Wílmer Cabrera Linares (born September 15, 1967) is a Colombian former football defender and current head coach of El Paso Locomotive in the USL Championship. He previously coached for Chivas USA and Houston Dynamo, as well as the United States men's national under-17 soccer team. During his playing career, Cabrera played as a right back for clubs in the Colombian league and the Colombia national team, representing the country at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

Club career

Cabrera, born in Cartagena, Colombia, and raised in

Bogotá Bogotá (, also , , ), officially Bogotá, Distrito Capital, abbreviated Bogotá, D.C., and formerly known as Santa Fe de Bogotá (; ) during the Spanish Imperial period and between 1991 and 2000, is the capital city, capital and largest city ...

, made his professional debut at the age of 17 for Santa Fe. His 18-year playing career included stints at América de Cali (reaching the 1996 Copa Libertadores Final), Millonarios, Chicó, Independiente of Argentina, Herediano of Costa Rica and the Long Island Rough Riders of the United States.

International career

Cabrera was capped 48 times and scored 3 international goals for

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 ...

between 1989 and 1998. He was an unused substitute during the 1990 FIFA World Cup but played in all of the country's three matches in the

. He also played in four Copa América competitions in 1989, 1991, 1995 and 1997.

Coaching career

After retiring, Cabrera settled permanently in the United States to pursue work as a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

pilot in the New York City area. He began working with the

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 ...

front office as a community development manager working on Hispanic grassroots and youth programs. He also worked as an assistant coach for the Suffolk County Community College men's soccer team as well as top-ranked youth soccer club B.W. Gottschee, based in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

, New York. Cabrera earned his United States Soccer Federation A Coaching License in 2005 and became an assistant coach with the United States men's national under-18 soccer team in 2007. He was named by the USSF as head coach of the United States men's national under-17 soccer team on October 25, 2007, becoming the first Latin American head coach in the U.S. national team system. On January 24, 2012, he was replaced in this role by Richie Williams. In January 2012, Cabrera was named assistant coach for the

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

of Major League Soccer. In January 2014, Chivas USA appointed Cabrera as head coach. The club was dissolved by the league at the end of the season, with Cabrera's team finishing seventh in the Western Conference, the highest finish for Chivas USA in their final five seasons. Cabrera was named head coach of the Rio Grande Valley FC Toros of the United Soccer League on December 2, 2015. Cabrera was named head coach of the Houston Dynamo on October 28, 2016. He and the Dynamo parted ways on August 13, 2019. Cabrera became head coach of the Montreal Impact on August 21, 2019. On October 24, 2019, the Impact announced that his contract would not be renewed for the 2020 season. Cabrera was named head coach of El Paso Locomotive on May 20, 2024. The announcement came just days after El Paso announced that they had parted ways with then-manager Brian Clarhaut.

Managerial statistics

Honours

;Players ;Coach

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cabrera, Wilmer 1967 births 1989 Copa América players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1991 Copa América players 1995 Copa América players 1997 Copa América players 1998 FIFA World Cup players América de Cali footballers Argentine Primera División players Boyacá Chicó F.C. footballers 21st-century Colombian sportsmen C.S. Herediano footballers Categoría Primera A players Chivas USA head coaches Club Atlético Independiente footballers Colombia men's international footballers Colombia men's under-20 international footballers Colombian expatriate men's footballers Colombian football managers Colombian men's footballers Colorado Rapids non-playing staff Deportes Tolima footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Costa Rica Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Independiente Santa Fe footballers Living people Long Island Rough Riders players Major League Soccer head coaches Millonarios F.C. players USL Second Division players Men's association football defenders Houston Dynamo FC head coaches Rio Grande Valley FC Toros coaches CF Montréal head coaches Footballers from Cartagena, Colombia El Paso Locomotive FC coaches