Alfredo Talavera Díaz (; born 18 September 1982) 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 le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

club Juárez 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 ...

. Starting his career with

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the list of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population of 1,385,629 people, making it the 7th largest city by population in Me ...

in 2003, it was during his final years with the team that he would be loaned out to

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. Foun ...

and

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. With a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census, Toluca is the fifth most populous city in M ...

, with the latter deciding to purchase him in 2010. Talavera made his debut with the national team in March 2011. Originally Mexico's third-choice goalkeeper for the

2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the 21st CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's 50 years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition started on June ...

, he became the team's starting goalkeeper following issues with the first and second-choice goalkeepers, in which Mexico would ultimately win. He would go on to be called up for the

2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 12th CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 22nd CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's fifty years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition began on 7 July 2013 at the ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

and

2017 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup was the 10th and final edition of the FIFA Confederations Cup, a quadrennial international men's football tournament organised by FIFA. It was held in Russia, from 17 June to 2 July 2017, as a prelude to the 20 ...

, the

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

and

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

, the

2015 Copa América The 2015 Copa América was the 44th edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South America, and took place in Chile between 11 June and 4 July 2015. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, ...

, the

Copa América Centenario The Copa América Centenario ( pt, Copa América Centenário, french: Coupe Amerique Centennaire, en, Centennial Cup America; literally ''Centennial America Cup'') was an international men's association football tournament that was hosted by the ...

, and

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

Club career

Guadalajara

With

Oswaldo Sánchez Oswaldo Javier Sánchez Ibarra (; born 21 September 1973) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and a sports analyst for Televisa Deportes. He is highly regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in Mexican footbal ...

out during the first part of the Clausura 2005 with a shoulder injury, Talavera entered the

team as a starter against teams from the

Primera División de México The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional Association football, football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and amo ...

, and also coming through against South American teams in the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

. On 2 April 2006, Sanchez left temporarily to play with the

for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

in Germany, leaving Talavera in goal. Since then he has started six Clausura 2006 games for Guadalajara. In the first game he started the club posted a 2–0 loss against Monarcas Morelia. This was followed by a loss to

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geographic ...

in the ''

Clásico Tapatío El Clásico Tapatío is a Guadalajara, Jalisco-based sporting rivalry between C.D. Guadalajara and Atlas. It is considered the oldest clásico of Mexican football since it dates back to the year 1916. History The rivalry was born shortly after th ...

''. In the final game of the season, Guadalajara lost to

, 2–0, but after a terrible performance in the first leg of the quarter-finals against Jaguares when he made a big mistake in injury time that caused the winning goal for Jaguares, coach

José Manuel de la Torre José Manuel de la Torre Menchaca (born 13 November 1965), popularly nicknamed ''Chepo'', is a Mexican former professional footballer and a manager. As a player, de la Torre played as an attacking midfielder. Playing career "Chepo" came up ...

dropped him as the starter and was replaced by

Luis Ernesto Michel Luis Ernesto Michel Vergara (born 21 July 1979) is a Mexican football manager and a former professional footballer who last played as a goalkeeper for Liga MX club Tijuana. Michel has captained both Guadalajara and the Mexico national team in o ...

and Guadalajara fought back and advanced to the semifinals. The next season, when Oswaldo Sánchez returned, Talavera saw himself as the third goalkeeper of Guadalajara, with Michel as the second keeper, after Oswaldo left Guadalajara, Michel was the starting keeper and Talavera the backup. After this, he didn't have any action with Guadalajara again, taking the decision to leave the club in order to have more minutes played.

Tigres UANL

Guadalajara loaned Talavera to

on a one-year loan in 2008, in which he rarely saw action with the team, as he was competing with Óscar Pérez for the spot. Nevertheless, bad luck came for Talavera, as Talavera injured himself in training, making

Enrique Palos Enrique Eduardo Palos Reyes (born 31 May 1986) is a former Mexican professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Tigres Palos has spent most of his career as 2nd/3rd goalkeeper until he was given a starting opportunity by Rica ...

the next in the line. After he had fully recovered, Alfredo was released from Tigres.

