Marco Antonio Etcheverry Vargas (born 26 September 1970) is a Bolivian retired 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

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. A creative

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...

, he is considered one of the greatest Bolivian players of all time. Etcheverry played for

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

from 1996 to 2003. He helped D.C United win eight trophies during that time, and was nominated to the

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 ...

in four consecutive seasons from 1996 to 1999.

Club career

Etcheverry, is nicknamed ''El Diablo'' (The Devil). Etcheverry was trained at Bolivia's Tahuichi Academy, after which he played professionally with Bolivian sides (

Destroyers In navy, naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a Naval fleet, fleet, convoy or Carrier battle group, battle group and defend them against powerful short range attack ...

, Bolívar,

Oriente Petrolero Club Deportivo Oriente Petrolero () is a Bolivian football club based in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. They play at the 38,000-capacity Estadio Tahuichi Aguilera. Oriente have been Bolivian champions five times, Copa Aerosur winners two ti ...

), Spain (

Albacete Albacete (, also , ; ar, ﭐَلبَسِيط, Al-Basīṭ) is a city and municipality in the Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha, and capital of the province of Albacete. Lying in the south-ea ...

), Chile (

Colo-Colo Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo () is a Chilean professional football club based in Macul, Santiago. Founded in 1925 by David Arellano they play in the Chilean Primera División, from which they have never been relegated. The team has played ...

), Colombia (

América de Cali América de Cali S. A., best known as América de Cali or América, is a Colombian professional football club based in Cali. It competes in the Categoría Primera A, the top-flight league of Colombian football. The team plays its home games at ...

) and Ecuador (

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, Emelec). Etchverry joined

in its inaugural season of 1996, and led the team to three

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

s and was named

MLS MVP The Landon Donovan MVP Award is an annual award for MLS players. It is voted on by media, MLS players, and club management and is given to the player deemed the most valuable player in the league each season. From 1996 to 2007, the award was kno ...

in 1998. In eight years with the team, Etcheverry played 191 league games, scoring 34 goals and registering 101 assists (the games and assists were DC records). He retired at the end of the 2003 season.

DC United honors

In 2005, he was named to the

MLS All-Time Best XI The Major League Soccer All-Time Best XI was selected In 2005 as part of the league's tenth anniversary celebrations. Major League Soccer, the top soccer league in the United States, named its All-Time Best XI, a selection of the best eleven playe ...

. On 23 September 2006, Etcheverry was honored at a home game against the

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

. During halftime he was put up on the "

Tradition of Excellence" sign in the stadium. After all of this Etcheverry walked over to the

La Barra Brava La Barra Brava is an independent supporters' group for Major League Soccer's D.C. United and the United States. La Barra Brava are often called the craziest fans in MLS for their antics. History It was founded in 1995 by Latino fans in the ...

part of the stadium and did his trademark clap in front of them, he did after every game, win or lose. On 20 October 2007, Etcheverry was honored with a tribute match at RFK Stadium, prior to United's regular-season finale versus Columbus. Etcheverry is the first United player to be so honored. Etcheverry, playing with teammates from the club's 1997 MLS Cup winning side, defeated Hollywood United (a collection of former players and actors), 2–1, with Etcheverry drawing and scoring the winning penalty in the final minute.

International career

Etcheverry compiled 71 caps and scored 13 goals for the Bolivia national team between 1989 and 2003. He scored four times during

qualification Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

, including an 88th minute opening goal in a 2–0 defeat of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

La Paz La Paz (), officially known as Nuestra Señora de La Paz (Spanish pronunciation: ), is the seat of government of the Bolivia, Plurinational State of Bolivia. With an estimated 816,044 residents as of 2020, La Paz is the List of Bolivian cities ...

- the first ever loss by the ''Seleção'' in World Cup qualifying, to help Bolivia participate in its first

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

since

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

. At the tournament finals, ''El Diablo'' was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

for kicking

Lothar Matthäus Lothar Herbert Matthäus (; born 21 March 1961) is a German association football, football pundit and former professional player and manager. After captaining Germany national football team, West Germany to victory in the 1990 FIFA World Cup whe ...

four minutes after appearing as a substitute in the tournament's opening game against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. The subsequent suspension meant that Etcheverry played no further part in Bolivia's tournament, as ''La Verde'' finished bottom of

Group C Group C was a category of sports car racing introduced by the FIA in 1982 and continuing until 1993, with ''Group A'' for touring cars and ''Group B'' for GTs. It was designed to replace both Group 5 special production cars (closed top touri ...

with two losses and a draw to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. Etcheverry scored twice in the

1997 Copa América Bolivia hosted the Copa América for the second time in its 38th edition. It was held from 11 to 29 June. It was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. There is no qualifying for the final tournament. All South American ...

as Bolivia reached the final to achieve its best performance in the competition since winning in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cov ...

. He went on to represent the team in the subsequent

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

in 1999. On 12 April 2006, the Bolivian Congress awarded him with the "Order of Merit" and a title of "Distinguished Citizen", for his sport achievements, shortly after his retirement.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Bolvia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Etcheverry goal.''

Coaching career

Etcheverry made his debut as football coach in early 2008 after he accepted an offer from second division club

Sociedad Deportiva Aucas Sociedad Deportiva Aucas (), also known as "Papá Aucas", is a football club based in Quito, Ecuador. They play in the top tier of Ecuadorian football and have spent the majority of their history in the top-flight Serie A. The team is amongst ...

, but he was sacked after only four months in charge. On 6 October 2009, Etcheverry was announced as the new

coach, replacing Pablo Sánchez. But in the middle of the negotiations he decided not to go through.

Honors

D.C. United *

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

MLS Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 1 ...

: 1997, 1999 *

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

: 1998 *

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana ( en, Interamerican Cup) was an annual club football competition contested between a representative from North America (CONCACAF) and South America (CONMEBOL). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACA ...

: 1998 * U.S. Open Cup: 1996 Barcelona S.C. * Ecuadorian League Championship: 1997 Oriente Petrolero * Bolivian League Championship: 2001 Individual *

: 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 *

MLS Goal of the Year Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canad ...

: 1997, 1999 * MLS Most Valuable Player: 1998 * MLS All-Star Game MVP: 2002 *

References

External links

International statistics
at

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 ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Etcheverry, Marco 1970 births Living people Bolivian people of Spanish descent Sportspeople from Santa Cruz de la Sierra Association football midfielders Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Bolivian footballers Bolivia international footballers Bolivia youth international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players 1989 Copa América players 1991 Copa América players 1993 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1997 Copa América players 1999 Copa América players Club Destroyers players Club Bolívar players Albacete Balompié players Colo-Colo footballers América de Cali footballers D.C. United players Barcelona S.C. footballers C.S. Emelec footballers Oriente Petrolero players La Liga players Chilean Primera División players Bolivian expatriate footballers Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Ecuador Bolivian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Chile Expatriate footballers in Colombia Expatriate footballers in Ecuador Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Major League Soccer MVPs Bolivian football managers Bolivian expatriate football managers S.D. Aucas managers Oriente Petrolero managers National Soccer Hall of Fame members