Marvin Tomás Ávila (born 6 December 1985) is a Guatemalan

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

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Liga Nacional club Sololá and the Guatemala national team.

Club career

Nicknamed "Titi Man", Ávila made his mark in the ''2007

Clausura The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is divi ...

'' season, considered a breakthrough season for the winger, scoring six goals including a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Deportivo Petapa. His form and quick rise for both his club and the national team were the main reasons behind his move to Guatemala's biggest club, Municipal, for the 2007-08 season. On his debut for Municipal in the 2007 ''

Apertura The ' and ' tournaments is a split season format for Spanish-speaking sports leagues. It is a relatively recent innovation for many Latin American football leagues in which the traditional association football season from August to May is divi ...

'' against his former club, CD Suchitepéquez, he scored the winning goal, a spectacular one-time volley off a corner from

Freddy García Freddy Antonio García (born October 6, 1976), is a former Venezuelan professional baseball pitcher. He is best known for his many seasons with seven Major League Baseball (MLB) franchises, including the Seattle Mariners, Chicago White Sox, and ...

. In 2009, he had a short stint at Chinese side Shaanxi Chanba, being the first Guatemalan player ever to play for a club in Asia. He then returned to Municipal.

International career

Ávila made his international debut as a late substitute in a match against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in a pre-

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 concept i ...

friendly in February 2006. He scored his first goal for the Guatemalan senior side in a friendly match against Honduras later that year. On 17 October 2007, in a game against 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 conse ...

, he came of age at the international level, scoring a brace (first the equalizer and then the winner) and setting up an earlier goal. This superb performance helped Guatemala beat Mexico for the first time in almost seven years. As of January 2010, he had collected 24 caps, scored three goals and represented Guatemala in two FIFA World Cup qualification matches. He also played at the

2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the ninth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean ( CONCACAF), and was won by the United States over Mexico. It was contested in the United States fr ...

. In 2007 and 2008 he was part of Guatemala's under-23 team2008 CONCACAF Men’s Olympic Qualification Group B Rosters Announced
- CONCACAF scoring the winning goal against Haiti, and although the Guatemala National Team started the tournament off strong, they slowly began to lose momentum and eventually fell short of qualifying for the 2008 Olympic tournament.

International goals

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Avila, Marvin 1985 births Living people People from Izabal Department Guatemalan men's footballers Guatemalan expatriate men's footballers Guatemala men's international footballers C.D. Suchitepéquez players C.S.D. Municipal players Beijing Chengfeng F.C. players Chinese Super League players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Men's association football midfielders Guatemalan expatriate sportspeople in China Expatriate men's footballers in China