Leonardo González Arce (born November 21, 1980) is a Costa Rican former 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 played as a defender.

Career

Club

González made his professional debut for Herediano on September 24, 2000, against

Puntarenas Puntarenas () is a city in the Puntarenas Province, on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. As the seat of the Municipality of Puntarenas canton, it is awarded the title of city, which comprises the Puntarenas, Chacarita and El Roble districts. A ...

and scored his first league goal on August 4, 2002, against Carmelita. González was an important player for Herediano, appearing in 154 league matches and scoring 3 goals in nine years at the club. He stayed with the team until his transfer to Municipal Liberia, also known as Liberia Mia in early 2009. On July 2, 2009, it was announced that he was signed to

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

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 ...

.Sounders FC sign Leonardo Gonzalez – Seattle Sounders Football Club
/ref> Upon signing González, Coach

Sigi Schmid Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (; March 20, 1953 – December 25, 2018) was a German soccer coach. Born in Tübingen, West Germany, he moved to the United States with his family when he was a child. He played college soccer from 1972 to 1975 at the U ...

said, “It’s nice to have a naturally left-footed player. He can play left back, play center back in a pinch, and he can also play wide and run the whole line for us. He is an attacking left fullback with good size and athleticism. He’s very willing to get forward out of a defensive position and does a good job defensively.” González stayed with Seattle through the end of the 2015 MLS season. On December 22, 2015, González signed with Herediano, his original Costa Rican club.

International

González made his debut for

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 ...

in a November 2002

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

and earned a total of 61 caps, scoring 1 goal. He represented his country in 15

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches and played at the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

as well as the

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

and

2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the tenth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition, and the twentieth soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was played from July 3 to 26, 2009 in the United Stat ...

s. He was also selected to play in the UNCAF Nations Cup 2007, where he scored 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, ...

. His final international was a July

match against

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

International goals

Personal life

González is married to Alejandra Abarca Hernández and they have two children. González received his U.S. green card in March 2011. This qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.

Honors

Costa Rica

UNCAF Nations Cup The Copa Centroamericana () was an association football competition organized by UNCAF as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from Central America. The tournament was held from 1991 to 2017, every two years in the years be ...

(1):

Municipal Liberia

* Primera División de Costa Rica (1): Verano 2009

Club Sport Herediano

* Primera División de Costa Rica (1): Verano 2016

Seattle Sounders FC

* Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (3):

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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 ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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 ...

MLS Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 199 ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Leonardo 1980 births Living people Footballers from San José, Costa Rica Men's association football defenders Costa Rican men's footballers 21st-century Costa Rican sportsmen Costa Rica men's international footballers 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2004 Copa América players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup players C.S. Herediano footballers A.D. Municipal Liberia footballers Seattle Sounders FC players Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer players