Saúl Asael Martínez Álvarez (; born 29 January 1976) is a Honduran former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

forward who last played for USA fourth tier-side Miami United.

Club career

Nicknamed ''Speedy'', Saúl Martínez was born in Colón,

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. He started his career at Honduran second division side Melgar before moving abroad to play for American outfit Long Island Rough Riders. He was assigned to

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 ...

team

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 ...

in 1999. His first game in Liga Nacional was on 10 December 2000 with Olimpia against

Broncos A bucking horse is any breed or either gender of horse with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for rod ...

China

Martínez first attracted the attentions of

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua F.C. () is a Chinese professional football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under license from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The term ''shen hua'' literally translates as "the Flower of Shanghai" in ...

when he scored four goals against Slovenia during the

Lunar New Year Cup The Lunar New Year Cup, previously known as the Carlsberg Challenge or the Carlsberg Cup, is an annual invitational football tournament organised in Hong Kong by the Hong Kong Football Association (HKFA) since 1908. It is usually held on the firs ...

in Hong Kong in early 2002. Shenhua quickly signed him and afterwards, Martinez became one of the most important players in the Shenhua team. He would end up playing in Asia for five years, winning the 2003 Chinese league title with Shanghai Shenhua; that title was however taken away from the club in 2013 due to its part in a match-fixing scandal. He also won the 2003 Golden Boot Award with Shanghai. In January 2008, Martínez joined Costa Rican side

Herediano Club Sport Herediano (), commonly known as Herediano and nicknamed El Team, is a Costa Rican multisport club based in Heredia, Heredia province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Herediano is mostly known for its association ...

for three months after a move to

F.C. Motagua Club de Fútbol Motagua (), formerly Club Deportivo Motagua up to 2017, is an association football club, located in Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras. F.C. Motagua was founded as ''Club Deportivo Motagua'' on 29 August 1928. The club competes ...

did not materialise. He then had a couple of seasons at Marathón. He made a remarkable return from retirement with

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

in the 2010 Apertura season, topping the goalscoring charts at age 34 and ending the season as runner-up behind

Jerry Bengtson Jerry Ricardo Bengtson Bodden (born 8 April 1987) is a Honduran professional footballer who plays as a striker for Olimpia and the Honduras national team. Club career Vida On 12 August 2007, Bengtson made his official debut for C.D.S. ...

with 11 goals. In July 2011 he returned for another spell at Marathón. He retired from football at the end of 2011. In 2013, he returned to playing and joined compatriot Érick Vallecillo at newly formed Miami United of the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's association football, soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially ...

International career

Martínez made his debut for

in a July 2001

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

, in which he immediately scored a goal, and has earned a total of 35 caps, scoring 16 goals. He has represented his country in 11

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches and played at the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

and

2009 UNCAF Nations Cup The UNCAF Nations Cup 2009 was the tenth edition of the UNCAF Nations Cup, the biennial association football, football (soccer) tournament for the CONCACAF-affiliated national teams of Central America. The first five places qualified for the 2009 ...

s His international breakthrough however came during the

2001 Copa América The 2001 Copa América was held in Colombia, from 11 to 29 July. It was organised by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. Colombia won the tournament for the 1st time without conceding a goal. Brazil national football team, Brazil ...

, when Honduras surprisingly ended third and Martínez scored both goals in the historic win over World Cup runners-up

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

.Hace 10 años eliminamos a Brasil de Copa América
– La Prensa His final international was a January

match against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Personal life

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

Honours

Nacional Montevideo *

Uruguayan Primera División The Liga Profesional de Primera División (American Spanish , en, First Division Professional League, local: , ''First Division''), named "Torneo Uruguayo Copa Coca-Cola" for sponsorship reasons, is the highest professional Association football, ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

Shanghai Shenhua *

Chinese Jia-A League The National Football Jia A League (simplified Chinese, commonly known as Jia-A, was the highest tier of professional football in the People's Republic of China, during 1994 through 2003, operating under the auspices of the Chinese Football Associ ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

(revoked due to match-fixing scandal) C.D. Marathón *

Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras Liga Betcris de Honduras (''Honduran National Professional Football League'') is the highest division of football in Honduras. The league season is divided into Opening (autumn) and Closing (spring). One team is relegated to the Liga de Ascenso ...

: 2008–09 (Apertura)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Saul 1976 births Living people People from Colón Department (Honduras) Association football forwards Honduran footballers Honduras international footballers 2001 Copa América players 2003 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup players 2009 UNCAF Nations Cup players Long Island Rough Riders players Miami Fusion players C.D. Olimpia players F.C. Motagua players Club Nacional de Football players Shanghai Shenhua F.C. players Chinese Super League players Omiya Ardija players C.S. Herediano footballers C.D. Marathón players C.D. Victoria players Major League Soccer players Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players J1 League players National Premier Soccer League players Honduran expatriate footballers Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Japan Honduran expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Uruguay Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in Japan Expatriate footballers in Costa Rica Virginia Beach Mariners players A-League (1995–2004) players Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Honduran expatriate sportspeople in Costa Rica