Ventura Alvarado Aispuro (born August 16, 1992) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a center-back for Liga MX club Juárez. Born in the U.S. to Mexican parents, Alvarado was eligible to represent the

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 territori ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

national teams, but ultimately chose to play for the country of his birth. He represented his country at the

2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 23rd CONCACAF regional championship overall in the organization's fifty-four years of existence. It was held in the United States, with two matches bein ...

Early life

Son of Ventura Alvarado and Blanca Aispuro, both Mexicans. Ventura began playing soccer at the age of eight in

Phoenix Phoenix most often refers to: * Phoenix (mythology), a legendary bird from ancient Greek folklore * Phoenix, Arizona, a city in the United States Phoenix may also refer to: Mythology Greek mythological figures * Phoenix (son of Amyntor), a ...

in the forward position. At the age of thirteen, in 2005, he went to play for the basic forces of

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 whi ...

for a year without much success, for which he had to return to his place of origin. He was training hard and after six months they gave him the option of going to América or

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and lar ...

and finally he decided on Club América, staying in the basic forces in the containment position. One day, Ventura says, that a central defender was injured, they put him in and thanks to his height he won many balls from above and that's when he decided to stay as a central defender.

Club career

Club América

Alvarado came to the basic forces of Club América in 2008 thanks to a coach named "Crocodile" Valdez, spending a few weeks on trial with the team and finally staying with it. He started in the Third Division team, moving to the Sub-17 in 2009, then he moved to the Second Division team in 2010 and in 2011 he reached the sub-20, being the undisputed starter, winning the Clausura 2012 sub-20 championship. In June 2012, Ventura played every minute in the Copa Libertadores sub-20, where he Club América finished as third place. Between 2012 and 2013 was when Alvarado began to get more involved with the first team, having minutes in the

Copa MX The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican football cup competition that was established in 1907. After a lengthy hiatus that began in 1997, it wa ...

. Miguel Herrera made his Ventura debut with América in the Clausura 2013, on February 16, 2013, in the Mx League against

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the 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 Mexico. The city f ...

, entering the 86th minute by

Raúl Jiménez Raúl Alonso Jiménez Rodríguez (; born 5 May 1991) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Mexico national team. Jiménez began his career in Club América's youth system befo ...

at the

Azteca Stadium Estadio Azteca () is a multi-purpose stadium located in Mexico City. It is the official home of football clubs Club América and Cruz Azul as well as the Mexico national football team. The stadium sits at an altitude of above sea level. Wit ...

. On February 19, Ventura scored his first goal on matchday 4 of the Copa Mx against Necaxa at 63'.

Loan to Necaxa

For the Apertura 2013 tournament, Ventura Alvarado joined the Necaxa del Ascenso MX team, under the orders of D.T. Jaime Ordiales. He was loaned by America on loan in order to get more minutes and therefore more experience. Ventura did not start the team, however, he managed to earn a position game after game until he finally managed to start in some games and thus gained the experience that Club América was looking for.

Return from Loan

On May 6, 2014, Ventura renewed his contract with América and for the Apertura 2014 tournament, Ventura returned to the Coapa team. In preseason he managed to play several minutes, even scoring a goal in one of them. His calls with the first team become more frequent, he wins minutes, plays ConcaChampions scoring on August 19, 2014, against Bayamón of Puerto Rico. For the start of the 2014 Apertura league, it was said that Paul Aguilar was injured, others said that he had a conflict with DT

Antonio Mohamed Ricardo Antonio Mohamed Matijević (born 2 April 1970) is an Argentine football manager and former player. Mohamed played as a striker, making his senior debut with Huracán in 1988 and being sold to Italian club Fiorentina in 1991. He ne ...

for which he was separated from the squad, which led Ventura as a starter in those important games. América managed to reach the final against Tigres winning 3-1 winning the title number 12, where Ventura played all the league matches as a lateral defense. In addition, Alvarado also became champion of the CONCACAF Champions League, beating

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

5-3 on April 29, 2015, at the hands of DT

Gustavo Matosas Gustavo Cristian Matosas Paidón (born 25 May 1967) is an Argentine-born Uruguayan former professional footballer. Playing career Club The son of former footballer Roberto Matosas, Gustavo was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1967, as his f ...

. In December 2015, the team traveled to the Club World Cup based in Japan where they achieved a fifth place. On April 27, 2016, America became the two-time champion of the CONCACAF Champions League, beating Tigres 4-1 on aggregate.

Santos Laguna

At the beginning of 2017 after being runner-up in the league with the América club in the Christmas final against Tigres which he was sent off being part of a massive brawl with Jose Arturo Rivas, he signed for the Coahuila team.

Inter Miami

On July 29, 2021, Alvarado signed with

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

Inter Miami Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami, known as Inter Miami CF or simply Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. Established in 2018, the club began play in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the 2 ...

as a free agent. Following the 2021 season, Alvarado's contract option was declined by Miami.

International career

On March 22, 2015, Alvarado was summoned for the first time to the United States soccer team with a view to two friendly matches in Europe. Despite accepting the call of the American coach

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...

, at that time, the soccer player still he could choose to officially represent either Mexico or the United States in the future. Alvarado made his debut for the United States on March 25, 2015, entering the second half in a friendly match against Denmark in which the Americans fell 3-2. He started for the first time with his team on April 15, 2015. 2015 in the 2–0 victory of the United States over Mexico.8 Alvarado was included in the preliminary roster for the 2015 Gold Cup, making this the first time he was called up to an official tournament. He was confirmed on the final 23-player roster on May 23, 2015. He was a starter in the first match of the tournament against Honduras, definitively linking his international career to the North American team after debuting in an official tournament with it.11 He was summoned to play the 2015 Concacaf Cup where Mexico defeated the United States and qualified for the

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 201 ...

. Originally eligible for both his native

and

via his Mexican parents, Alvarado expressed interest in both national teams. Ultimately, he debuted for the United States in a 3–2 loss against Denmark on March 25, 2015. He was cap tied to the United States on July 7, 2015, when he started the opening match of the

versus Honduras.

Honors

América * Liga MX: Clausura 2013, Apertura 2014 * CONCACAF Champions League: 2014–15, 2015–16 Santos Laguna * Liga MX: Clausura 2018 Necaxa *

: Clausura 2018 *

Supercopa MX The Supercopa MX ( en, Supercup MX) was a Mexican football championship contested by the winners of the Apertura and Clausura Copa MX. History In June 2013 Liga MX president Decio De María announced the winners of Apertura and Clausura Copa MX w ...

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 Unit ...

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alvarado, Ventura 1992 births Living people American men's soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players Club América footballers Club Necaxa footballers Santos Laguna footballers Atlético San Luis footballers Inter Miami CF players American sportspeople of Mexican descent Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Soccer players from Phoenix, Arizona Liga MX players American expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Men's association football defenders United States men's international soccer players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players