Jorge Rodas
Encyclopedia
Jorge Alexander Rodas Hurtarte (born October 9, 1971) is a retired Guatemala
n professional football midfielder
. He last played for Aurora FC
in the Guatemalan Primera División
as of the end of the 2007-08 season.
Rodas was the first Guatemalan footballer to play in Major League Soccer
, when he starred for San José Clash in 1996. He was also a member of the Guatemala national team
.
Jorge's elder brother Julio
was a prominent member of the national team.
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.
, 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.
, 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. 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.
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.
in a May 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup
match against El Salvador
and has earned 38 caps, scoring 4 goals. He has represented his country in 12 FIFA World Cup qualification
matches and was part of the squads that competed at the CONCACAF Gold Cup
tournaments of 1996, 1998 and 2000, and at the UNCAF Nations Cup
of 1995, 1997, and 1999.
Rodas' final international was a January 2001 World Cup qualification match against Costa Rica
.
Guatemala
Guatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
n professional football midfielder
Midfielder
A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...
. He last played for Aurora FC
Aurora FC
Aurora Fútbol Club are a Guatemalan professional football club. Once one of the most powerful teams in the country, the team has now been relegated to a lower division...
in the Guatemalan Primera División
Primera División de Ascenso
The Primera División de Ascenso is the second highest level of the Guatemalan league system of football. Formerly, it was known as Liga Mayor "B"...
as of the end of the 2007-08 season.
Rodas was the first Guatemalan footballer to play in Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
, when he starred for San José Clash in 1996. He was also a member of the Guatemala national team
Guatemala national football team
The Guatemala national football team is the association football team representing the country of Guatemala and is controlled by the Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala. Founded in 1919, it affiliated to FIFA in 1946, and it is a member of CONCACAF....
.
Jorge's elder brother Julio
Julio Rodas
Julio Alberto Rodas Hurtarte is a retired Guatemalan professional football striker.-Club career:At the club level, Rodas started his professional career playing for Municipal. He then had a one-season stint in El Salvador with C.D. FAS and later returned to Guatemala to play for Comunicaciones...
was a prominent member of the national team.
Club career
Rodas began playing professionally for MunicipalCSD Municipal
Club Social y Deportivo Municipal, also known as Municipal or Los Rojos , are a Guatemalan professional football club based in Guatemala City...
of Guatemala City
Guatemala City
Guatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
, 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
Comunicaciones
Club Social y Deportivo Comunicaciones is a Guatemalan football club located in Guatemala City.The club is currently playing in the highest Guatemalan league, the Liga Nacional. Their home venue is the Estadio Cementos Progreso in the nation's capital. Nicknamed Cremas , they are the second-most...
, 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 WynaldaEric Wynalda
Eric Boswell Wynalda is a retired American soccer player, and former sports broadcaster. He was the co-host of Fox Football Fone-In on Fox Soccer Channel and is currently employeed as the president of international operations at Mexican third division club Murcielagos.Wynalda scored the first goal...
, 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
Direct free kick
A direct free kick is a method of restarting play in a game of association football following a foul. Unlike an indirect free kick, a goal may be scored directly against the opposing side without the ball having first touched another player.-Award:...
against New England Revolution
New England Revolution
The New England Revolution is an American professional association football club based in Foxborough, Massachusetts which competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States and Canada...
on August 11, catalogued in the San Jose Earthquakes 100 Greatest Goals DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
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 stay at Comunicaciones until 2002, and after that he played briefly for Xelajú MC. Later, he joined Deportivo JalapaDeportivo Jalapa
Jalapa is a Guatemalan professional football club who play in the Liga Nacional, the top level division in the country. They are based in Jalapa and their home stadium is the Estadio Las Flores.-History:The team was founded on July 10, 1978....
, 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. He had other notable individual performances at Jalapa, among them scoring a hat-trick
Hat-trick
A hat-trick or hat trick in sport is the achievement of a positive feat three times during a game, or other achievements based on threes. The term was first used in 1858 in cricket to describe HH Stephenson's feat of taking three wickets in three balls. A collection was held for Stephenson, and he...
against Deportivo Heredia
Deportivo Heredia
Heredia Jaguares de Peten is a Guatemalan football team playing at the country's top level.-History:Founded as Deportivo Heredia in 1958, the club has been based in San Jose, Peten only since summer 2008...
in a 3-2 win on which the team advanced to the semi-final of the 2005 apertura tournament.
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
Primera División de Ascenso
The Primera División de Ascenso is the second highest level of the Guatemalan league system of football. Formerly, it was known as Liga Mayor "B"...
