Name Luis Tejada Playing position Height 1.85 m | Number 10 Weight 80 kg Years Team Career start 2001 | |
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Full name Luis Carlos Tejada Hansell Date of birth (1982-03-28) March 28, 1982 (age 33) Role Association Football Player Current team Panama national football team (Forward) Similar People Blas Perez, Jaime Penedo, Roberto Mosquera, Lionard Pajoy | ||
Place of birth Panama City, Panama | ||
MNT vs. Panama: Luis Tejada Goal - Oct. 15, 2013
Luis Carlos "Matador" Tejada Hansell (born March 28, 1982) is a Panamanian professional association football striker. He currently plays for Universitario de Deportes of the Peruvian Primera División and the Panamanian national team.
Contents
- MNT vs Panama Luis Tejada Goal Oct 15 2013
- Club career
- International career
- International goals
- Club
- References
Club career
Tejada's debut in professional soccer was with Tauro in the local league, where he managed to make a good impression and quickly moved to Colombia to play with Colombian side Deportes Tolima. Later on he was transferred to first division team Envigado in 2004, and after a splendid participation in the Gold Cup, he sets off to the United Arab Emirates.
In 2005, he signed a 3-year contract to send him to Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates. However, he did not yield the same results he obtained in the Gold Cup, reason why shortly after finished the AFC Champions League, and he returned to Panama.
Returning to Panama, he participated in the championship of Clausura of ANAPROF, with the Plaza Amador, one of the best teams of the local football league. But he only participated in a few matches. His conditioning was not optimal, and he acquired the nickname of "el gordito (fatty)". Growing into better form, he moved on to Colombia, where he played a short spell with ex Copa Libertadores champions Once Caldas, from which he was fired for disciplinary problems. He then returned to Panama to play for Plaza Amador.
Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer announced the signing of Tejada on December 12, 2006, for the 2007 season. He played only two minutes in five games, however, before he was released by head coach Jason Kreis. He returned to Panamanian side Tauro, but did not play very much since he was shortly signed by Colombian side América de Cali. He scored 4 goals during his short stay in Panama.
Matador scored only 3 goals in the Torneo Finalizacion 2007, however he became a key player for América in the next tournament. Tejada played 19 games in the Torneo Iniciacion 2008 where he scored 12 goals, becoming América de Cali's top-scorer and the second in the tournament. Tejada reached the final where America lost to Boyacá Chicó. He was nicknamed by the Colombian press as America's golden tooth (el diente de oro del America) because of his golden tooth. After the tournament, there was numerous interest for Tejada, including Argentine side River Plate, however nothing was concrete. Unfortunately for the Matador América could not pay his salary and price so he was sold to Bogotá's side Millonarios where he debuted on August 16, 2008 in the Embajadores victory over Deportes Quindío. After an unsuccessful spell at Millonarios. Tejada returned once more to Tauro and afterwards moved to Peru to play for champions Juan Aurich. At Juan Aurich, Tejada scored an impressive 48 goal record in 65 games and attracted interest from teams in stronger leagues such as Mexico and Brazil. Tejada finally moved to Mexican side Deportivo Toluca in late 2012 as a replacement of Uruguyan-striker Iván Alonso. His spell at Toluca began promising after a late arrival, scoring 4 goals in 5 matches, however his performance and consistency dropped for the liguilla, the Clausura 2013 and in the disappointing performance of Toluca at Copa Libertadores. In summer 2013 he joined Veracruz.
In December 2013, Tejada returned to Peru where he played with Juan Aurich for two years. He joined Universidad César Vallejo.
On 1 March 2015, Tejada walked off the pitch during a match against Cienciano, after being subjected to racist abuse from fans.
International career
Tejada made his debut for Panama in a June 2001 friendly match against Trinidad and Tobago and has, as of 1 August 2015, earned a total of 88 caps, scoring 40 goals and making him Panama's all-time record goalscorer just ahead of Blas Pérez. He represented his country in 24 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and in March 2005, Tejada scored a goal on an overhead kick against Mexico in a World Cup 2006 qualifying match that gave Panama a 1:1 tie against the CONCACAF giants. This goal was voted the best goal of the year by Fox Sports.
Tejada led Panama to the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup final, where they finished as runners-up to the United States. He scored three goals to end up as joint top scorer, but unfortunately, he missed his penalty kick in the penalty shoot-out against the United States in the final. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament for his efforts. Tejada is currently the all-time leading scorer in Panama history.
Tejada was ejected from the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi final against Mexico after receiving a red card.