Marcos Danilo Ureña Porras, known as Marco Ureña (born 5 March 1990), is a Costa Rican 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 plays as a striker for C.S. Cartaginés. He has also played for the Costa Rica national team.

Club career

Born in San José, Costa Rica, Ureña started his career at Primera División side

Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Al ...

and in March 2011, he joined

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

side Kuban Krasnodar. In August 2014, Ureña moved to

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...

side

FC Midtjylland Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they ...

on a four-month loan deal. The contract was made permanent on 10 December 2014. On 21 July 2016, Midtjylland and

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a Danish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Brøndbyvester. Brøndby IF denotes the professional football section of Brøndbyernes ...

agreed to swap Ureña with Jonas Borring in a three-year deal. It was announced on 27 January 2017 that Ureña had been signed by

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 ...

side

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

. He scored his first MLS goal in a 2–1 road loss to

New York City FC New York City Football Club (often referred to as NYCFC) is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in New York City. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern C ...

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the Yankee S ...

on 1 April 2017. Ureña recorded his first MLS assist at home to achieve a 1–1 draw against

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 ...

on 8 April 2017. His game-winning goal over

Minnesota United FC Minnesota United Football Club, often shortened to MNUFC, is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the W ...

on 22 October secured San Jose's sixth-place spot in the 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs, the team's first playoff appearance since 2012. On 12 December 2017, MLS expansion side

Los Angeles FC Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. It was establi ...

selected Ureña as its third pick in the 2017 MLS Expansion Draft. Following his release by Los Angeles, Ureña was selected by Chicago Fire in the MLS Waiver Draft on 12 December 2018. However, he opted to join

on 21 January 2019. On 24 March 2020, Ureña joined

Gwangju FC Gwangju FC () is a South Korean professional football club based in Gwangju that competes in the K League 1, the top tier of South Korean football. They joined the K League in the 2011 season. History Gwangju FC was founded in December 2010, b ...

of the South Korean

K League K League () is South Korea's professional football league. It includes the first division K League 1 and the second division K League 2. Clubs competing in the K League have won a record total of twelve AFC Champions League Elite, AFC Champions ...

. On 22 December 2020, Urena signed with the

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Mar ...

in the Australian

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 ...

International career

Ureña participated in the

2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was hosted by Egypt from 24 September to 16 October 2009. The tournament was initially going to take place between 10 and 31 July. However, the 2009 FIFA Confede ...

for Costa Rica where Costa Rica U-20 national football team, placed 4th after losing to Hungary in the match for the 3rd place. He scored three goals on that competition. In 2009, Ureña made his debut for the

Costa Rica national football team The Costa Rica national football team () represents Costa Rica in men's international Association football, football. The national team is administered by the Costa Rican Football Federation, Federación Costarricense de Fútbol (), the governi ...

in a match against

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

. In June 2014, Ureña was named in Costa Rica's squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

. In the team's opening match, he scored the third goal for ''Los Ticos'' in a 3–1 defeat of

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

. At the

2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF, and 24th CONCACAF regional championship ove ...

, he scored the winner in Costa Rica's opening match and 0–1 victory 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, ...

off of an assist from

man and fellow

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 ...

player Rodney Wallace on 7 July 2017, at Red Bull Arena. This performance earned him CONCACAF Man of the Match honors. On 1 September 2017, Ureña recorded a brace in Costa Rica's crucial

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 ...

qualifier against

the United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, again at Red Bull Arena. On 5 September 2017, Ureña scored off of a volley to equalize the match 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 ...

, which also served as his first goal at the Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica. In May 2018 he was named in Costa Rica's 23 man squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia. This would be Ureña's last call to play for Costa Rica. Upon his return to Costa Rican football in 2022, Ureña explained that his disappearance from the national team was due to internal conflicts he had with both players and personnel from the

Costa Rican Football Federation The Costa Rican Football Federation (, FCRF), also known as FEDEFUTBOL or FEDEFUT, is the official association football governing body in Costa Rica and is in charge of the Costa Rica national football team and the Costa Rica women's national fo ...

. He cited Rónald González as the only coach that would call him up, but upon the arrival of

Gustavo Matosas Gustavo Cristian Matosas Paidón (born 25 May 1967) is an Argentine-born Uruguayan former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Playing career Club The son of former footballer Roberto Matosas, Gustavo was born in Buenos Aires, ...

, Ureña knew he would not be called up anymore.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Ureña married Ana Paula Aguilar in May 2014.Marco Ureña se sudó la camiseta y le anotó un tanto al amor
- Nación

Honours

Alajuelense * Costa Rican Championship: Invierno 2010 Midtjylland *

: 2014–15 Cartaginés *

Costa Rican Cup The Costa Rican Cup (''Torneo de Copa de Costa Rica'') is the top knock-out football tournament in Costa Rica which also serves as a qualification to the Supercopa Centroamericana. It was played for three seasons from 2013 to 2015. A 2019 edition ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Costa Rica U20 *

CONCACAF U-20 Championship The CONCACAF Under-20 Championship is the second longest running international association football event in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, CONCACAF, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Th ...

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 ...

Individual *

Copa Centroamericana 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 ...

Golden Boot:

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 ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Urena, Marco 1990 births Living people Footballers from San José, Costa Rica Men's association football forwards Costa Rican men's footballers 21st-century Costa Rican sportsmen Costa Rica men's international footballers 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Copa América Centenario players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players Liga Deportiva Alajuelense footballers FC Kuban Krasnodar players FC Midtjylland players Brøndby IF players San Jose Earthquakes players Los Angeles FC players Gwangju FC players Central Coast Mariners FC players Costa Rican expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Russia Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Australia Liga FPD players Russian Premier League players Danish Superliga players Major League Soccer players K League 1 players A-League Men players