Antonio "Tony" Rocha (born 21 August 1993) is a professional footballer who currently plays for

Orange County SC Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship. The team plays its home games ...

in the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

. Born in the United States, he represents the

Belize national football team The Belize national football team represents Belize in international football and is controlled by the Football Federation of Belize, a member of the Central American Football Union of CONCACAF. Although Belize has never qualified for a FIFA ...

Career

College

Rocha played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United K ...

at the University of Tulsa from 2011 to 2014. For the 2011 season, Rocha was named as the Conference USA Men's Soccer Freshman of the Year. He was selected to the All-Conference USA Third-Team in 2011, 2012, and 2013. In 2014, Rocha was a captain of the University of Tulsa men's soccer team and helped lead the team to a conference championship. Rocha was named to the All-Tournament Team for the 2014 American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament.

Professional

Rocha was selected by Sporting Kansas City in the fourth round of the

2015 MLS SuperDraft The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Janua ...

. They cut him prior to the start of the season. On 9 March 2015, Rocha signed with Austin Aztex for the

2015 USL season The 2015 USL season was the fifth season of the United Soccer League (USL) and the first under its new name (previously the league was called USL Pro). This season represented a substantial expansion from 14 teams in 2014 to 24 teams in 2015, and ...

. This would be the team's final season before dissolving and Rocha was forced to find a new club. On 15 October 2015, Rocha became one of the first three players to sign with newly formed USL team

Orlando City B Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at Osce ...

along with

Mikey Ambrose Michael Ambrose (born October 5, 1993) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a defender. Career Youth, college and amateur Ambrose spent four seasons with the FC Dallas Development Academy before signing a letter of intent to ...

and Kyle Callan-McFadden. Rocha signed a short-term agreement with Orlando City on 15 June 2016 for a 2016 U.S. Open Cup match. On 3 August 2016, Orlando City acquired Rocha's MLS rights from Sporting Kansas City in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the

2018 MLS SuperDraft The 2018 MLS SuperDraft was the nineteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. As customary, the SuperDraft was held in conjunction with the annual United Soccer Coaches convention. The 2018 UCS was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania bet ...

and he was signed to an MLS contract the day after. Rocha was loaned to

Saint Louis FC Saint Louis FC was an American professional soccer team based in St. Louis, Missouri. The team was founded in May 2014, and competed in the USL Championship. The team played their matches at West Community Stadium, a venue inside the World Wid ...

on 6 April 2018. He returned to Orlando a week later having played twice. At the end of the season the club announced they had not picked up his contract option. On 12 December 2018, Rocha had his rights acquired by

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned b ...

in exchange for a

2019 MLS SuperDraft The 2019 MLS SuperDraft was the twentieth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is typically held in conjunction with the annual January United Soccer Coaches convention, which in 2019 was held in Chicago, Illinois. The fi ...

fourth round pick. Following the 2021 season, New York City opted to decline their contract option on Rocha. On 18 February 2022, Rocha signed with

side

International

In September 2019, Rocha was called into the

for its

CONCACAF Nations League The CONCACAF Nations League ( es, Liga de Naciones CONCACAF, french: Ligue des Nations de la CONCACAF) is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the ...

matches against

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. ...

and Grenada. He made his international debut on 8 September 2019 in Belize's 2–1 loss to Grenada.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

New York City FC *

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

Tulsa Golden Hurricane bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rocha, Tony 1993 births Living people People with acquired Belizean citizenship Belizean footballers Belize international footballers American soccer players American people of Belizean descent Tulsa Golden Hurricane men's soccer players Austin Aztex players Orlando City B players Orlando City SC players Saint Louis FC players New York City FC players Orange County SC players Association football midfielders Soccer players from Texas Sporting Kansas City draft picks Sportspeople from Harris County, Texas USL League Two players National Premier Soccer League players USL Championship players Major League Soccer players People from Spring, Texas