Toluca

Talavera was transferred to

as a substitute for first team goalkeeper Hernan Cristante, since he was injured for the Apertura 2009. On 26 July 2009, he made his league debut with Toluca playing against his former club Guadalajara in a 4–3 victory. He played as a starter in every game of the season as the team reached the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

semi-finals, losing to eventual championship winners

Monterrey Monterrey ( , ) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico, and the third largest city in Mexico behind Guadalajara and Mexico City. Located at the foothills of the Sierra Madre Oriental, the city is anchor ...

. On 15 May 2010, Talavera made it to his first final as starter after defeating Pachuca 1–0 in the second leg of the 2010 Bicentenario championship semi-final (3–2 on aggregate). On 23 May, Talavera helped Toluca win the championship, defeating

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 ...

in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

4–3 after stopping

Fernando Arce Fernando Enrique Arce Ruiz (born 24 April 1980) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Arce came out of Club América's youth prospects, but never debuted there. Arce debuted for Irapuato in a gam ...

's shot. His performances led him to win the tournament's Golden Glove award. On 15 September 2013, in a league match against

Puebla Puebla ( en, colony, settlement), officially Free and Sovereign State of Puebla ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its cap ...

, Talavera scored a last-minute penalty, helping his team tie the match at 1–1, thus giving him his first goal in the

. Despite losing the 2014 CONCACAF Champions League Final against

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 ...

, Talavera won the Golden Glove award. His performances led him to be nominated to the 2014 CONCACAF Goalkeeper of the Year.

UNAM

Prior to the start of the 2020–21 season, Talavera joined

Club Universidad Nacional 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 ...

in an exchange that saw

Alfredo Saldívar Alfredo Saldívar Medina (born 9 February 1990) is a Mexican professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Career Youth Saldívar joined the youth academy of Club Universidad Naciona ...

join Toluca. On 26 July 2020, he made his league debut for Pumas U.N.A.M. in a 3–2 victory over

Querétaro Querétaro (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Querétaro, links=no; Otomi language, Otomi: ''Hyodi Ndämxei''), is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. I ...

International career

In January 2011, Talavera received his first call-up to the senior national team by

for a friendly match against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. He made his international team debut on 26 March 2011 in a friendly against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

which ''El Tri'' won 3–1. He was called for the team's

squad as a third choice goalkeeper after

José de Jesús Corona José de Jesús Corona Rodríguez (born 26 January 1981) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper and captains for Liga MX club Cruz Azul. Corona is an Olympic gold medalist, captaining Mexico at the 2012 Summer Olympi ...

and

Guillermo Ochoa Francisco Guillermo Ochoa Magaña (; born 13 July 1985), commonly referred to as Memo, is a Mexican professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Serie A club U.S. Salernitana 191 ...

. Following Corona's ''Liguilla'' scandal with

and Ochoa's

clenbuterol Clenbuterol is a sympathomimetic amine used by sufferers of breathing disorders as a decongestant and bronchodilator. People with chronic breathing disorders such as asthma use this as a bronchodilator to make breathing easier. It is most commonl ...

issue, Talavera became Mexico's first-choice goalkeeper, despite having only one international cap. Overall, he saw action in five matches of that tournament and was a starter in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, where Mexico would go on to win 4–2. Talavera was named in the 23-man squad participating in the

2013 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup was the ninth FIFA Confederations Cup, which was held in Brazil from 15 to 30 June 2013 as a prelude to the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The most recent winners of the six continental championships appeared in the tourna ...

held in Brazil, but did not appear in any of the group stage matches as Mexico failed to progress from the group stage. Following the conclusion of the tournament, Talavera was called up again to participate at the Gold Cup to replace injured goalkeeper

Cirilo Saucedo Cirilo Saucedo Nájera (born 5 January 1982 in Acámbaro, Guanajuato), known as Cirilo Saucedo, is a Mexican former professional Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper who last played for FC Juárez, Juárez. Club career Saucedo came to ...