. For the 2007-08 season, he was signed by former top-division team Aurora FC
Aurora FC
Aurora Fútbol Club are a Guatemalan professional football club. Once one of the most powerful teams in the country, the team has now been relegated to a lower division...
, which had been relegated to the Segunda División
Segunda División de Ascenso
The Second Division of ascent or Second Division of Guatemala is an institution of professional sports character founded in 1992 and affiliated to the National Federation of football Guatemala, which is organized by the necessity of mass sports of the professional football in Guatemala leading him...
the previous season. Aurora earned promotion back to the Primera División for the 2008–2009 season.
International career
Rodas made his debut for GuatemalaGuatemala national football team
The Guatemala national football team is the association football team representing the country of Guatemala and is controlled by the Federación Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala. Founded in 1919, it affiliated to FIFA in 1946, and it is a member of CONCACAF....
in a May 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup
UNCAF Nations Cup
The Copa Centroamericana is a biennial association football tournament, held for the CONCACAF national teams of Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. The tournament has been held since 1991 as the UNCAF Nations Cup and doubles as a...
match against El Salvador
El Salvador national football team
El Salvador's national football team represents El Salvador in international football and is sanctioned by the Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol . In 1899, Santa Ana and San Salvador met for the first hosted football game in El Salvador...
and has earned 38 caps, scoring 4 goals. He has represented his country in 12 FIFA World Cup qualification
FIFA World Cup qualification
The FIFA World Cup qualification is the process that a national association football team goes through to qualify for the FIFA World Cup Finals. The FIFA World Cup is a global event, so qualification is required to reduce the large field of participants from about 200 to 32.Qualifying tournaments...
matches and was part of the squads that competed at the CONCACAF Gold Cup
CONCACAF Gold Cup
The CONCACAF Gold Cup is the main association football competition of the men's national football teams governed by CONCACAF, determining the regional champion of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.The Gold Cup is held every two years and when it does not fall the same year as an...
tournaments of 1996, 1998 and 2000, and at the UNCAF Nations Cup
UNCAF Nations Cup
The Copa Centroamericana is a biennial association football tournament, held for the CONCACAF national teams of Central America: Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. The tournament has been held since 1991 as the UNCAF Nations Cup and doubles as a...
of 1995, 1997, and 1999.
Rodas' final international was a January 2001 World Cup qualification match against Costa Rica
Costa Rica national football team
The Costa Rica national football team, nicknamed La Sele, is the national team of Costa Rica and is controlled by the Federación Costarricense de Fútbol. Costa Rica is the third most successful team in CONCACAF after Mexico and the United States...
.
International goals
- Scores and results list. Guatemala's goal tally first.
# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 7 December 1995 Estadio De la Flor Blanca Estadio Jorge "Mágico" GonzálezEstadio Jorge "Mágico" González is formerly known as Estadio Nacional "De la Flor Blanca", referring to the name of the suburb where it is located in San Salvador. It is a football stadium in El Salvador. It is named after Jorge Alberto González...
, San SalvadorSan SalvadorThe city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...
, El SalvadorEl SalvadorEl Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
1-0 1-0 UNCAF Nations Cup 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup 1995-Preliminary round:---------Squads:-Group A:played in San Salvador-Preliminary round:---------Squads:-Group A:played in San Salvador-Preliminary round:---------Squads:-Group A:played in San Salvador...2 7 March 1999 Estadio Mateo Flores Estadio Mateo FloresThe Estadio Nacional Mateo Flores is a multi-use national stadium in Guatemala City, the largest in Guatemala. It was built in 1948, to host the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1950, and was renamed after long-distance runner Mateo Flores, winner of the 1952 Boston Marathon...
, Guatemala CityGuatemala CityGuatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
, GuatemalaGuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
1-4 2-4 Copa de la Paz 3 7 March 1999 Estadio Mateo Flores Estadio Mateo FloresThe Estadio Nacional Mateo Flores is a multi-use national stadium in Guatemala City, the largest in Guatemala. It was built in 1948, to host the Central American and Caribbean Games in 1950, and was renamed after long-distance runner Mateo Flores, winner of the 1952 Boston Marathon...
, Guatemala CityGuatemala CityGuatemala City , is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Guatemala and Central America...
, GuatemalaGuatemalaGuatemala is a country in Central America bordered by Mexico to the north and west, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, Belize to the northeast, the Caribbean to the east, and Honduras and El Salvador to the southeast...
2-4 2-4 Copa de la Paz 4 7 July 2000 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles Memorial ColiseumThe Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a large outdoor sports stadium in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, at Exposition Park, that is home to the Pacific-12 Conference's University of Southern California Trojans football team...
, Los Angeles, USA1-0 1-0 Friendly match
External links
- Career stats - National Football Teams