Kendall Jamaal Waston Manley (born 1 January 1988) is a Costa Rican 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 plays as a centre-back for

Liga FPD The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Fútbol de Primera División (FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Unión de Clubes ...

club Saprissa and the Costa Rica national team.

Club career

Saprissa and loans

Waston made his professional debut for Saprissa in 2006 and played on loan for Carmelita in the

Primera División de Costa Rica The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Fútbol de Primera División (FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Unión de Clubes ...

before moving abroad for a six-month loan spell with

Club Nacional de Football Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'' or simply as Nacional) is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' and ''Mon ...

in the Primera División Uruguaya from February 2008. In March 2010, Waston signed a three-month loan deal with Bayamón of the

Puerto Rico Soccer League The Puerto Rico Soccer League or PRSL is an association football league in Puerto Rico founded in 2008 and the first unified football league in the island's history. Association football had been growing in popularity in recent years, and this wa ...

to help the club qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League. He later had three more loan spells, one at UCR and two at Pérez Zeledón. In May 2012 Waston returned to Deportivo Saprissa to be part of the first team.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

On 8 August 2014, Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced a deal that they had acquired the defender from Saprissa. Waston joined the first team in the midst of their 2014 MLS season. On 25 October 2014, Waston scored the only goal in the Whitecaps' final game of the regular season, heading in a corner kick from

Pedro Morales Pedro Antonio Morales (October 22, 1942 – February 12, 2019) was a Puerto Rican professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the United States with Worldwide Wrestling Associates (WWA) and the World Wide Wrestling Federatio ...

, sending the Whitecaps to the playoffs for the second time in their four years since joining MLS. The impact that Waston had on the Whitecaps' season after joining the club earned him a nomination for MLS Player of the Month for October. Waston played his 100th MLS game for the Whitecaps on 26 May 2018, against San Jose. He signed a new contract before the 2018 season, becoming a designated player under league rules. Waston was the captain of Vancouver Whitecaps, having been named so before the 2017 MLS season.

FC Cincinnati

On 11 December 2018, Waston was traded to

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The team succeeded the lower-division team of the ...

ahead of their inaugural season in MLS. Vancouver received $450,000 of General Allocation Money, $300,000 of Targeted Allocation Money and an international roster spot. Waston captained the team for the majority of the 2019 MLS season. He was released by Cincinnati at the end of their 2020 season.

International career

A big defender, Waston was part of Costa Rica's 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup squad. Born in Costa Rica, Waston is of Jamaican descent. He made his senior debut for Costa Rica in a May 2013 match against

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and earned, as of December 2014, one more cap in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification against Honduras. On 8 October, he scored a 95th-minute equaliser for Costa Rica against Honduras to send Costa Rica to the 2018 FIFA World Cup. While placed on the bench for the first two games of the FIFA world cup Kendall had a chance to play in the third match and was able to score off a header and gain his first World Cup goal.

Career statistics

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first.''

Honours

Saprissa *

: Clausura 2014, Clausura 2021 *

Costa Rican Cup The Costa Rican Cup (''Torneo de Copa de Costa Rica'') is the top knock-out football tournament in Costa Rica which also serves as a qualification to the Supercopa Centroamericana. It was played for three seasons from 2013 to 2015. A 2019 edit ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Vancouver Whitecaps * Canadian Championship: 2015 Individual * Vancouver Whitecaps FC Player of the Year: 2015,

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. Winners *Players in bold were awarded the Landon Donovan MVP Award for that season. Most appearances by a player The following players have appeared ...

: 2015,

* MLS All-Star:

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

* CONCACAF Best XI:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waston, Kendall 1988 births Living people A.D. Carmelita footballers Men's association football defenders Bayamón Fútbol Club players Club Nacional de Football players Copa América Centenario players Costa Rican men's footballers Costa Rica men's international footballers Costa Rican people of Jamaican descent Designated Players (MLS) Deportivo Saprissa players FC Cincinnati players Liga FPD players Major League Soccer All-Stars Major League Soccer players A.D. Municipal Pérez Zeledón footballers Footballers from San José, Costa Rica La U Universitarios footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Expatriate men's footballers in Puerto Rico Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Puerto Rico Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Canada 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Costa Rica men's under-20 international footballers Costa Rica men's youth international footballers