Kendall Jamaal Waston Manley (born 1 January 1988) is a Costa Rican professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

and

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Liga FPD The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Liga de Fútbol de Primera División (Liga FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Uni ...

club

Saprissa Deportivo Saprissa is a Costa Rican sports club, mostly known for its football team. The club is based in San Juan de Tibás, San José, and play their home games at the Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá. Their colours are burgundy and white. It ...

and the Costa Rica national team.

Club career

Saprissa and loans

Waston made his professional debut for

in 2006 and played on loan for Carmelita in the

Primera División de Costa Rica The Primera División of Costa Rica, commonly known as Liga de Fútbol de Primera División (Liga FPD), and Liga Promerica for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional association football division in Costa Rica. It is administered by the Uni ...

before moving abroad for a six-month loan spell with

Club Nacional de Football Club Nacional de Football (, ''National Football Club'') is a Uruguayan professional sports club based in La Blanqueada, La Blanqueada, Montevideo. The club was founded on 14 May 1899 as a result of the merger between ''Uruguay Athletic Club'' an ...

in the

Primera División Uruguaya Primera may refer to * Nissan Primera, a car * Primera Air Primera Air Scandinavia Aktieselskab, A/S, was a Denmark, Danish airline owned by Primera Travel Group. It provided scheduled and charter passenger services from Northern Europe to mo ...

from February 2008. In March 2010, Waston signed a three-month loan deal with Bayamón of the

Puerto Rico Soccer League The Puerto Rico Soccer League or PRSL is an association football league in Puerto Rico founded in 2008 and the first unified football league in the island's history. Association football had been growing in popularity in recent years, and this wa ...

to help the club qualify for the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

. He later had three more loan spells, one at UCR and two at Pérez Zeledón. In May 2012 Waston returned to Deportivo Saprissa to be part of the first team.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

On 8 August 2014, Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced a deal that they had acquired the defender from Saprissa. Waston joined the first team in the midst of their 2014 MLS season. On 25 October 2014, Waston scored the only goal in the Whitecaps' final game of the regular season, heading in a corner kick from

Pedro Morales Pedro Antonio Morales (October 22, 1942 – February 12, 2019) was a Puerto Rican professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the United States with Worldwide Wrestling Associates (WWA) and the World Wide Wrestling Federati ...

, sending the Whitecaps to the playoffs for the second time in their four years since joining MLS. The impact that Waston had on the Whitecaps' season after joining the club earned him a nomination for MLS Player of the Month for October. Waston played his 100th MLS game for the Whitecaps on 26 May 2018, against San Jose. He signed a new contract before the 2018 season, becoming a designated player under league rules. Waston was the captain of Vancouver Whitecaps, having been named so before the 2017 MLS season.

FC Cincinnati

On 11 December 2018, Waston was traded to

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati is an American professional soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team was first announced on August 12, 2015 as a United Soccer Leag ...

ahead of their inaugural season in MLS. Vancouver received $450,000 of General Allocation Money, $300,000 of Targeted Allocation Money and an international roster spot. Waston captained the team for the majority of the 2019 MLS season. He was released by Cincinnati at the end of their 2020 season.

International career

A big defender, Waston was part of Costa Rica's 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup squad. Born in Costa Rica, Waston is of Jamaican descent. He made his senior debut for

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

in a May 2013 match against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and earned, as of December 2014, one more cap in a 2014

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 ...

against

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, ...

. On 8 October, he scored a 95th-minute equaliser for Costa Rica against Honduras to send Costa Rica to the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

. While placed on the bench for the first two games of the FIFA world cup Kendall had a chance to play in the third match and was able to score off a header and gain his first World Cup goal.

Career statistics

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first.''

Honours

Saprissa *

: Clausura 2014, Clausura 2021 *

Costa Rican Cup The Costa Rican Cup (''Torneo de Copa de Costa Rica'') is the top knock-out football tournament in Costa Rica which also serves as a qualification to the Supercopa Centroamericana. It was played for three seasons from 2013 to 2015. A 2019 edition ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Vancouver Whitecaps *

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Individual * Vancouver Whitecaps FC Player of the Year:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

MLS Best XI The MLS Best XI is an annual acknowledgment of the best eleven players in Major League Soccer. The selection is determined by a collection of media, players, and MLS club technical staffs. Winners Appearances by player The following players ...

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 ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

* CONCACAF Best XI:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Waston, Kendall 1988 births Living people A.D. Carmelita footballers Men's association football defenders Bayamón Fútbol Club players Club Nacional de Football players Copa América Centenario players Costa Rican men's footballers 21st-century Costa Rican sportsmen Costa Rica men's international footballers Costa Rican people of Jamaican descent Designated Players (MLS) Deportivo Saprissa players FC Cincinnati players Liga FPD players Major League Soccer All-Stars Major League Soccer players A.D. Municipal Pérez Zeledón footballers Footballers from San José, Costa Rica La U Universitarios footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Expatriate men's footballers in Puerto Rico Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Puerto Rico Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Costa Rican expatriate sportspeople in Canada 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Costa Rica men's under-20 international footballers Costa Rica men's youth international footballers