Ricardo Sánchez (born May 27, 1982) is a former Mexican

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 ...

Career

Club

Sánchez began his career in his native Mexico, playing for numerous

Primera División A Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air, a former airline * Primera división (disambiguation), multiple top division football leagues * Primera, Texas, a town in Cameron County, Texas * Alí Primera Ely Rafael Primera Ros ...

teams, including the reserve teams of

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

and

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...

in his hometown of

, as well as

Irapuato Irapuato is a Mexican city and municipalities of Mexico, municipality located at the foot of the Arandas Hill (in Spanish Language, Spanish: ''Cerro de Arandas''), in the central region of the Mexican state, state of Guanajuato. It lies between the ...

, UAT and

Querétaro Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...

. Sánchez came to the United States in 2007 to play for the

USL First Division 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 ...

expansion franchise

California Victory The California Victory was a USL First Division professional soccer team based in San Francisco, California. It was an expansion team for the 2007 season, but ceased operation in September of that year after parent club Deportivo Alavés withdre ...

. When the Victory folded at the end of their first season he would sign with the

Minnesota Thunder Minnesota Thunder was an American professional association football, soccer team based in Minnesota, United States. Founded in 1990, the team played in the USL First Division (USL-1), the second tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009. T ...

, the same team he scored an overtime goal against in the

Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a knockout cup competition in men's soccer in the United States. It is the country's oldest ongoing national soccer competition. The competition was first held duri ...

earlier that season. In his first year with the Thunder Sánchez co-lead the team in goals, finishing with 10. He also accumulated four assists during the season. The 2009 season would be a very productive year for Sánchez. He notched seven goals and co-lead the league in assists with eight, sharing the honor with Wes Knight. Sánchez also finished the season with 72 shots, ranking him second in the league behind Charles Gbeke on 73. At the conclusion of the 2009 season Sánchez was named to the USL First Division All-League First Team. Following his release from his Thunder contract, Sánchez signed with

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

on November 18, 2009. He was traded to

FC Tampa Bay The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tier ...

, along with Whitecaps teammate

Jonny Steele Jonathan Steele (born 7 February 1986) is a Northern Irish professional footballer. He has also received three caps for the Northern Ireland national team. Early life Steele was raised in a Catholic family along with three brothers in the pr ...

, in July 2010. Tampa Bay declined his 2011 contract option.

International

Sánchez has played for the Mexico U-17 national team, captaining the squad which took part in the 1999 U17 World Cup in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

References

External links

Minnesota Thunder bio
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sanchez, Ricardo 1982 births Living people Mexican men's footballers Footballers from Guadalajara, Jalisco USL First Division players USSF Division 2 Professional League players Atlas F.C. footballers C.D. Irapuato footballers C.D. Guadalajara footballers Correcaminos UAT footballers California Victory players Minnesota Thunder players Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Tampa Bay Rowdies players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Men's association football midfielders 21st-century Mexican sportsmen