Marco Rodriguez (born January 7, 1992) is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He has also played at the international level with the Canada national futsal team.

Career

Early career

Rodriguez played at the youth level in Argentina with

Club Atlético Platense Club Atlético Platense is an Argentine sports club based in Florida, Buenos Aires. The club nickname is (Squid) after the journalist Palacio Zino said that the team moved "like a squid in its ink". Although the club hosts many activities, Pla ...

from 2009 until 2013. After a successful trial with

Defensor Sporting Defensor Sporting Club is a sports club based in Montevideo, Uruguay. Founded in 1913, Defensor has several sports sections, with football and basketball being the most important and the ones in which the club has achieved significant achievement ...

in 2013, he was accepted into the club's reserve squad. Following a year in Uruguay, he returned to Canada in 2014 and became involved with

Toronto FC Academy Toronto FC Academy, also known as TFC Academy, is the Youth system, youth academy and development system of Canadian Major League Soccer club Toronto FC, which competes in MLS Next. The academy has divisions from U14 to U19 and includes over 110 ...

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1ON) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association. League1 Ontario consists of three tiers – League1 Premier ...

. In his debut season with TFC Academy, he helped the club win the Inter-Provincial Cup after defeating CS Longueuil.

Asia

In 2015, he played abroad in Asia in Macau's

Liga de Elite Liga de Elite (; ), previously known as Campeonato da 1ª Divisão do Futebol, is the top division of the Associação de Futebol de Macau, Macau Football Association, created in 1973. The league features local players and professional foreign pl ...

with

Windsor Arch Ka I Ka I () are a Macanese professional football club that competes in the Liga de Elite. History Founded in Taipa in 1985 under the name Associacão Desportiva Ka I, the club has seven titles to its name: three Liga de Elite titles and four Taç ...

. His tenure with the club was short as he departed for the last portion of the season. He would appear in 10 matches and record 6 goals.

Canada

He returned to Canada in 2016 to play in the southern Ontario-based

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; ) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL). It is a non-FIFA league previously ...

with the

York Region Shooters York Region Shooters is a Canadian association football, soccer team, that plays in the Canadian Soccer League. The Shooters played their home games at the St. Joan of Arc Turf Field in the City of Vaughan, Ontario. The team's colours were blue ...

. Rodriguez made his debut for the club on May 29, 2016, against

Brantford Galaxy Brantford Galaxy Soccer Club was a semi-professional Canadian soccer club based in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, with their home venue located in Hamilton, Ontario at the Heritage Field Turf. The club competes in the Canadian Soccer League, a league ...

where he recorded a goal. Throughout his stint with York Region, he assisted the club in securing the First Division title. He had another run in League1 Ontario in 2017 where he played with

Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which ...

. In the summer of 2019, he participated in the Croatian World Club Championship with

Toronto Croatia C.N.S.C. Toronto Croatia (Croatian National Sports Club Toronto Croatia) is a Canadian soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, that plays in the Supergroup Open Division in the Canadian Academy of Football. The team's colours are red, white and b ...

where he played in the championship final where Toronto lost the match in a penalty shootout to SC Croat San Pedro.

Indoor

In 2016, he won the Futsal Canadian Championship with Toronto United Futsal. He joined the professional ranks of

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer is a form of five-a-side football, five-a-side or six-a-side version of minifootball. It is derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arenas. It differs from the FIFA, FIFA ...

for the 2016-17 season when he signed with

Florida Tropics SC Florida Tropics SC is a professional soccer club based in Lakeland, Florida. They are owned by Central Florida Sports Ventures, LLC, led by Dr. Panos Iakovidis, and former USL commissioner and Rochester Rhinos owner Chris Economides. The or ...

of the

Major Arena Soccer League The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) is a professional indoor soccer league in North America. The MASL features teams playing coast-to-coast in the United States and Mexico. The league is the highest level of arena soccer in North America. The le ...

. He recorded a hattrick on January 14, 2017, against St. Louis Ambush. Rodriguez received an honorable mention for week 12 of the competition. In his debut season with Florida, he appeared in 20 matches and recorded 8 goals. He returned for his sophomore season where he appeared in 22 matches and recorded 2 goals. When the MASL expanded into Canada he was acquired by the expansion side

Mississauga MetroStars Mississauga MetroStars (briefly known as MetroStars Canada in 2019) were a professional indoor soccer team which played its home games at the Paramount Fine Foods Centre in Mississauga, a suburb of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The team joined the Ma ...

for the 2018-19 season. He missed the opening match due to a buildup of suspension cards from his previous tenure with Florida. He made his debut for Mississauga on December 7, 2018, against his former club Florida where he also recorded his first goal for the MetroStars. He assisted Mississauga in breaking their losing streak of eight matches by contributing a goal against Harrisburg Heat which marked the club's second win throughout the season. After an incident with a player in Harrisburg on March 9, 2019, he received a suspension for several matches. In total, he made 18 appearances and scored 11 goals.

International career

Rodriguez was selected by head coach Kyt Selaidopoulos to help the Canada national futsal team qualify for the

2016 CONCACAF Futsal Championship The 2016 CONCACAF Futsal Championship was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Futsal Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship organised by CONCACAF for the men's national teams of the North, Central American and Caribbean regio ...

in a qualification series against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Throughout the futsal tournament, he recorded a goal against Curacao where the Canadians won the match by a score of 7-4. He was called up by Selaidopoulos once more this time for the

2021 CONCACAF Futsal Championship The 2021 CONCACAF Futsal Championship was the 7th edition of the CONCACAF Futsal Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship organised by CONCACAF for the men's national teams of the North, Central American and Caribbean regio ...

. In the opening match for the national team, he helped Canada defeat

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

. The national team managed to advance to the quarterfinals but was defeated in a penalty shootout by

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 ...

Personal life

Rodriguez was born in Toronto to Argentine parents.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodriguez, Marco 1992 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Canadian men's soccer players Canadian men's futsal players Canadian people of Argentine descent Windsor Arch Ka I players York Region Shooters players Toronto Croatia players Florida Tropics SC players Mississauga MetroStars players League1 Ontario players Major Arena Soccer League players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Liga de Elite players Toronto FC Academy players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen