Erick Estéfano Torres Padilla (born 19 January 1993) 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, rugb ...

who plays as a striker, most recently playing 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, p ...

club Orange County. He is nicknamed "''El Cubo''" (The Cube) due to his large, cubical shaped head.

Club career

Guadalajara

Born in

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( , ) is a metropolis in western Mexico and the capital of the 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 Mexico, while the Guadalaj ...

Jalisco Jalisco (, , ; Nahuatl: Xalixco), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Jalisco ; Nahuatl: Tlahtohcayotl Xalixco), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal ...

, Mexico, Torres came into the

first team in 2010 and was a promising young player at the club. After being captain of the Chivas U-17 team, taking them to the championship game of the Bicentenario 2010, He made his official debut in the Mexican Primera División in November 2010 against C.F. Monterrey, where he scored 21 minutes into the second half. Chivas would go on to tie the game 1–1. He scored a brace against

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of wh ...

, where Chivas would win the match 4–1. He scored in his first "Super Clasico" on 10 April 2011 against arch-rivals América in a shock 3–0 victory. After the Clausura 2011 season, he finished with 6 goals in 19 appearances, and the club's second top goal scorer, behind Marco Fabián.

Chivas USA (loan)

Erick Torres was loaned to sister club

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. G ...

from

on 10 July 2013, and was signed as a designated player. Torres made his debut with Chivas in July 2013 against

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

scoring the winning goal during the 79th minute. He played all 90 minutes. On 29 June 2014 Torres scored his 17th career goal with

and became

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 Cana ...

's all-time Mexican-born scoring leader. On 20 July 2014, Torres tied Ante Razov's club record of 14 goals in a single season while being in a 6 match goal streak. On 5 August 2014, Torres was chosen for the MLS All Star team facing against Bayern München. Torres came in off the bench for

Obafemi Martins Obafemi Akinwunmi Martins (born 28 October 1984) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is known for his speed on the ball. After leaving Nigeria for Italy at age 16, he has since played for a number of top- ...

in the 60th minute. The match resulted in 2–1 win. Torres finished the 2014 MLS season with 15 goals scored in 29 games. During his time with Chivas he scored a total of 22 goals in 45 games before the club was dissolved in 2014.

Houston Dynamo

On 18 December 2014,

announced that MLS made the purchase clause effective to move Torres permanently to the MLS under the condition that Guadalajara acquire Torres on loan for six months. On 23 December 2014,

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establish ...

announced that they had signed Torres to a Designated Player contract. The contract is for five years.

Guadalajara (loan)

Torres was loaned back to

for six months as part of the agreement made with MLS. He made his return debut for the club at home against

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. Foun ...

coming in as a substitute for Ángel Reyna. Guadalajara won the match by a score of 2–1. On 14 March 2015, Torres scored his first two and only league goals of the season coming on as a substitute in the 60th minute for Israel Castro 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 ...

. Torres played mostly in the Copa MX where he scored three goals and helped Guadalajara reach the final where they lost 4–2 to

Cruz Azul (loan)

On 3 September 2016, Cruz Azul announced that Torres would join the club on loan for the remaining season of the

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 ...

with an option to buy.

Return to Houston Dynamo

After spending six months on loan with

, Torres returned to

to make his debut with the team. He made his debut for Dynamo in the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on 21 July 2015, when he came off the bench as a sub in the 63rd minute in a 3–1 loss to Sporting Kansas City. He made his official league debut as a sub once again for Will Bruin in the 69th minute on 25 July 2015, against

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began p ...

in a 3–0 win. After going 22 games without scoring a single goal, Houston Dynamo decided to loan Cubo to Cruz Azul for the remainder of the year. After returning from Cruz Azul, Torres made his appearance back with Houston Dynamo in their first game of the

2017 Major League Soccer season The 2017 Major League Soccer season was the 22nd season of Major League Soccer, top division of soccer in the United States and Canada. The regular season began on March 3, 2017 and concluded on October 22, 2017. The MLS Cup Playoffs began on O ...

on 5 March 2017. He turned out to score his first goal with the Houston Dynamo in their 2–1 away win against

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 ...

. On 1 April 2017, Torres scored a hat-trick against

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

on their 4–1 home win. The

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 w ...

was his first of his career and it made him the second ever Mexican player to score a hat-trick in the MLS. On August 23, 2017, in a match against rivals

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the le ...

, Torres set a club record for most goals in a season, 14, beating

Brian Ching Brian Ching (born May 24, 1978) is an American former professional soccer player who played for twelve years in Major League Soccer and represented the U.S. national team for eight years. Ching's professional career began when he was the 16th ...

's previous record of 13.

UNAM

On 24 January 2018, Torres joined Mexican club

in a reported $2 million deal.

Tijuana

On 5 June 2018, Torres was sold to

Club Tijuana Club Tijuana Xoloitzcuintles de Caliente, commonly known as Tijuana, or simply as ''Xoloitzcuintle, Xolos'', is a Mexican professional Football team, football club based in Tijuana. The club's badge is the founder's (Jorge Hank) hairless xoloit ...

