Francisco Gomez (born January 25, 1979, in

Watsonville, California Watsonville is a city in Santa Cruz County, California, in the Monterey Bay Area of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California. The population was 52,590 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Predominantly Latino and ...

) is an American former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player.

Club career

Gomez joined the

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City is an American professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The administrative offices are located in downtown K ...

in 1999, after playing briefly with the

California Jaguars California Jaguars were an American soccer team that played in Salinas, California, at the Salinas Sports Complex. They joined the USISL in 1995 as the Monterey Bay Jaguars, but changed the name a year later. They played in the A-League in 19 ...

of the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

. He saw little playing time in his first two years, however - as a rookie, he appeared in seven games, scoring one goal, while in his second year he appeared in 14 (seven starts), scoring two goals and one assist. Gomez played a key role in Kansas City's road to MLS Cup 2000 scoring the game winner in quarterfinal game against the Colorado Rapids. Gomez began to see significantly increased playing time in 2001, when he appeared in 24 games, 18 of them starts, while scoring four goals and six assists. Gomez kept something of a utility role during his later MLS career. In his six years with Kansas City, Gomez appeared in 114 games, registering 14 goals and 14 assists. After the 2004 season, he was selected seventh overall in the MLS Expansion Draft by Chivas USA. Gomez was released by Chivas in the middle of the 2006 season, and joined

Miami FC Miami FC is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (201 ...

in the

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

for the remainder of the season where he made seven appearances and scored 1 goal. In January 2007, Gomez was hired as the new player-coach of

Bakersfield Brigade Bakersfield Brigade was an American soccer team based in Bakersfield, California, United States. Founded in 2005, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009, after which ...

National team

Although Gomez played a significant role for several of the United States youth national teams, he never earned a cap with the senior team. He captained the US in the

1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship was the sixth edition of the FIFA U-17 World Championship which was held in the cities of Guayaquil, Portoviejo, Quito, Ibarra, Cuenca, and Riobamba in Ecuador from 3 to 20 August 1995. Players born after ...

, and was a significant part of the U-20 national team, playing alongside Tim Howard, Carlos Bocanegra, Steve Cherendolo in the

1999 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship took place in Nigeria between 3 and 24 April 1999. This was the 12th edition of the tournament. Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. :1.Teams tha ...

in Nigeria.FIFA Player Profile
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gomez, Francisco 1979 births Living people American soccer coaches American men's soccer players Bakersfield Brigade players California Jaguars players Chivas USA players Fort Lauderdale Strikers (2006–2016) players Sporting Kansas City players American sportspeople of Mexican descent A-League (1995–2004) players USL League Two players Sportspeople from Watsonville, California Major League Soccer players USL First Division players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players MLS Pro-40 players Soccer players from California Men's association football midfielders