Freddy Alexander García Carrera (born 12 January 1977) is a

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

n 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 lea ...

who last played for Heredia in the Guatemalan third division. He has played for several local clubs since 1997, and also in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

for

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

, where he won the 2002 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Also a member of the Guatemala national team, he has played in four World Cup qualifying campaigns, and is among Guatemala's all-time top scorers.

Club career

An attacking midfielder renowned for his accurate left foot, García was born in

Puerto Barrios Puerto Barrios () is a city in Guatemala, located within the Gulf of Honduras. The city is located on Bahia de Amatique. Puerto Barrios is the departmental seat of Izabal department and is the administrative seat of Puerto Barrios municipality. ...

, and started his professional career with Universidad San Carlos (''USAC''). In 1999, he joined

Comunicaciones Comunicaciones Fútbol Club S.A., better known as Comunicaciones F.C. or Comunicaciones, is a professional association football, football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala, Liga Nacional, th ...

, where he won two league titles. In 2002, he joined

in the MLS and played five regular season matches that year. He scored the championship-winning goal for Crew at the 2002 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final against

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

. The following season, he appeared in 22 matches. Since 2004, he has returned to Guatemala to play for Municipal, helping that club win seven league championships. In June 2009 he left Municipal to join Heredia, going on to score 14 goals for the club in the 2009–2010 season. The following year, he played for

Peñarol La Mesilla Halcones Football Club was a Guatemalan professional Association football, football club based in La Mesilla, Guatemala. They competed in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala, Liga Nacional, the top division in the nation, and played thei ...

, before returning to Heredia for the 2011–12 season.

International career

García is a member of the Guatemala national team, which he has represented during the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, and

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

World Cup qualification campaigns. In 1997, he was part of the youth national team participating at the ''VI Juegos Deportivos Centroamericanos''. He made his senior international debut in a November 1998 friendly match against

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

He also played

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

internationally, as he was part of his country's Futsal team competing at the 2000 Futsal World Championship which was held in Guatemala.Futsal World Cup Guatemala team
– FIFA He made his return to the national squad in 2011 for a

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

match against

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...

and scored just minutes coming in as a substitute. He then scored two goals against

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

later that year, tying

Mario Camposeco Mario Salvador Camposeco López (6 August 1921 – 17 June 1951) Source: was a Guatemalan professional footballer. Born in Quetzaltenango, he started his football career in 1938 playing for the local team ''América''. He then joined club X ...

for 4th place in the all-time goal scorers list for Guatemala with 23 goals.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Guatemala's goal tally first.''

Honors

Columbus Crew

* Champion

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

(1): 2002

References

External links

*
Player profile
– CSD Municipal * {{DEFAULTSORT:Garcia, Freddy 1977 births Living people People from Puerto Barrios Guatemalan men's footballers Guatemalan expatriate men's footballers Guatemala men's international footballers Universidad SC players Comunicaciones F.C. players Columbus Crew players C.S.D. Municipal players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Major League Soccer players Men's association football midfielders