Marcos Zambrano-Delgado (born January 20, 2005) is a professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as an attacker for Benfica and the

United States men's national under-19 soccer team The United States U-19 men's national soccer team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation. Recent results and fixtures 2023 Current squad 20 players were called up for the March 2023 friendlies in Argentina. ''Caps and goals ar ...

Early life

Zambrano was born in

Guayaquil, Ecuador , motto = Por Guayaquil Independiente en, For Independent Guayaquil , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Ecuador#South America , pushpin_re ...

. He joined the Philadelphia Union's academy with his brother Mateo at the start of 2021 having been waiting since Autumn 2020 for clearance from the US Federation. The brothers possessed US passports through their father who was born in New York.

Career

Zambrano played as the Philadelphia Union U-17s won the

MLS Next MLS Next (stylized as MLS NEXT) is a youth soccer league in the United States and Canada, that is managed, organized and controlled by Major League Soccer. It was introduced by the league in 2020. It is a successor to the U.S. Soccer Developmen ...

Cup in 2021–2022. In August 2022 Zambrano scored for the Eastern Conference in the inaugural MLS Next All-Star Game. In January 2023 he was announced as signing with Portuguese side

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

. A winger who play as a striker, Zambrano is expected to go straight into the squad of

S.L. Benfica B Sport Lisboa e Benfica "B", commonly known as Benfica B, is a Portuguese professional football team based in Seixal. Founded in 1999, dissolved in 2006, and restarted in 2012, it is the reserve team of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica. They play in ...

International career

Marcos played for Ecuador's under-15 and under-17 teams, but switched nationality to the United States and was called up to the United States national under-19 team. In October 2022 Zambrano was called into the USMNT U-20 squad.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zambrano, Marcos 2005 births Living people American men's soccer players Men's association football forwards United States men's youth international soccer players Sportspeople from Guayaquil Ecuadorian emigrants to the United States