Walmer Osmar Gómez Martínez (born 17 August 1998) is a 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 le ...

who plays for

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 ...

club

Monterey Bay FC Monterey Bay Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in Monterey County, California. The club was established on February 21, 2021, and is a member of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer league system. ...

. Born in the United States, he represents the El Salvador national team.

Early life

Martinez was born in

Santa Cruz, California Santa Cruz (Spanish for "Holy Cross") is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, in Northern California. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 62,956. Situated on the northern edge of Monterey Bay, Santa Cruz is a pop ...

to a Honduran father and his mother Lucila who was from

Victoria, Cabañas Victoria is a municipality in the Cabañas department of El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the n ...

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Club career

Youth and college

Martinez attended

Cabrillo College Cabrillo College is a public community college in Aptos, California. It is named after the conquistador Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo and opened in 1959. Cabrillo College has an enrollment of about 12,000 students per term. Facilities Classes are of ...

in 2016, playing two seasons with the Seahawks, scoring 22 goals in 35 appearances. In 2018, Martinez transferred to

California State University, Monterey Bay California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB or Cal State Monterey Bay) is a public university in Monterey County, California. Its main campus is located on the site of the former military base Fort Ord, straddling the cities of Seaside and ...

where he scored 17 goals in 35 appearances. While at college, Martinez appeared for

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

side Santa Cruz Breakers in both 2018 and 2019. He also appeared for

Des Moines Menace Des Moines Menace is an American soccer team based in Des Moines, Iowa, United States. Founded in 1994, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The Menace have had sustained success in USL League Two duri ...

towards the end of their 2019 season.

Professional

Martinez signed with

side

Hartford Athletic Hartford Athletic is an American professional soccer team based in Hartford, Connecticut. The club was founded in 2018 and started play in the USL Championship in 2019. It is the only pro soccer team in Connecticut. History On June 8, 2021, Ha ...

on April 12, 2021, after attending Hartford’s Invitational Combine. Martinez scored his first professional goals on October 26, 2021 when he scored a brace in Hartfrd's 2-0 win over the

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professiona ...

. On 22 December 2021, Martinez was announced as the first-ever signing by

expansion club

International career

Coach Hugo Pérez had approached Martinez about playing for the El Salvador under-23 for the

2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship The 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fifteenth and final edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organised by CONCACAF to determine which men's ...

in March 2021, but he was unable to obtain a passport in time. Martinez debuted with the

El Salvador national football team The El Salvador national football team ( es, Selección de fútbol de El Salvador) represents El Salvador in international football, and is governed by the Salvadoran Football Federation (FESFUT). In 1899, two teams from Santa Ana and San Sa ...

in a 7–0

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

win over

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

on 5 June 2021 when he came on as a substitute. Martinez scored his first goal for

on June 8, 2021 in the team's 3-0 win over

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda (, ) is a sovereign country in the West Indies. It lies at the juncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles, at 17°N latitude. The country consists of two maj ...

References

External links

CSUMB bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Walmer 1998 births Living people Salvadoran footballers El Salvador international footballers American soccer players Salvadoran people of Honduran descent American sportspeople of Salvadoran descent American people of Honduran descent Association football forwards Des Moines Menace players Hartford Athletic players Soccer players from California USL Championship players USL League Two players Sportspeople from Santa Cruz, California Cabrillo College alumni Cal State Monterey Bay Otters California State University, Monterey Bay alumni College men's soccer players in the United States Monterey Bay FC players