Miguel Ángel Ponce Briseño (born 12 April 1989), also known as Pocho, is a 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 ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Born in the United States, he represented the

Mexico national team The Mexico national football team () represents Mexico in international football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation (). It competes as a member of CONCACAF. Mexico has qualified to seventeen World Cups and has qualified consec ...

. He is an Olympic gold medalist.

Early life

Ponce moved with his family from

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

to Guadalajara before he was 1, then to

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

when he was 10 to enable visits from his father, who worked building bridges in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. Wanting his son to learn English, his father arranged for him to use a friend's address in

San Ysidro, San Diego San Ysidro (Spanish for " St. Isidore", ) is a district of the City of San Diego, immediately north of the Mexico–United States border. It neighbors Otay Mesa West to the north, Otay Mesa to the east, and Nestor and the Tijuana River Valley t ...

as a base to attend US schools. He played association football for four years at San Ysidro Middle School and

San Ysidro High School San Ysidro High School is a co-educational public four-year (grade levels 9–12) high school located in San Diego, California. It was founded and established in 2002, and is part of the Sweetwater Union High School District. SYHS predominantly s ...

before being invited to a tryout by C.D. Guadalajara at age 15.

Club career

Guadalajara

Ponce scored his first goal for Chivas on September 28, 2010 in the 71st minute of the game against

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Fou ...

rescuing the team from a loss of the game with a 1-1 end. He scored once again on October 3, 2010 against local rival

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

. Ponce ended the 2010–2011 season with two goals in 30 games.

Toluca

Ponce quickly established himself as the starting left-back in

José Cardozo José Saturnino Cardozo Otazú (; born 19 March 1971) is a Paraguayan football manager and former professional footballer. He played as a striker and spent 10 years of his career playing for Toluca and is the club's all-time top goalscorer. He a ...

's starting eleven. Despite having a successful year with Toluca, the club announced they were not going to accept the purchase option included in the loan agreement.

Necaxa

On June 7, 2017 Ponce was sent out on loan to

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Necaxa, is a Mexican professional football club in Liga MX based in the city of Aguascalientes. It plays in the Estadio Victoria. History Foundation (Light and Power Comp ...

International career

Youth

In 2011, Ponce was selected to participate in the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

, Mexico won gold after defeating Argentina in the final. in 2012 Ponce participated in the 2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament and scored twice in the tournament. Ponce participated in the

2012 Toulon Tournament The 2012 Toulon Tournament was the 40th edition of the Toulon Tournament and took place from 23 May to 1 June. Colombia were the defending champions, but they did not participate this year. Mexico U-23 won their first tournament title by defe ...

and helped Mexico win the final against Turkey. Miguel Ponce made the final cut for those participating in the 2012 Summer Olympics, Miguel Ponce played 4 matches in the 2012 Olympics including the 2–1 win over Brazil in the gold medal match at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

Senior

Ponce was part of the preliminary list of players that would participate in the

Copa America Copa or COPA may refer to: COPA COPA may refer to: * Computer Operator Programming Assistant. trade of ITI * Child Online Protection Act, a former U.S. law to protect minors from certain material on the internet * Canadian Owners and Pilots Ass ...

in Argentina. Later, he also appeared in the definitive list for those participating in the tournament. He made his senior national team debut with Mexico at the

2011 Copa América The 2011 Campeonato Sudamericano Copa América, better known as the 2011 Copa América or the Copa América 2011 Argentina, was the 43rd edition of the Copa América, the main international football tournament for national teams in South Americ ...

July 8, 2011 against

Perú , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy fo ...

entering as a substitute for Dárvin Chávez in the 73' minute of the game. However Mexico used a youth team in the tournament and participation by Mexico, as non conference member of CONMEBOL and guest invitee, were deemed friendly matches for Mexico. Miguel Ponce made his first competitive appearance for Mexico with the senior squad in a

2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 12th CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 22nd CONCACAF regional championship overall in CONCACAF's fifty years of existence. The United States was the host nation. The competition began on 7 July 2013 at the ...

match against Canada that also, given his dual US-Mexican citizenship, cap-tied him to Mexico.

Career statistics

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Mexico's goal tally first.''

Honours

Guadalajara * Liga MX: Clausura 2017 *

Copa MX The Copa MX (formerly called Copa Tower Monterrey, Copa Eliminatoria, Copa México and Copa Corona MX (for sponsorship reasons)) was a Mexican football cup competition that was established in 1907. After a lengthy hiatus that began in 1997, it ...

: Apertura 2015, Clausura 2017 *

Supercopa MX The Supercopa MX ( en, Supercup MX) was a Mexican football championship contested by the winners of the Apertura and Clausura Copa MX. History In June 2013 Liga MX president Decio De María announced the winners of Apertura and Clausura Copa MX ...

: 2016 Necaxa *

: Clausura 2018 Mexico U23 *

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is hel ...

: 2011 * CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship:

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

Olympic Gold Medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece be ...

References

External links

* at

Chivas de Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divisi ...

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ponce, Miguel Angel 1989 births Living people American emigrants to Mexico Association football defenders Mexican footballers Mexico international footballers American sportspeople of Mexican descent Liga MX players C.D. Guadalajara footballers Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Footballers at the 2011 Pan American Games 2011 Copa América players 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Olympic footballers of Mexico Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Mexico Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Soccer players from California Pan American Games gold medalists for Mexico Pan American Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2011 Pan American Games