Atlanta United

On 31 July 2020, Torres returned to

, joining Atlanta United as a Season-Ending Injury Replacement Player for the injured

Josef Martínez Josef Alexander Martínez Mencia (born 19 May 1993) is a Venezuelan professional footballer who plays as a striker for Major League Soccer club Atlanta United and the Venezuela national team. Josef Martínez began his career with Caracas. ...

. On August 22, 2020, Torres made his debut against Nashville SC, which resulted in a 2–0 win for Atlanta. Torres entered the match as a substitute in the 80th minute for Atlanta teammate Adam Jahn. Following the 2020 season, Torres was released by Atlanta on 24 November 2020. On 3 February 2021, it was announced that Torres had re-signed with Atlanta United, occupying a supplemental roster spot for the season, as well as also taking on an undefined role in the club's academy. Following the 2021 season, Atlanta declined their contract option on Torres.

Orange County SC

On 13 January 2022, Torres signed with

club

Orange County SC Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship. The team plays its home game ...

International career

Youth

Erick Torres participated In the

2010 Milk Cup The 2010 Northern Ireland Youth Soccer Tournament was the 2010 edition of a prestigious youth association football tournament that has been running annually since 1983. Teams from around the world competed in a week-long tournament in the North ...

at the age of 16. He was the starting forward of the under-17 squad, finalizing 4th place in the tournament. Torres participated in the 2011 Toulon Tournament with Mexico, finalizing in 4th place after losing to Italy on penalties in the Third Place Match. Erick Torres was included in the squad that represented Mexico at the

2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 18th FIFA U-20 World Cup. Colombia hosted the tournament between 29 July and 20 August 2011, with matches being played in eight cities. The tournament was won by Brazil who claimed their fifth title. At a FI ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

, he was listed as the youngest player in the team at the age of 18, And wore the number 10. Mexico reached 3rd place in the tournament. In 2012 Torres Participated in the 2012 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament with the Mexico U23 national team, appearing 3 times and scoring one goal against Panama in extra time winning the match 1–0. Mexico won the Tournament defeating Honduras in the Final. However Erick did not make the final cut for those players participating in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, th ...

where Mexico won its first olympic gold medal in football. On 18 September 2015 Erick Torres was selected by coach Raul Gutierrez to play in the 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship

Senior

Erick Torres was in the preliminary list of players participating in the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South Americ ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

under coach

Luis Fernando Tena Luis Fernando Tena Garduño (born 20 January 1958) is a Mexican professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Guatemala national team. Coaching career After retiring as a player, Tena began his coaching career in ...

. He was listed as the youngest player on the list at only 18 years old, but didn't make it to the final cut. On 21 August 2014, Torres received his first call-up to the senior national team under coach

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 ...

, for two matches against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

on 6 September and

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

on 9 September. On 12 October 2014, Torres scored his first goal with the national team in a friendly versus

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 Co ...

in Queretaro on a mistake from the Panamanian goalkeeper. Torres was also assisted with a header by Oribe Peralta. It was the game-winning goal in the 89th minute of the match. After a two-year absence, Torres was called up to replace the injured Alan Pulido for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He would go on to play three games in the tournament.

Style of play

He has been compared to Javier Hernández due to their similarity in their style of playing and his rapid success months after his debut, but he has mentioned that it is only the beginning of his career and he has to make his own path in football. On the Chivas official website, he was described as having a good presence in the area and an outstanding shot at goal. An article written on Goal.com described Torres as "having quick feet, good positional sense and plenty of skill. He shares one trait particularly in common with Hernandez in that he likes to move the ball quickly, playing one and two touch football and then, like Chicharito, comes alive in the penalty area." Erick Torres was nominated as ''La nueva Promesa (The New Pledge) for the year 2012 during the 2012 Premios Juventud but lost to Boxer

Saúl Álvarez Saul is a masculine given name of Hebrew origin (Shaul), meaning "ask/question". People named Saul include: * Saul Adadi (1850–1918), Sephardic Hakham and rosh yeshiva in the Tripoli Jewish community * Saul Alinsky (1909–1972), American poli ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Mexico U20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

third place:

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 celebrates ...

Mexico U21 * Central American and Caribbean Games:

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 wa ...

Mexico U23 * CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

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 April ...

Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a traditional all-star ...

* CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship Best XI:

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Erick 1993 births Living people Liga MX players Mexican expatriate footballers Mexican footballers Footballers from Guadalajara, Jalisco C.D. Guadalajara footballers Chivas USA players Houston Dynamo FC players Club Tijuana footballers Atlanta United FC players Orange County SC players Major League Soccer players Designated Players (MLS) Major League Soccer All-Stars Mexico youth international footballers Mexico under-20 international footballers Mexico international footballers Expatriate soccer players in the United States Mexican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Mexico Association football forwards 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in football Central American and Caribbean Games gold medalists for Mexico Competitors at the 2014 Central American and Caribbean Games