Martín Vásquez Gómez (born December 24, 1963) is an American former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player. The first of five players to have played for both 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 ...

and

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 ...

, he has served as a

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

since retiring. He is currently an assistant coach for

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

club Sacramento Republic.

Playing career

Youth and college

Vasquez and his family moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

at age 12. He attended Alhambra High School in

Alhambra, California Alhambra (, , ; from "Alhambra") is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately east from the downtown Los Angeles civic center. It was incorporated on July 11, 190 ...

, where he was a high school All-American soccer player. After high school, he returned to Mexico to briefly play for the B side of the Leones Negros de Guadalajara. In 1981, Vasquez entered

California State University, Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is part of the California State University system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degree programs, 122 m ...

, playing on the men's soccer team from 1981 to 1983. During his first two years, he spent the college off-season with Cojumatlan in the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley (), sometimes referred to by its initials as SGV, is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, with the city of Los Angeles directly bordering it to the west and occupying the vast majority of the southeastern ...

Soccer League, in

El Monte, California El Monte is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city lies in the San Gabriel Valley, east of the city of Los Angeles. El Monte's slogan is "Welcome to Friendly El Monte" and is historically known as "The End of the San ...

Club

In the fall of 1984, Vasquez signed with the

Los Angeles Lazers The Los Angeles Lazers were an indoor soccer team that played in the Major Soccer League, Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) from 1982 to 1989. History Jerry Buss, the owner of California Sports, the parent company of the Los Angeles Lakers, Los ...

of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He then played for the

Hollywood Kickers Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

of the

Western Soccer Alliance The Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer ...

. That fall, he joined the

Memphis Storm The Memphis Storm was an American soccer team based in Memphis, Tennessee which existed from 1986 to 1994. They underwent several names changes including the Rogues, the Survivors, the United Express and finally the Jackals. They played in the A ...

in the

American Indoor Soccer Association American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, where he scored seventeen goals and added nineteen assists in twenty-three games, ranking second on the league's points list. In 1987, Vasquez returned to the Kickers, now renamed the California Kickers. In 1988, Cachorros de la Universidad de Guadalajara signed the player, based on the recommendation of Hugo Salcedo, president of the Kickers. In 1990–91, he represented

Puebla Puebla, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Puebla, is one of the 31 states that, along with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 217 municipalities and its capital is Puebla City. Part of east-centr ...

, moving to

Veracruz Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entit ...

in the following campaign. In 1992, Vasquez joined

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, leaving four years later to return to the

, with the establishment of

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 ...

. That year, he was allocated to the

Tampa Bay Mutiny The Tampa Bay Mutiny were an American professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The Mutiny were a charter member of MLS, playing from 1996 to 2001. Th ...

, and spent two season with them, before rounding out his MLS career with the San Jose Clash in 1998. The next year, he played for the Orange County Zodiac in the

USL A-League The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second Di ...

International

Mexico

Vasquez played three games with the Mexico national team one of them being against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

in April 1990 under manager

Manuel Lapuente Manuel Lapuente Díaz (born 15 May 1944) is a Mexican former professional Association football, footballer and Manager (association football), manager. Playing career A Forward (association football), forward, Lapuente played 13 matches for M ...

and the other two against the CIS, during

César Luis Menotti César Luis Menotti (; 22 October 1938 – 5 May 2024), known as ''El Flaco'' ("Slim"), was an Argentine association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as the head coach of the ...

's spell as coach. However, none of the matches he played for his birth nation were

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

-sanctioned.

United States

Vasquez received

American citizenship Citizenship of the United States is a legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by the Consti ...

in 1996. Subsequently, he was called up to the United States national team by

Steve Sampson Mark Stephen Sampson (born January 19, 1957) is an American soccer coach. He is also the former head coach of both the United States men's national team and the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. Collegiate career Sampson attended UCL ...

, going on to earn seven

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

in a two-year span. His debut came on December 21, 1996, against

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 ...

(2–2 away draw), in a 1998 World Cup qualifier, and he last appeared in the home 4–2 victory over

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 ...

, for the same competition, on November 16, 1997. He started the game, then came off in the 63rd minute for

Mike Sorber Michael Steven Sorber (born May 14, 1971) is an American soccer coach and former player. He most recently served as an assistant head coach for Toronto FC in Major League Soccer. He played professionally in the United States and Mexico and wa ...

Coaching career

After retiring from his playing career, Vasquez worked as assistant coach with Cal Poly Pomona and the women's team San Diego Spirit. He also coached the

Damien High School Damien High School is an all-boys Roman Catholic high school in La Verne, in the U.S. state of California, named for Saint Damien of Molokai. It is located in and operated by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, part of the tri-school ...

boys' team for two seasons. After one season as assistant with 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 ...

, he joined newly created MLS team

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

in the same capacity, on January 2, 2005. Between July 2008 and April 2009, Vasquez worked as the assistant to

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (; born 30 July 1964) is a German professional Association football, football manager and former player. He played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, AS Monaco FC, Monaco, Tottenham Hot ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

club

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional association foo ...

. He left when Klinsmann was dismissed due to bad results. Vasquez was hired to his first head coaching job on December 2, 2009, at former club Chivas. Vasquez was released from his duties following a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

which saw the Goats miss the playoffs for the first time since its 2005 expansion campaign. Vasquez was recalled by Klinsmann after the latter was named head coach of the United States men's national team as an assistant coach for a friendly against Mexico on August 11, 2011. On March 31, 2014, less than 3 months before 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 ...

Vasquez was replaced by

Tab Ramos Tabaré "Tab" Ramos Ricciardi (born September 21, 1966) is an American former soccer player and coach. Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. The first player to sign wi ...

, relegating him to unannounced "other responsibilities", which later turned out to be scouting and match observations. On 14 April 2022, Vasquez was named head coach of

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's association football, soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019 USL League One season, 2019. The United States soccer league system, Division III league is operated ...

side Central Valley Fuego FC. Vásquez parted ways with Fuego FC on July 3, 2023. Vásquez joined

Mark Briggs Mark Jonathan Briggs (born 16 February 1982) is an English football coach and former player who is the head coach of Birmingham Legion FC in the USL Championship. Playing career England and Denmark Briggs began his career with West Bromwich A ...

' staff at Sacramento Republic on 18 January 2024.

Managerial statistics

Honors

Individual *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

All-Star Game flashback, 1996
at MLSsoccer.com

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vasquez, Martin 1963 births Living people American men's soccer players American soccer coaches Mexican men's footballers Mexican football managers Footballers from Jalisco People from Yahualica, Jalisco Mexican emigrants to the United States American sportspeople of Mexican descent Men's association football utility players California State University, Los Angeles alumni Los Angeles Lazers players California Kickers players Memphis Storm players Leones Negros UdeG footballers Club Puebla players C.D. Veracruz footballers Atlas F.C. footballers Tampa Bay Mutiny players San Jose Earthquakes players Orange County Blue Star players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Western Soccer Alliance players National Professional Soccer League (1984–2001) players Liga MX players Major League Soccer players A-League (1995–2004) players Dual internationalists (men's football) Mexico men's international footballers United States men's international soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars LA Galaxy non-playing staff Chivas USA non-playing staff FC Bayern Munich non-playing staff Chivas USA head coaches Real Salt Lake non-playing staff United States men's national soccer team non-playing staff Real Monarchs coaches Houston Dynamo FC non-playing staff Major League Soccer head coaches USL Championship coaches Alhambra High School (Alhambra, California) alumni USL League One coaches Central Valley Fuego FC Sacramento Republic FC coaches 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century Mexican sportsmen