Lester Oriel Moré Henningham (born 15 July 1978) is a Cuban 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. He is the Cuba national team's all-time record goalscorer, with 29.

Club career

Moré played for over a decade for his hometown team,

Ciego de Ávila Ciego de Ávila () is a city in the central part of Cuba and the capital of Ciego de Ávila Province. The capital city has a population of about 156,322 and the province 430,507. Geography Ciego de Ávila lies on the Carretera Central highway a ...

, in his native Cuba, prior to his defection to the United States in 2008. He won the

Campeonato Nacional de Fútbol de Cuba The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Fútbol de Cuba is the top football division in Cuba. Currently, it is contested by 16 clubs and is divided into two tournaments – "Apertura" and "Clausura", with the last being the championship tournament. Th ...

with Ciego de Ávila in 2001 and 2003. He scored a Cuban league record of 32 goals in the 2002–03 season and 123 league goals in total. He played with

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...

in 2008, featuring in eleven games before being released at the end of the season. He played for Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico in 2009, before moving back to the United States to play for the amateur Los Angeles Azul Legends in the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

in 2010, alongside former Cuba national teammate Eders Roldan.

International career

Moré made his debut for

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

in 1995 and was a squad member at the 1998, 2003, 2005 and 2007 Gold Cup Finals. He also played in 17

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 between 1996 and 2004. He has collected a total of 62 caps, scoring 29 goals, making him the top scorer of the national team.

Defection to the United States

His final appearance for the national team was at the

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

in June 2007 against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. During the tournament, Moré and

Osvaldo Alonso Osvaldo Alonso Moreno (born November 11, 1985) is a Cuban former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He defected from Cuba in 2007 and became a U.S. citizen in 2012. During his decade-long career with Seattle Sounders ...

fled the Cuban team camp, effectively defecting from Cuba. Two Cuban Defectors Will Get Chivas Tryout
Washington Post

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Cuba's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Moré goal.''

References

External links

Player profile
- Charleston Battery * 1978 births Living people Sportspeople from Ciego de Ávila Defecting Cuban footballers Cuban men's footballers Men's association football forwards Cuba men's international footballers 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players FC Ciego de Ávila players Charleston Battery players Club Atlético River Plate Puerto Rico players LA Laguna FC players USL First Division players USL League Two players Cuban expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Puerto Rico Cuban expatriate sportspeople in the United States Cuban expatriate sportspeople in Puerto Rico {{Cuba-footy-bio-stub