Guillermo ''"El Pando"'' Ramírez Ortega (born 26 March 1978) is a Guatemalan former footballer who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and was also the captain of the Guatemala national team. Ramírez started his career with

Municipal A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the gov ...

and later played in Greece, Mexico and the

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional 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 sanctioned by the United ...

in USA. In 2012 he was suspended for life from any soccer related activities due to his participation in money laundering and fixing games along with fellow national team members Yony Flores and Gustavo Cabrera.

Club career

Ramírez was born in

Livingston, Guatemala Livingston is a town in Izabal Department, eastern Guatemala, at the mouth of the Río Dulce (Guatemala), Río Dulce at the Gulf of Honduras. The town serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of the same name. It was Guatemala's main port o ...

Municipal

Ramírez played 333 league games for Municipal in three spells scoring 109 goals.

Los Angeles Galaxy

He played the 2005 season on loan for the

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 ...

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 ...

. He struggled, scoring just one goal during the regular season, but in the playoffs, in his only appearance as a substitute in the

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

Final, he scored the game-winner in extra time to give Galaxy its second

title. This feat was in high contrast with his poor scoring percentage in the MLS regular season, with 62 shots and 1 goal, which incidentally came from a penalty. Ramírez is perhaps the most unlikely MLS Cup MVP in league history. He was widely lampooned for his poor shooting and during the ’05 campaign failed to connect on any of his 62 attempts during open play – his only goal came on a penalty kick. Relegated to the bench, Ramírez entered the scoreless Cup final between L.A. and the New England Revolution in 66th minute. In the 107th, with penalty kicks looming, the Guatemalan hit a stunning volley from just outside the penalty area to lift the Galaxy to their second league title. Ramírez was gone the following season and went on to play in Guatemala and Honduras. After the 2005 MLS season, Ramírez went back to Municipal, where he remained until 2009, helping the team win four league championships during that period. He then joined C.D. Marathón in the Honduran 2009–2010 league season and had a respectable tournament; he scored in the final to earn the league championship. The following year, he rejoined Municipal, but then in January 2011 he signed a 6-month contract with F.C. Motagua where head coach

Ramón Maradiaga Ramón Enrique Maradiaga Chávez (born 30 October 1954) is a retired Honduran football player and manager. Club career Nicknamed ''Primitivo'' (Primitive), Maradiaga has played as a midfielder amongst others for F.C. Motagua as well as Salv ...

wanted him because of the type of player he was under his tenure managing the Guatemala national team. He appeared in the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round, scoring the last goal of a 4–0 win for Motagua against his former club Municipal.

Match fixing allegations and suspension

Ramírez, 34, along with one-time Real Salt Lake defender Gustavo Cabrera and Yony Flores, also a defender, were found guilty by the National Football Federation of Guatemala in September of conspiring to fix a pair of national team exhibitions and a CONCACAF Champions League game between CSD Municipal and Mexico's Santos Laguna. The trio played together at Municipal in the fall of 2010, when the club finished behind Santos and the Columbus Crew in its first-round group. Banned from the sport inside their native country in September 2012, the players saw their exile extended worldwide the following month.Three Guatemalan players banned for life
- FIFA

International career

Ramírez made his debut for

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 ...

in an April 1997 UNCAF Cup match against

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

and has earned 103 caps since. He has been part of the qualification processes for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

s of 2002, 2006, 2010, and 2014. He captained the squad that reached the final stage of the 2006 World Cup qualification. On 27 May 2012, Ramirez was separated from the Guatemala National Team on basis of suspected "to arrange a match's result of Guatemala against South Africa in 2010." In June 2012, this was confirmed by teammates, Luis Rodriguez and Carlos Ruiz. Currently Ramirez is under FIFA investigation as well as by the Ministerio Publico of Guatemala for treason, money laundering and the investigations are still being made.

Honours

;Municipal *

Liga Nacional de Guatemala Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

League Championships (8): Apertura 2000, Apertura 2004, Clausura 2005, Apertura 2005, Clausura 2006, Apertura 2006, Clausura 2008, Apertura 2009 ;Los Angeles Galaxy *

MLS Cup (1):

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

;Marathón *

Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Honduras Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Amer ...

League Championship (1) : 2009–10 Apertura ;Motagua *

League Championship (1) : 2010–11 Clausura

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramirez, Guillermo 1978 births Living people People from Izabal Department Guatemalan men's footballers Guatemala men's international footballers 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players C.S.D. Municipal players PAS Giannina F.C. players Atlante F.C. footballers Jaguares F.C. footballers LA Galaxy players C.D. Marathón players F.C. Motagua players Super League Greece players Liga MX players Major League Soccer players Guatemalan expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Honduras Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players FIFA Men's Century Club Sportspeople banned for life Sportspeople involved in betting scandals Men's association football midfielders