Mauricio Antonio Montero Chinchilla (born 19 October 1963 in

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

) is a retired

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 ...

. Nicknamed ''El Chunche'' (The Thing), Montero is widely known for his humble origins, which molded his behavior and charisma. His colloquial lexicon includes phrases such as ''chollarse las nalgas'' ("bust your buttocks"), which he uses as his motto to denote effort.

Playing career

Club

Montero came through the youth ranks of Ramonense and debuted for the senior team in 1980. He moved to

Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...

in 1987 and retired on 15 September 1998 after a game against

Atlético Bucaramanga Club Atlético Bucaramanga S.A., better known as Atlético Bucaramanga, is a Colombian professional football team based in Bucaramanga. The club plays its home games at the Alfonso López stadium. The club was founded on 11 May 1949 by Rafael C ...

.El cuerpo técnico de la Liga en datos
- Nación During that match, Alajuelense retired his #20 jersey that he had used throughout his tenure with the club. Montero, however, did not exclusively use #20 during his Alajuelense tenure as he used #12 on occasion between 1990 and 1991, and #3 (belonging to fellow defender Hernán Fernando Sossa) at least once during the 1990–91 season—Montero himself mentioned that he did this out of need due to the actual #20 shirts not being readily available. He totalled 556 league games, 408 of them for Alajuelense. The nickname ''El Chunche'' ('The thing') comes from his answer to what he would buy with a prize he had won. He answered 'Voy a comprarme un chunche' ('I will buy a thing') meaning he would like to buy a vehicle (Costa Ricans use the word "chunche" to refer to pretty much anything). He is one of the most charismatic soccer players in Costa Rica. He is the creator of (the vulture shot), a play in which Montero headed to goal line, dribbled goalkeeper and shot powerfully above large pole of goal line approximately by 6 feet length from scoring line, the term derives of exaggeration popular told happening that the ball smashed a vulture, bringing it to ground.

International

Nicknamed ''El Chunche'', ('The Thing'), Montero made his debut for

in 1985 and was part of the squad, that played in the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being Me ...

held in Italy, and featured in all four games played. The defender collected 56 caps, scoring 3 goals He also represented his country at the

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

and

1995 UNCAF Nations Cup Six national football teams from Central America competed in the 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup (''Copa Centroamericana''). The winning team was Honduras, defeating Guatemala in the final. Squads Preliminary round Stadium First round Group A ' ...

s as well as at the

1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the first edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and the eleventh overall CONCACAF tournament. The last time the CONCACAF Championship was he ...

. He played his final international on June 5, 1996 against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

International goals

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

Managerial career

A few years after his retirement, Montero became assistant to manager Oscar Ramírez at Belén, then coach with

Municipal Grecia Municipal Grecia is an association football club based in Grecia, Costa Rica. Founded in 1998, the club will make their debut in the Liga FPD after being promoted from the Liga de Ascenso. The team plays in the Estadio Allen Riggioni. History I ...

in the second division. After two seasons there, he became assistant head coach in his beloved team,

and gained the

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 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 ...

in 2004 and the national tournament in 2005. He was the coach of Carmelita from 2007 to October 2008. He returned to

to become the first coach assistant, again under Oscar Ramírez' management. He was dismissed in August 2013 and put in charge of the club's U-15 team. He was a commentator for Canal 7 Teletica Deportes during the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Personal life

Montero is married to Luxinia Ávila and they have three children.

Notes

Central American Spanish Central American Spanish ( es, español centroamericano or ) is the general name of the Spanish language dialects spoken in Central America. More precisely, the term refers to the Spanish language as spoken in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, ...

, the word ''chunche'' () refers to an "object whose name is unknown or not willing to be mentioned".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montero, Mauricio 1963 births Living people People from Grecia (canton) Association football defenders Costa Rican footballers Costa Rica international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Liga FPD players A.D. Ramonense players L.D. Alajuelense footballers Costa Rican football managers Copa Centroamericana-winning players Municipal Grecia managers