Fernando Caetano Clavijo Cedrés (January 23, 1956 – February 8, 2019) was a Uruguayan-American soccer defender and former head coach of the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

and

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

. He played three seasons in the American Soccer League, two in the North American Soccer League and ten in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He earned 61

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with the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team ...

and eight with the U.S. national

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is t ...

team. He later coached both indoor and outdoor teams as well as at the national team level with Nigeria and Haiti. He was a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and is a 2014 inductee into the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame.

Club career

Outdoor

Clavijo began his professional playing career at the age of 16 with Uruguayan club Atenas de San Carlos. He spent his six seasons with Atenas at forward. In 1979, Clavijo, at the age of 22, left Uruguay and with his wife moved to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

taking a job at a

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

restaurant. At this time, he started playing amateur soccer at an amateur club when some saw him playing and suggested him to try out for a professional club. After a successful trial, Clavijo signed with

New York Apollo The New York Greeks was an American soccer club based in New York City that was a member of the American Soccer League. The team began as the amateur Greek-Americans. The club played lower Premier Division of the German American Soccer League wh ...

of the American Soccer League (ASL). The Apollo changed its name to the New York United between the 1979 and 1980 season. Clavijo then spent two seasons with the United. In 1983, he moved to the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchis ...

of the North American Soccer League (NASL). In 1984, he was an NASL All-Star with the Earthquakes.

Indoor

Clavijo began his indoor soccer career, which rapidly eclipsed his outdoor career, in 1981 with the New York Arrows of Major Indoor Soccer League. The move indoors also brought a change from forward to defender. In 1984, he moved to the San Diego Sockers where he contributed to the Sockers winning three championships in his four years with the team.

International career

Outdoor

In 1987, Clavijo became an American citizen. On November 21, 1990, he debuted for the

in a friendly match against the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

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Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, small ...

. He then became a key player for the American team, being part of the team that won the

1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the first edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and the eleventh overall CONCACAF tournament. The last time the CONCACAF Championship was ...

and that represented the United States in their home soil at the

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

. Despite being 38 years old at the time (the oldest player on the American squad), Clavijo started three of the four matches the United States played in the tournament. Playing mostly as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he was on the field in the 2-1 historic victory against Colombia and in the 1-0 defeat against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the

Round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. After the World Cup, Clavijo retired from professional soccer having represented the United States on 61 occasions in only five years of international career.

Futsal

In 1992, he had earned eight

, scoring two goals, for the United States national futsal team. He was part of the team that finished second at the

1992 FIFA Futsal World Championship The 1992 FIFA Futsal World Championship was the second FIFA Futsal World Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was held between 15 and 28 Nove ...

. In 1998, he also served as the head coach of the United States national futsal team.

Coaching

Clavijo's coaching career began in 1991 with the

St. Louis Storm The St. Louis Storm was a soccer team based out of St. Louis that played in the Major Indoor Soccer League. They played from 1989 to 1992. Their home arena was the St. Louis Arena. The mascot for the St. Louis Storm was named “Colt Flash” (1990 ...

where he was player-coach. In 1994, he became the head coach of the

Seattle SeaDogs The Seattle SeaDogs are a defunct indoor soccer team that played in the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) from 1995 to 1997. They won the last CISL championship in 1997. History In 1995, the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) awarded a ...

of the

Continental Indoor Soccer League The Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) was a professional indoor soccer league that played from 1993 to 1997. History In the summer of 1989 Dr Jerry Buss, the owner of the Los Angeles Lakers and California Sports, told his executive Vice Pr ...

(CISL). In 1997, he was the CISL Coach of the Year. He then moved to the Florida ThunderCats of the National Professional Soccer League. He then assisted ex-US coach Bora Milutinovic with the Nigerian national team at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for th ...

. He followed Bora to Major League Soccer as well, assisting him with the MetroStars in 1999, the worst season for any team in league history at the time. He left the club after the year, assuming head coaching duties with the

in December 1999. Clavijo brought the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

to their second-ever playoff berth his first year in charge. Under his management the franchise finished the 2000 season with a .500 record, the best record in the franchise's history at that time. In his second season in charge the

finished mid-table, but advanced to the

2001 U.S. Open Cup Final The 2001 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup ran from June through October 2001, open to all soccer teams in the United States. The Los Angeles Galaxy won the tournament with a 2–1 victory over the New England Revolution in extra time in the final at Ti ...

, losing away to the

Los Angeles GALAXY LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...

(in Fullerton, CA.) by 1–2 in extra time. Clavijo was fired midway through the 2002 season. On October 16, 2003, Clavijo became the head coach of the Haitian national team. He led them through

World Cup Qualifying The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are h ...

, resigning his position after Haiti lost to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

. On December 22, 2004, the

hired Clavijo as the team's head coach. Clavijo was inducted into the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2005. Coach Clavijo resigned from the Colorado Rapids on August 20, 2008 after a record in all competitions of 43 wins – 55 losses – 26 draws. Clavijo served as Technical Director for MLS club

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise began play in 1996 as a charter club of the leag ...

from 2012 to 2019.

Personal life

Clavijo died on February 8, 2019, in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

, after five years with diagnosed

multiple myeloma Multiple myeloma (MM), also known as plasma cell myeloma and simply myeloma, is a cancer of plasma cells, a type of white blood cell that normally produces antibodies. Often, no symptoms are noticed initially. As it progresses, bone pain, ane ...

Playing stats

MISL stats

NASL

References

External links

Fernando Clavijo NASL/MISL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clavijo, Fernando 1956 births 2019 deaths People from Maldonado, Uruguay Uruguayan footballers American soccer players United States men's international soccer players Uruguayan emigrants to the United States Naturalized citizens of the United States American Soccer League (1933–1983) players Atenas de San Carlos players New York Apollo players New York United players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players San Jose Earthquakes (1974–1988) players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players New York Arrows players San Diego Sockers (original MISL) players Los Angeles Lazers players St. Louis Storm players American men's futsal players American soccer coaches New England Revolution coaches Colorado Rapids coaches Haiti national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Haiti National Soccer Hall of Fame members 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1992 King Fahd Cup players 1993 Copa América players 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning players Major League Soccer coaches New York Red Bulls non-playing staff Association football midfielders Association football defenders Deaths from multiple myeloma Deaths from cancer in Florida American expatriate soccer coaches Uruguayan expatriate football managers Uruguayan expatriate sportspeople in Haiti American expatriate sportspeople in Haiti