. On 2 June 2014, Talavera was included by

Miguel Herrera Miguel Ernesto Herrera Aguirre (born 18 March 1968), popularly referred to by his nickname "Piojo" (Spanish for "louse"), is a Mexican former professional footballer and current manager. He is the head coach of Liga MX club Tijuana. A former ...

to be in Mexico's 23-man squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

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 ...

, but did not appear in any matches. Talavera was included in the final roster that would participate at the

, but made no appearances. With the arrival of then-manager

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 ...

in October 2015, Talavera became Mexico's first-choice goalkeeper in various instances. In May 2016, Talavera was included in the final roster to participate at the

, making a single appearance in the opening group stage match against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, where Mexico won 3–1. On 7 July, Talavera was named in Mexico's 18-man squad that would participate in the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil, being one of the three over-aged players. Playing as Mexico's starting goalkeeper in the tournament, he was named

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

following

Oribe Peralta Oribe Peralta Morones (born 12 January 1984) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is an Olympic gold medalist. Peralta began his professional career with Morelia in 2003. He later played for León and Monter ...

's injury. Mexico failed to make it past the group stage. Talavera was included in the roster for the

in Russia, where he participated in the group stage 2–1 victory against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. In May 2018, Talavera was named in Mexico's preliminary 28-man

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and US doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a team, but smaller than a section." while US Army do ...

for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

, and in June 2018, he was ultimately included in the final 23-man roster for the tournament, but did not receive any minutes on the field during the tournament. In October 2022, Talavera was named in Mexico's preliminary 31-man

for the

, and in November, he was ultimately included in the final 26-man roster, but did not receive any minutes on the field during the tournament.

Style of play

Spanish newspaper ''

Marca Marca may refer to: Places * Marca, Sălaj, a commune in Sălaj County, Romania * Marca, a tributary of the Barcău in Sălaj County, Romania * an alternative name for Merca, Somalia * Marca District, in the province Recuay, Peru * Marçà, a vil ...

'' described Talavera as the best out of the other 2018 FIFA World Cup Mexico goalkeepers in aerial game, someone who knows how to play with his feet (following an injury that left him out for various months), knows how to block penalties, and is able to block shots with stable hands, avoiding rebounded balls that could end up in the opposition. Former Mexico national team coach,

, has said about Talavera that he has "an extraordinary aerial game. So we have a great goalkeeper for this particular style of game against teams who are direct and are excellent on set-pieces." In an interview 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%). The ...

'', former Mexico goalkeeper

spoke of Talavera as "I think that the most complete of alavera, Ochoa, and Coronais Talavera, because he is a guy that has strong legs, is good in the air, plays well with his feet and has good reactions."

Career statistics

Honours

Guadalajara *

Mexican Primera División The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in al ...

: Apertura 2006 Toluca *

: Bicentenario 2010 Mexico *

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 ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

CONCACAF Cup The CONCACAF Cup (officially the CONCACAF Cup presented by Scotiabank for sponsorship reasons) was an international soccer play-off match to determine CONCACAF's entry into the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup w ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Individual *

Golden Glove: Bicentenario 2010 *

Best Save:

(2nd place) *

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 ...

Golden Glove: 2013–14 *

Best XI: Guardianes 2020 *

All-Star:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Talavera, Alfredo 1982 births Living people Mexican men's footballers Mexico men's international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers C.D. Guadalajara footballers Tigres UANL footballers Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Liga MX players Ascenso MX players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 Copa América players Copa América Centenario players Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup players CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players Olympic footballers for Mexico 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Footballers from Jalisco 2022 FIFA World Cup players