Carlos Uriel Antuna Romero (born 21 August 1997) is a Mexican 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 ...

who plays as a winger for Liga MX club

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 ...

and 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 ...

Club career

Early career

In 2012, Antuna joined the

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club that competes in the Liga MX. It is located in northern Mexico and represents the urban area of La Comarca Lagunera, made up o ...

youth academy, successfully going through the U-15, U-17 and U-20 teams. In 2017, first-team manager José Manuel de la Torre promoted Antuna. On 5 March, Antuna made his professional debut in the Liga MX entering as a substitute in a 2–1 loss to

Pumas UNAM Club Universidad Nacional, A.C., commonly referred to as UNAM, is a professional football club based in Ciudad Universitaria of Mexico City, Mexico. The club competes in the Liga MX, the top division in the Mexican football league system. Fo ...

FC Groningen

On 12 July 2017, English club Manchester City, via

City Football Group City Football Group Limited (CFG) is a holding company that administers association football clubs. The group is owned by three organisations; of which 81% is majority owned by Newton Investment and Development LLC, 18% by the American firm Si ...

, announced they had signed Antuna on a four-year contract. On 9 August, he joined

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club FC Groningen on a two-year loan deal. On 10 September, Antuna made his league debut against

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, followin ...

; he entered the match as a substitute in a 1–1 draw.

LA Galaxy

On 29 January 2019, Antuna joined

MLS 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 ...

side LA Galaxy on loan for their 2019 season. He scored his first goal for the team in their 2–1 victory over

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 2 ...

on 28 April. In October, he extended his contract with Manchester City, keeping him through 2022. At the end of his time with LA Galaxy, he made 31 league appearances with 6 goals and 5 assists; he also received interest from Portuguese club Benfica.

Guadalajara

On 28 November 2019, Antuna joined Liga MX side Guadalajara. On 11 January 2020, he would make his debut with Guadalajara, coming on as a substitute for Isaác Brizuela in a 2–0 victory over Juárez. On 5 September, Antuna scored his first goal with ''Chivas'' against

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Found ...

in a 3–1 victory.

International career

Youth

Antuna was called up to the under-20 team camp in preparations for the

2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2017 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was the 5th edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (26th edition if all eras included), the men's under-20 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in Costa Rica between ...

. He was subsequently called up for the tournament. During a classification stage match against El Salvador he would score a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

, with Mexico winning the match 6–1. He was included in the best XI of the tournament. Antuna was called up for the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 ...

. He would appear in all five matches until they were eliminated by

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the

quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. Antuna was included in the final roster that participated at the

2018 Toulon Tournament The 2018 Toulon Tournament (officially french: 46ème Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) was the 46th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 26 May to 9 June 2018. Engl ...

. He would appear in all five matches as Mexico went on to face

in the final, losing 2–1. Antuna participated at the 2020 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship, scoring three goals in five appearances, where Mexico won the competition. He was subsequently included in the tournament's Best XI. He was subsequently called up to participate in the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. Antuna won the bronze medal with the Olympic team.

Senior

On 3 November 2017,

Juan Carlos Osorio Juan Carlos Osorio Arbeláez (; born 8 June 1961) is a Colombian professional football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder. Osorio began his playing career with Deportivo Pereira in 1982, and went on to play for Brazilian c ...

named Antuna to the senior national team for the friendly matches against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

on 10 and 13 November but did not appear in either match. In May 2019, Antuna was included in Gerardo Martino's preliminary list for the

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 ...

. He made his debut on 5 June in a friendly against

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, appearing as a 68th minute substitute for

Roberto Alvarado Roberto Carlos Alvarado Hernández (born 7 September 1998), also known as El Piojo, is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a winger for Liga MX club Guadalajara and the Mexico national team. He is the youngest player to ever play i ...

. After originally being left out of the definite list for the Gold Cup, he was included after Jorge Sánchez picked up an injury in a friendly match 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: ' ...

. In Mexico's opening match against

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

, Antuna scored a hat-trick and provided an assist in the team's 7–0 rout; his first goal at the 2nd minute of the match is the fastest goal scored by Mexico in a Gold Cup tournament. He appeared in every match as Mexico would go on to win the tournament. On 19 November, in Mexico's final Nations League group stage match against

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

, Antuna scored the winning goal in injury time to secure a 2–1 win, maintaining Mexico's perfect group-stage record. In October 2022, Antuna was named in Mexico's preliminary 31-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and in November, he was ultimately included in the final 26-man roster.

Style of play

Antuna is an agile player with sheer acceleration and speed who can

dribble In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

past opponents, with

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

describing his

work rate In association football, work rate refers to the extent to which a player contributes to running and chasing in a match while not in possession of the ball. Work rate is generally indicated by the distance covered by a player during a match. An e ...

as "intriguing" yet "unrefined." Described as a player that likes to hold on to the ball and cross, he is fouled on often. During a Guardianes 2020 quarter-finals match against Club América, his speed throughout the encounter was recorded as one of the fastest footballers in the world, second to

Kylian Mbappe Killian or Kilian, as a given name, is an Anglicized version of the Irish name Cillian. The name Cillian was borne by several early Irish saints including missionaries to Artois and Franconia and the author of the life of St Brigid. The name is s ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Mexico's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Antuna goal''.

Honours

Cruz Azul * Supercopa de la Liga MX:

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

Mexico U23 * CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship:

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

* Olympic Bronze Medal:

Mexico *

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual *

CONCACAF U-20 Championship The CONCACAF Under-20 Championship is the second longest running international association football event in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, CONCACAF, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. ...

Best XI:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

* Liga MX Best XI: Guardianes 2020 * CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship Best XI:

* Liga MX All-Star:

Notes

References

External links

* * * * * *
Carlos Antuna
at Concacaf Mexico U-20
Carlos Antuna
at MCFC Watch

at Informador {{DEFAULTSORT:Antuna, Uriel 1997 births Living people People from Gómez Palacio, Durango Footballers from Durango Mexican footballers Men's association football wingers Santos Laguna footballers Manchester City F.C. players FC Groningen players LA Galaxy players C.D. Guadalajara footballers Liga MX players Liga Premier de México players Eredivisie players Derde Divisie players Major League Soccer players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players Mexico under-20 international footballers Mexico international footballers Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Mexico Olympic medalists in football Olympic bronze medalists for Mexico Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Mexican expatriate footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Mexican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate soccer players in the United States 2022 FIFA World Cup players