Eduardo Missael Espinoza Padilla (born 12 April 1965) is a Mexican 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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

A versatile player capable of lining up in the attack or on the right side of midfield, Espinoza began his career with

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

during the 1984–85 season.MedioTiempo
"Misael Espinoza - Monterrey"
Retrieved on January 19, 2013. He participated with the Monterrey team that won the shortened Mexico 86 championship, becoming a frequent starter two seasons later and remaining with the club through 1993. Espinoza then joined Chivas, coming back from a serious injury that sidelined him for much of 1993, and scored a career-high 14 goals in 1994-95. In 1996, he signed with the San Jose Clash of the newly formed

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 ...

, scoring 10 goals and winning honors as the club's most valuable player. Returning to Mexico with Chivas, he filled the role of a designated substitute as the club won the Verano 1997 title. He moved to León, finishing as runner-up to

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul or simply Cruz Azul () is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in the Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Because "azul" means "blue" in Spanish, the club has traditionally ...

in the Invierno 1997 tournament, then joined

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Necaxa, is a Mexican professional football club in Liga MX based in the city of Aguascalientes. It plays in the Estadio Victoria. History Foundation (Light and Power Comp ...

to win the Invierno 1998 competition. He returned to León in 2000, transferred

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

upon the 2002 relegation of León, and closed his top-flight career with his original club Monterrey in 2005 at the age of 40.

International career

Espinoza also obtained a total number of 41 caps and 4 goals for the

Mexico national team The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in international football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (). It competes as a member of CONCACAF. Mexico has qualified to seventeen World Cups and has qualified conse ...

between 1990 and 1995. His first cap came in a 2-0 victory over

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

on April 17, 1990. He later represented Mexico at the inaugural

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup ( es, Copa de Oro de la CONCACAF, french: Coupe D'or CONCACAF) is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the continental champion of North Ameri ...

of 1991, playing all five matches, and appeared in six qualifying matches 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 ...

under the direction of

César Luis Menotti César Luis Menotti (; born 5 November 1938), known as ''El Flaco'' ("Slim"), is an Argentine former football manager and player who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as the head coach of the Argentina national team. During his playing days, he pl ...

. Espinoza made the final squad for the World Cup, albeit without playing a game in the competition. He was also selected for

Miguel Mejía Baron --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places *Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands *São Miguel (disambi ...

's 22-man squad at the

1995 Copa América The 1995 Copa América football tournament was staged in Uruguay. It was won by Uruguay, who beat Brazil 5–3 in the penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw in the final. All 10 CONMEBOL members took part, with Mexico and the United States invited i ...

, which was the final major event of his international career. His last cap came in a penalty-kick defeat in the Copa América quarterfinal against 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 ...

on July 17, 1995.Tabeira, Martín
"Copa América 1995"
''

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 25, 2011. Retrieved on January 19, 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Espinoza, Missael 1965 births Living people Sportspeople from Tepic, Nayarit Footballers from Nayarit Association football midfielders Mexican footballers Mexico international footballers 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 Copa América players C.F. Monterrey players C.D. Guadalajara footballers San Jose Earthquakes players Club León footballers Club Necaxa footballers Querétaro F.C. footballers Liga MX players Major League Soccer players Mexican expatriate footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States