Jorge Rodas

Jorge Alexander Rodas (born October 9, 1971) is a Guatemalan professional football midfielder, playing for the club Aurora FC in the Guatemalan "Primera División" as of the end of the 2007-08 season. He was the first Guatemalan footballer to play in the U.S. Major League Soccer, when he did it for San José Clash in 1996. He was also a member of the Guatemala national team.

Club career

Rodas began playing professionally for Municipal of Guatemala City, where he became first known for his abilities as a defensive midfielder and his shooting range. After winning the 1993-94 league tournament with Municipal, he signed with the team's arch-rival, Comunicaciones, where he would be part of seven championship-winning teams.

Major League Soccer

In 1996, Rodas became the first Guatemalan to play professionally in the United States, when he was signed by San Jose Clash. He took the field in the first-ever Major League Soccer match on April 6. 1996, when The Clash beat DC United 1-0 at home. Alongside players like Eric Wynalda, John Doyle, and Eddie Lewis, Rodas helped San Jose reach the MLS playoffs that year. He played in 29 matches, made three assists, and scored one goal on a direct free kick against New England Revolution on August 11, catalogued in the "San Jose Earthquakes 100 Greatest Goals" DVD as the team's second-best goal of the year. After the inaugural MLS season, Rodas was transferred back to Communicaciones in January 1997.

Later career

Rodas would remain in Comunicaciones until 2002, and after that he played briefly for Xelajú MC. Later, he joined Deportivo Jalapa, achieving further success by helping the team win the Domestic Cup in consecutive years in 2005 and 2006; he scored the only goal of a 1-0 win over Municipal in the 2006 final. [Source: http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2006/mayo/18/141917.html] He had other notable individual performances at Jalapa, among them scoring a hat-trick against Deportivo Heredia in a 3-2 win on which the team advanced to the semi-final of the 2005 apertura tournament. [Source: http://www.prensalibre.com/pl/2005/noviembre/28/lectura_depor.html#128869]

After his tenure with Jalapa ended in 2006, Rodas, aged 35, continued his career with a brief spell with "Deportivo Mixco" in the "Primera División". For the 2007-08 season, he was signed by former top-division team Aurora FC, which had been relegated to the "Segunda División" the previous season. Aurora earned promotion back to the "Primera División" for the 2008-2009 season.

National team career

Rodas became a member of the Guatemala national team in 1995, and played during the qualification processes for the World Cups of 1998 and 2002. Among other international appearances, he was part of the squads that competed at the CONCACAF Gold Cup tournaments of 1996 and 2000, and at the UNCAF Nations Cup of 1995, 1997, and 1999.

Club career summary

*1993-1994 Municipal
*1994-1996 Comunicaciones
*1996 San Jose Clash
*1996-2002 Comunicaciones
*2002-2003 Xelaju MC
*2004-2006 Deportivo Jalapa
*2007 Deportivo Mixco
*2007-2008 Aurora

ee also

*List of foreign MLS players

References

External links

* [http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=155540/index.html FIFA.com - Individual record at FIFA tournaments]