Mauricio Antonio Montero Chinchilla (born 19 October 1963 in

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 ...

) is a retired

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 ...

and current manager of COFUTPA. Nicknamed ''El Chunche'' (The Thing), Montero is widely known for his humble origins, which molded his behavior and charisma. His colloquial lexicon includes phrases such as ''chollarse las nalgas'' ("bust your buttocks"), which he uses as his motto to denote effort.

Playing career

Club

Montero came through the youth ranks of Ramonense and debuted for the senior team in 1980. He moved to

Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Al ...

in 1987 and retired on 15 September 1998 after a game against

Atlético Bucaramanga Club Atlético Bucaramanga S.A., better known as Atlético Bucaramanga, is a Colombian professional football team based in Bucaramanga. The club plays its home games at the Américo Montanini stadium. The club was founded on 11 May 1949 by Rafa ...

.El cuerpo técnico de la Liga en datos
- Nación During that match, Alajuelense retired his #20 jersey that he had used throughout his tenure with the club. Montero, however, did not exclusively use #20 during his Alajuelense tenure as he used #12 on occasion between 1990 and 1991, and #3 (belonging to fellow defender Hernán Fernando Sossa) at least once during the 1990–91 season—Montero himself mentioned that he did this out of need due to the actual #20 shirts not being readily available. He totalled 556 league games, 408 of them for Alajuelense. The nickname ''El Chunche'' ('The thing') comes from his answer to what he would buy with a prize he had won. He answered 'Voy a comprarme un chunche' ('I will buy a thing'), meaning he would like to buy a vehicle (Costa Ricans use the word "chunche" to refer to pretty much anything). He is one of the most charismatic soccer players in Costa Rica. He is the creator of (the vulture shot), a play in which Montero headed to goal line, dribbled goalkeeper and shot powerfully above large pole of goal line approximately by 6 feet length from scoring line, the term derives of exaggeration popular told happening that the ball smashed a vulture, bringing it to ground.

International

Nicknamed ''El Chunche'', ('The Thing'), Montero made his debut for

in 1985 and was part of the squad, that played in the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

held in Italy, and featured in all four games played. The defender collected 56 caps, scoring 3 goals He also represented his country 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 ...

and

1995 UNCAF Nations Cup Six national Association football, football teams from Central America competed in the 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup (''Copa Centroamericana''). The winning team were the defending champions Honduras national football team, Honduras, who defeated Guatem ...

s as well as at 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 he ...

. He played his final international on June 5, 1996 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 ...

International goals

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

Managerial career

A few years after his retirement, Montero became assistant to manager Oscar Ramírez at Belén, then coach with Municipal Grecia in the second division. After two seasons there, he became assistant head coach in his beloved team,

and gained the

CONCACAF Champions' Cup 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, a ...

in 2004 and the national tournament in 2005. He was the coach of Carmelita from 2007 to October 2008. He returned to

to become the first coach assistant, again under Oscar Ramírez' management. He was dismissed in August 2013 and put in charge of the club's U-15 team. In August 2017, Montero was promoted back to the first team as assistant coach to newly hired manager

Wílmer López Wilmer López Arguedas (born 3 August 1971) is a retired Costa Rican footballer. He played for Alajuelense and is one of the club's biggest idols of all time. Club career López made his debut in the Costa Rican Primera División on 5 Januar ...

. Alongside this position, Montero still acted as coach for the club's U17 team. He was only in that role on the first team for just under two months before another shake-up at the end of October 2017, and Montero returned to coaching only the club's U17 team. In 2019, Montero became the coach of Alajuelense's travel team, Once de Abril. Ahead of the 2020-21 season, Montero became coach of Juventud Escazuceña. At the end of December 2021, it was confirmed that Montero would be the coach of Jicaral from the new year. After just three months, Montero was sacked in March 2022 after a poor run, with just 2 wins in 10 games. Just over a month later, he was hired as an assistant coach for Guanacasteca. In June 2022, Montero was announced as the new coach for COFUTPA.

Personal life

Montero is married to Luxinia Ávila and they have three children. He was a commentator for Canal 7 Teletica Deportes during the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil fr ...

Notes

Central American Spanish Central American Spanish ( or ) is the general name of the Spanish language dialects spoken in Central America. More precisely, the term refers to the Spanish language as spoken in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. Pa ...

, the word ''chunche'' () refers to an "object whose name is unknown or not willing to be mentioned".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Montero, Mauricio 1963 births Living people People from Grecia (canton) Footballers from Alajuela Province Men's association football defenders Costa Rican men's footballers Costa Rica men's international footballers 1990 FIFA World Cup players 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Liga FPD players A.D. Ramonense players Liga Deportiva Alajuelense footballers Costa Rican football managers Municipal Grecia managers