Marcelo Balboa (born August 8, 1967) is an American former professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who played as a defender in the 1990s for the United States national team, becoming its

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. He is a member of the

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a public-private partnership among FC Dallas, the City of Frisco, Frisco Independent School District, and the U.S. Soccer Federation, and currently located in Toyota Stadium (Texas), Toyota Stadium in Frisco, T ...

. After retiring from playing, he has worked as a commentator for

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

and ABC and MLS games on HDNet and

Altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

, as well as

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

games on

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

. He is the head boys' soccer coach for Monarch High School in

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

Club career

Youth

Balboa, who is of Argentine descent, was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, and grew up in

Cerritos, California Cerritos (; Spanish for "Little hills") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. It was municipal corporation, incorporated on ...

. Balboa played youth soccer for Fram-Culver, which won the 1986 McGuire Cup (U-19 National Championship). Balboa's father, Luis Balboa who played professionally in Argentina and with the Chicago Mustangs of the North American Soccer League, coached him. In 1985, Balboa graduated from Cerritos High School. Balboa attended Cerritos College, a local two-year community college from 1986 to 1987. At Cerritos, Balboa was both placekicker on the football team and a two-time 1st Team All-South Coast Conference soccer player. Cerritos College has retired Balboa's jersey number – #3. In 1988, Balboa transferred to

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1897, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CS ...

where he was a 1988 First Team and a 1989 Second Team All American soccer player.

Professional

From 1987 to 1989, Balboa played the collegiate off-seasons on an amateur contract with the professional San Diego Nomads of the Western Soccer League. He was the 1988 WSA MVP. In 1990, Balboa began his professional career with the San Francisco Bay Blackhawks of the American Professional Soccer League. In 1992, he moved to the Colorado Foxes. He played for León in the Mexican League in 1995 and 1996. In 1996, Balboa signed with

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 ...

and 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 ...

. Balboa played six seasons for the Rapids, leading as the team's all-time leader in many statistical categories. Traded to the MetroStars in 2002, he played only five minutes all year, sitting out the rest with injuries, and retiring afterwards. Balboa ended his MLS career with 24 goals and 23 assists in 152 games. In 2005, Balboa was named to the MLS All-Time Best XI and elected to the

on the first ballot along with Nick Folan. In 2012, he was inducted into the Colorado Hall of Fame. A goal by Balboa for the Rapids in 2000 against the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew are an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team began play in 1996 as one of the 10 cha ...

was named the MLS Goal of the Year for that season.

International career

Balboa earned his first cap with United States national team on January 10, 1988, against

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. He anchored the American defense in the 1990 and the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

s, in the latter receiving international attention for his near miss with a bicycle kick in the United States' win over

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 ...

. He was named U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year in 1992 and 1994. In 1995, he became the first United States player to break the 100-

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

barrier. In

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

, he joined Tab Ramos and Eric Wynalda as the first United States players to play in three World Cups. Balboa ended his United States career with 128 caps and 13 goals, and his final appearance came in a friendly against

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

on January 16, 2000.

Post-retirement

Team executive

After the 2004 MLS season, Balboa assumed a front office position with the Rapids.

Broadcaster

Balboa debuted as a sideline reporter during ABC's coverage of the 2003 MLS All-Star Game and MLS Cup. In 2004, he became a regular announcer for ABC and ESPN's

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

coverage of the United States national team. Most recently, Balboa has paired up with baseball announcer Dave O'Brien as networks' #1 U.S. announcing team for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

. In 2007, Balboa started a soccer radio show, ''From The Pitch'', which airs on Denver station Mile High Sports Radio. Balboa served as an analyst for

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

coverage of Soccer at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He has been a guest soccer analyst on Telefutura's ''

Contacto Deportivo ''Contacto Deportivo'' is an American Spanish-language sports news program. Previously airing on UniMas, the program airs nightly at midnight on Univision and Univision Deportes Network. In September 2015, Univision Communications announced ...

''. In 2014, he was commentator of the United States team matches for

at the World Cup in Brazil.

Coaching

In 2012, Monarch High School hired Balboa to coach the boys' soccer team.

Personal life

Balboa, who is the son of Argentine immigrants, resides in the town of Superior, Colorado.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list the United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Balboa goal.''

Honors

United States * CONCACAF Gold Cup:

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

Individual * U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year: 1992, 1994 *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

MLS Goal of the Year Award The MLS Goal of the Year Award (currently commercially termed "AT&T MLS Goal of the Year") is handed out annually since its inception in 1996 to a player in Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association footbal ...

* CONCACAF Team of the Century: 1998"Balboa, Ramos named to CONCACAF "Team of the Century""
, Soccer America, 14 May 1998. * MLS 10th Anniversary Team

References

External links

Interview on Role Models from CaptainU
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balboa, Marcelo 1967 births Living people American people of Argentine descent Sportspeople from Cerritos, California Soccer players from Los Angeles County, California Soccer players from Chicago American men's soccer players Men's association football defenders San Diego State Aztecs men's soccer players All-American college men's soccer players Nomads Soccer Club players San Francisco Bay Blackhawks players Colorado Foxes players Club León footballers Colorado Rapids players New York Red Bulls players Western Soccer Alliance players American Professional Soccer League players Liga MX players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's international soccer players 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1992 King Fahd Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 Copa América players 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players CONCACAF Gold Cup–winning players FIFA Men's Century Club National Soccer Hall of Fame members American expatriate men's soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico American soccer coaches Colorado Rapids non-playing staff American soccer commentators Major League Soccer broadcasters High school soccer coaches in the United States 20th-century American sportsmen