Mario Méndez Olagüe (born 1 June 1979) is a Mexican 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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Career

Mario Méndez started his career with

Club Atlas Atlas Fútbol Club is a Mexican professional football club based in Guadalajara. The club currently plays in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. The club was founded in 1916, it plays home matches at Estadio Jalisco. Atlas has won t ...

in the year 1998, in the golden age that included many (at the time, promising) players like

Rafael Márquez Rafael Márquez Álvarez (; born 13 February 1979) is a Mexican football coach and former player who played as a defender. He is currently the assistant coach of the Mexico national team. Nicknamed '' El Káiser'', he is regarded as the bes ...

, Daniel Osorno,

Juan Pablo Rodriguez ''Juan'' is a given name, the Spanish and Manx versions of ''John''. The name is of Hebrew origin and has the meaning "God has been gracious." It is very common in Spain and in other Spanish-speaking countries around the world and in the Philippi ...

and

Miguel Zepeda Miguel Ángel Zepeda Espinoza (born 25 May 1976) is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Zepeda made his professional debut on November 13, 1996, in 2–2 draw against Chivas. He has played most of hi ...

. With Atlas he got a sub-championship in the year of 1999 having been a vital part in the defense. He stayed with this club until 2004. In 2004 Mario Mendéz was bought by Deportivo Toluca F.C., where he was an important player in the squad playing 49 games and scoring one goal. Méndez would be sent to

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

to play in the Rayados of Monterrey. His time there was limited as he was in the Mexico national team () in the

2005 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup association football, football tournament was the seventh FIFA Confederations Cup. It was held in Germany between 15 June and 29 June 2005, as a prelude to the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The tournament was won by 2002 FI ...

. Later that year he was transferred to Tigres on 29 May 2006. He previously played on loan for the Tigres' arch-rival Rayados of Monterrey, and was signed with Club Toluca who negotiated the transference with Tigres. He was called up to the Mexico national team at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

. He started for Mexico's first two games against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and later, in the Elimination Round of 16 against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. In the game against Iran he made an assist in the goal of Zihna. Although he had been criticized for his occasional careless plays and teamwork abilities on the national team, he continuesd to be one of Mexico's important talented players. During the Winter Transfer period,

Ricardo Lavolpe Ricardo Antonio La Volpe Guarchoni (; born 6 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional footballer and manager. He is a World Cup-winning goalkeeper who played for most of his career in Argentina and Mexico. As a coach, La Volpe was i ...

, head coach of the

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

Vélez Sársfield, called on the talents of Mario Méndez for Vélez Sársfield After Lavolpe's resignation as coach Mendez returned to Mexico, joining Club Toluca. During the Hugo Sanchez era, Mendez was not called up for Mexico. Méndez returned to the team under the new manager

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; 5 February 1948 – 26 August 2024) was a Swedish association football, football player and Coach (sport), manager. After a playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management ...

. He appeared in the September 2008 friendly match against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

(a 1–0 defeat), coming on as a substitute for

Jaime Correa Córdoba Jaime Correa Córdova (born 6 August 1979) also known as "El Alacran" (the scorpion) or "El Motor" (the motor), is a Mexican former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made his debut for the Mexico national team in the 2007 C ...

. He was loaned out to

CD Irapuato Club Deportivo Irapuato is a Mexican professional football club based in Irapuato, Guanajuato, that currently competes in Liga Premier, the third level division of Mexican football. It was the first football club founded in Guanajuato by Pedro ...

on 12 June 2011 after being transferred from Club Toluca. He retired in 2013.

Honours

Toluca *

Mexican Primera División Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

: Apertura 2005, Apertura 2008 Mexico *

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 ...

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 ...

Individual *

Liga MX Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divis ...

Best Rookie: Invierno 1998 * RSSSF Player of the Year Nomination: 2001 *

Best Full-back: Clausura 2009

Career statistics

International goals

References

External links

*
Football Database.com provides Mario Méndez's profile and stats
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendez, Mario 1979 births Living people Mexico men's international footballers Mexico men's under-20 international footballers Footballers from Guadalajara, Jalisco CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning players 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2004 Copa América players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players Liga MX players Argentine Primera División players Atlas F.C. footballers Deportivo Toluca F.C. players C.F. Monterrey players Tigres UANL footballers C.D. Irapuato footballers Mexican expatriate men's footballers Mexican men's footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers Men's association football defenders