Nelson Vargas (born August 6, 1974) is an American former

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 and coach. Vargas spent five seasons in

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 ...

and earned four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team ha ...

. He was also a member of the U.S. soccer team at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Soccer

Youth

Vargas attended

Miami Coral Park High School Miami Coral Park Senior High School is a secondary school located in the Westchester census-designated place of Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

in Belgium.

Professional

The

Tampa Bay Mutiny Tampa Bay Mutiny was a professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. They were a charter member of Major League Soccer (MLS) and played from 1996 to 2001. They played their home games at Tampa Stadium and then at Raymond James Stadium. The ...

selected Vargas in the twelfth round (117th overall) in the

1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before 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 State ...

. He spent two seasons with the Mutiny before the

Miami Fusion The Miami Fusion was a professional soccer team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for four seasons, from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one of the league's first two expansion teams, their best seas ...

selected Vargas in the

1997 MLS Expansion Draft The 1997 MLS Expansion Draft was held November 6, 1997. Two teams participated, the Chicago Fire and Miami Fusion F.C., both expansion Major League Soccer clubs starting play in the 1998 season. Format Each team in the league made ten players, in ...

. On July 25, 2000, while playing in an Open Cup game in

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

, Vargas sustained a right ankle sprain that turned out to be a career-ending injury. After three seasons in Miami, the Fusion waived Vargas in November 2000.

International

In 1991, Vargas was a member of the

United States men's national under-17 soccer team The United States U-17 men's national soccer team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation. The highest level of competition in which the team may compete is in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which is held every two years. History Champ ...

at the U-17 World Youth Championship which went 3–0 in the first round. In the second round, the team tied Qatar 1–1 in regulation only to fall 5–4 in

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

s. That same year, he earned his first of four

with the U.S. national team when he came on at half time for Mike Slivinski in a September 14 win over

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

. At the time, Slivinski was the youngest U.S. player to earn a cap and Vargas was only three months older. Vargas did not play again with the senior national team until November 19, 1994, in a loss to

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. He then played two more games that year, his last coming on December 11. In 1993, Vargas was selected for the U.S. team which qualified for the 1993 U-20 World Cup to be held in Australia. He scored two goal in the

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...

qualifying games. At the World Cup, the U.S. went 1-1-1 in group play, qualifying for the second round where it fell to Brazil. In 1996, U.S. coach

Bruce Arena Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Arena has had ...

named Vargas to the U.S. soccer team at the

. Once again, the team went 1-1-1, but this time failed to make the second round.

Acting

In 2005, Vargas played the part of

John Souza John Souza-Benavides (July 12, 1920 – March 11, 2012) known as John "Clarkie" Souza, was an American soccer player who earned 14 caps and scored 2 goals for the United States men's national soccer team, and played in the U.S. team's histori ...

in The Game of Their Lives, a movie about the U.S. victory over England in the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

.IMDB: Nelson Vargas
/ref> He also starred in a Powerade and Allsport commercial that also featured Alexi Lalas.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Nelson 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Holyoke, Massachusetts American people of Colombian descent American soccer players Soccer players from Massachusetts Tampa Bay Mutiny players Miami Fusion players Major League Soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players Olympic soccer players of the United States Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics United States men's international soccer players American expatriate soccer players Association football forwards Miami FC coaches