Obed Gomez Vargas (born August 5, 2005) is an American 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 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 ...

for

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 ...

club

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

Club career

Born in

Anchorage Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring Ma ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

, Vargas began his career with Cook Inlet Soccer Club before moving to

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

and joining the youth academy for

club

. He played in the academy for two seasons before signing a professional contract with Sounders FC reserve side

Tacoma Defiance Tacoma Defiance, formerly Seattle Sounders FC 2, is an American professional soccer team based in Tacoma, Washington, U.S. that competes in the MLS Next Pro, the third tier of the national soccer pyramid, as the reserve team of Seattle Sounders ...

on May 7, 2021. A couple days later, on May 9, Vargas made his senior debut for Tacoma Defiance in the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...

against

LA Galaxy II LA Galaxy II is an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, United States founded in 2014. It is the reserve team of the LA Galaxy. The team competes in MLS Next Pro, the third tier of the United Sta ...

. He started and played 66 minutes as the match ended in a 1–1 draw. On July 22, 2021, Vargas debuted with the Sounders FC. He made his MLS debut on July 22, 2021, as one of several Tacoma Defiance players called up to the Sounders for a match against

Austin FC Austin FC is an American professional soccer club based in Austin, Texas. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 2018, the club began play in the 2021 season. Their home stadium is Q2 ...

to replace injured players. At 15 years and 351 days old, Vargas was the third-youngest player in MLS history. He signed a formal Homegrown Player contract with the Sounders in December and became a starter for the team in the first matches of the 2022 season, playing in two

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 ...

fixtures. Manager

Brian Schmetzer Brian Schmetzer (born August 18, 1962) is an American soccer coach and retired player. He is the head coach of the Seattle Sounders FC, who play in Major League Soccer (MLS), having been assistant coach for the team until Sigi Schmid's departure ...

described Vargas' play style as similar to that of

Cristian Roldan Cristian Roldan (born June 3, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club Seattle Sounders FC and the United States national team. He was the 2013 Gatorade National Player of the Ye ...

's rookie season, adding he was "going to be a tremendous player for our club".

International career

In March 2020, Vargas was selected to participate in the United States national under-15 team camp. He was called up by the United States national under-20 team in January 2022.

Personal life

Vargas is of

Mexican Mexican may refer to: Mexico and its culture *Being related to, from, or connected to the country of Mexico, in North America ** People *** Mexicans, inhabitants of the country Mexico and their descendants *** Mexica, ancient indigenous people ...

descent and holds dual American and Mexican citizenship. His father played for the youth academy of Monarcas Morelia; his younger brother and two sisters also play soccer.

Career statistics

Club

Honors

Seattle Sounders FC *

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

References

External links

Profile
at

2005 births Living people Sportspeople from Anchorage, Alaska Hispanic and Latino American sportspeople American sportspeople of Mexican descent American soccer players Association football midfielders Tacoma Defiance players USL Championship players Soccer players from Alaska Seattle Sounders FC players Major League Soccer players Homegrown Players (MLS) {{US-footy-midfielder-stub