Arnold Javier Cruz Argueta (born 22 December 1970) is a retired Honduran

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defender. He currently is manager of second division side UPNFM.

Club career

Nicknamed ''Chele'', Cruz started his professional career at Olimpia before moving abroad to join compatriot César Obando at Mexican outfit UA Tamaulipas. He then played for fellow Mexicans

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

and

Morelia Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid; Otomi language, Otomi: ) is a city and municipal seat of the municipalities of Mexico, municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. It is both th ...

and joined

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 ...

in 1997, where he would turn out for D.C. United and San Jose Clash. The much-travelled defender enjoyed a season in Argentinian football with

Chacarita Juniors Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors (usually known simply as Chacarita) is an Argentine association football, football club headquartered in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, while the stadium is located in Villa Maipú, General San Martín Partido of Gre ...

in between two more spells with Olimpia and played for Costa Rican side Cartaginés and the Salvadorans of Águila. He finally returned to Honduras and Olimpia in 2005 and finished his career at Platense in Liga Nacional de Honduras.

International career

Cruz made his debut for

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

in a May

1991 UNCAF Nations Cup The 1991 UNCAF Nations Cup was the inaugural UNCAF Nations Cup, the Central American championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national association football teams. It was organized by the ''Unión Centroamericana d ...

match against

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

and has earned a total of 50 caps, scoring 3 goals. He has represented his country in 18

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

matches and played at the

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 ...

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

and

2003 UNCAF Nations Cup The 2003 UNCAF Nations Cup was an association football tournament. It was held in two venues in Panama in February 2003, and was played in a Round-robin tournament, round robin tournament, each of the 6 teams playing each other once. Costa Rica ...

s as well as at the

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the fourth edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, Gold Cup, the association football, soccer championship for the member associations of CONCACAF, which governs the sport in North America, Central America, and the Caribb ...

s. His final international was a June 2003

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Honduras' goal tally first.''

Retirement

He retired in 2008 and became assistant coach for

Nahúm Espinoza Nahún Alberto Espinoza Zerón (born 14 August 1964) is a retired Honduran football player and football manager, who currently is in charge of Club Deportivo Olimpia. Club career He started his career at Real España and also had a lengthy s ...

at Platense. In 2011, he worked for a Youth Institution of the Honduran government.Arnold Cruz: "Busco oportunidades para los jóvenes"
– Diez He became manager of UPNFM for the 2013 Clausura.

Honours and awards

Club

;C.D. Olimpia *

Liga Profesional de Honduras Liga (Spanish and Portuguese: ''League'') or LIGA may refer to: Sports Basketball * Liga ACB, men's professional basketball league in Spain * Liga Femenina de Baloncesto, women's professional basketball league in Spain Football Latin Ameri ...

(1): 1992–93

Country

;Honduras *

Copa Centroamericana The Copa Centroamericana () was an association football competition organized by UNCAF as its top regional tournament for men's senior national teams from Central America. The tournament was held from 1991 to 2017, every two years in the years be ...

(2):

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Arnold 1970 births Living people Footballers from Yoro Department Men's association football defenders Honduran men's footballers Honduras men's international footballers 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players C.D. Olimpia players Correcaminos UAT footballers Deportivo Toluca F.C. players Atlético Morelia players D.C. United players San Jose Earthquakes players Platense F.C. players Chacarita Juniors footballers C.S. Cartaginés players C.D. Águila footballers Honduran expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Argentina Expatriate men's footballers in Costa Rica Expatriate men's footballers in El Salvador Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players Liga MX players Major League Soccer players Honduran football managers