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Jorge Rodas

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Place of birth
  
Jalapa, Guatemala

1992–1994
  
Municipal

Name
  
Jorge Rodas

Height
  
1.79 m

Years
  
Team

1994–1996
  
Comunicaciones

Role
  
Footballer

Playing position
  
Midfielder

Jorge Rodas wwwtradingcarddbcomImagesCardsSoccer9118911
Full name
  
Jorge Alexander Rodas Hurtarte

Date of birth
  
(1971-10-09) 9 October 1971 (age 44)

Jorge Alexander Rodas Hurtarte (born October 9, 1971) is a retired Guatemalan professional football midfielder. He last played for Aurora FC in the Guatemalan Primera Division as of the end of the 2007-08 season.

Contents

Rodas was the first Guatemalan footballer to play in Major League Soccer, when he starred for San Jose Clash in 1996. He was also a member of the Guatemala national team.

He is the younger brother of Julio Rodas, who was also a member of the national team.

Club career

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

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 D.C. 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 stay at Comunicaciones until 2002, and after that he played briefly for Xelaju 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. 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 Division. For the 2007-08 season, he was signed by former top-division team Aurora FC, which had been relegated to the Segunda Division the previous season. Aurora earned promotion back to the Primera Division for the 2008–2009 season.

International career

Rodas made his debut for Guatemala in a May 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup match against El Salvador alongside his brother Julio. Jorge Rodas earned 38 overall caps, scoring four goals, and 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 and 2000, and at the UNCAF Nations Cup of 1995, 1997, and 1999. His final international was a January 2001 World Cup qualification match against Costa Rica.

International goals

Scores and results list. Guatemala's goal tally first.

References

Jorge Rodas Wikipedia