Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, California, within the San Jose Unified School District. Athletics Willow Glen High School has a swimming pool, a basketball court/gym and weight tra ...

, where he also played soccer. He spent his youth soccer career playing for local soccer club, Santa Clara Sporting, where he gained interest from professional soccer clubs while winning multiple tournaments with the Santa Clara Sporting 93’ team. He scored a total of 78 goals at the high school level. Morales scored 17 goals in his first season as a freshman, 23 goals as a sophomore, and 38 goals in his final season at Willow Glen High School as a junior. He was named San Jose Mercury News Player of the Year, MVP of the Blossom Valley League, and named to the First Team Blossom Valley League during his high school soccer career. He led Willow Glen High School to their first Central Coast Section Division II Final appearance in 2010, and won their first ever Central Coast Section Division II championship in 2011. Days after the championship, Morales departed from Willow Glen High School to pursue a professional soccer career when he was recruited by Chivas de Guadalajara. Morales was noticed by Chivas when he participated in Alianza de Futbol ‘Sueno de tu vida.’ He was offered an opportunity to finish his high school education in Guadalajara and play for Chivas’ Under-17 development team in 2011. Morales joined

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Guada ...

on loan from

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

on March 1, 2013 and made his professional debut a day later in a 3-0 home loss to the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

. After 2 years training with Chivas de Guadalajara development teams and debuting with Chivas USA first team, Morales was called up to Mexico’s Under-20 World Cup team while he was on loan with Chivas USA in 2013.

International

Morales is eligible to play for both the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. He made a couple of appearances in unofficial friendly matches for the Mexico U-20 national team during their trip to California on November 2012 including on November 17 when he recorded a hat-trick in a 9-0 win over a Riverside County all-star team. In 2015, he was among the 28 players called by Klinsmann to the

January training camp, but he never played a match.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morales, Julio Cesar 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Glendale, California Soccer players from Los Angeles County, California American men's soccer players Mexico men's under-20 international footballers C.D. Guadalajara footballers Chivas USA players American sportspeople of Mexican descent Men's association football forwards Major League Soccer players Mexico men's youth international footballers Liga MX players