Luis Enrique "Neco" Martínez Rodríguez, (born 11 July 1982) is a retired Colombian

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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He is nicknamed "Neco" for the town of his birth.

Career

Martínez was signed by newly promoted Turkish team

Sakaryaspor Sakaryaspor Kulübü Derneği is a Turkish professional football club playing in the TFF First League, which is the second level of Turkish football. History The club was formed in 1965 after the merger of ''Adapazarı Gençlerbirliği'', ''Adap ...

in summer 2006, signing a three-year contract, before moving to Colombian club

Once Caldas Once Caldas S.A., simply known as Once Caldas, is a professional Colombian Association football, football team based in Manizales, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. The club plays its home games at Estadio Palogrande. The club wa ...

International career

During a World Cup warm-up match between Poland and Colombia on May 30, 2006, he scored a remarkable goal, striking directly from a long distance over the head of the opposition goalkeeper,

Tomasz Kuszczak Tomasz Mirosław Kuszczak (; born 20 March 1982) is a Polish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He was most recently the goalkeeping coach of the Poland national fo ...

. After a three-year absence from the national team, he was called back by new coach Hernan Dario Gomez for an international friendly match against Bolivia on August 5, 2010. He was the starting goalkeeper for the Colombia national team during the Copa America 2011, since the starting goalkeeper

David Ospina David Ospina Ramírez (born 31 August 1988) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Categoría Primera A club Atlético Nacional, which he captains, and the Colombia national team. Ospina began his career at Atlé ...

was out with a facial injury after colliding with

Hugo Rodallega Hugo Rodallega Martínez (born 25 July 1985) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a forward in the Colombia Categoría Primera A for Independiente Santa Fe. Rodallega started his professional career with Deportes Quindío in 20 ...

days before the tournament. Martinez had a good start to the tournament, being the only goalkeeper to have a clean sheet on all three group games. In the quarterfinal match against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

however he made two crucial mistakes which led to the two goals of Peru.

International goals

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

Honours

Club

Once Caldas *

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a professional association football league in Colombia and the highest level of the Colombian ...

(1): 2010-II Atlético Nacional *

(3): 2013-I, 2013-II, 2014-I *

Copa Colombia The Copa Colombia (); officially known as Copa BetPlay Dimayor is an annual football tournament in Colombia. It is contested by the 36 professional clubs affiliated to the División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano (DIMAYOR) and is the ...

(1):

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Individual *

Toulon Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a Association football, football tournament, which traditionally features invit ...

Best Goalkeeper:

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martinez, Neco 1982 births Living people Men's association football goalkeepers Colombian men's footballers Colombia men's international footballers Envigado F.C. players Atlético Huila footballers Independiente Santa Fe footballers Sakaryaspor footballers Manisaspor footballers Once Caldas footballers Atlético Nacional footballers América de Cali footballers Categoría Primera A players Süper Lig players Colombian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Costa Rica Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2011 Copa América players Footballers from Antioquia Department Copa Libertadores–winning players 21st-century Colombian sportsmen