Milton Javier Flores Miranda (5 December 1974 – 19 January 2003) was a 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 ...

player.

Early years

Flores was born to Pedro Alfredo Flores and Janneth Miranda in

La Lima La Lima is a city, with a population of 80,740 (2023 calculation),Citypopulation.de
Population of the major ...

, Honduras. Near sports recreation park named ''Polideportivo Chulavista,'' he started playing baseball, but later his goalkeeper talent was discovered. He attended elementary school Manuel Bonilla, where he became best friends with

Carlos Pavón Carlos Alberto Pavón Plummer (born 9 October 1973) is a Honduran former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is regarded as one of the best Honduran footballers in history, and by most as the nation's greatest player ever. Mos ...

. He also played in ''La Mosquito''.

Club career

Nicknamed ''el Chocolate'', the goalkeeper played 231 games for

Real España Real may refer to: Currencies * Argentine real * Brazilian real (R$) * Central American Republic real * Mexican real * Portuguese real * Spanish real * Spanish colonial real Nature and science * Reality, the state of things as they exist, rath ...

from 1992 to 2002. Real Españas fans idolized Chocolate for his excellent performances with the team.

International career

Flores 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 January

1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the third edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). The tournament returned to the United States and California; the games were hosted by Los ...

match against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

and had earned a total of 22 caps, scoring no goals. He has represented his country in 8

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

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. He also was part of the

Honduras national football team The Honduras national football team () represents Honduras in men's international football. The team is governed by the Federación de Fútbol de Honduras (). They are nicknamed ''Los Catrachos'', ''La Bicolor,'' or ''La H''. Honduras has qu ...

at the

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 ...

. His final international was a July 2001 FIFA World Cup qualification match against

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 ...

. One of the most famous games Chocolate ever played was against Brazil for the Panamericanos Of Mar del Plata, Argentina, where he stopped 3 penalties and scored the goal that passed Honduras to the next stage. After that goal, Chocolate danced

punta Punta is an Afro-Indigenous dance and cultural music deeply rooted in the cultural traditions of the Garifuna of Honduras. It heavily incorporates West African/Central African drumming, the dance primarily of Angola and Congo origins. The musi ...

, the national Honduran dance, as a celebration. He was the goalkeeper of the Honduras national soccer team, on the game they won Mexico for the first time in history on qualifiers, at the end of the game, in an interview by Salvador Nasralla, crying he dedicated the win to his mother, who had died years before.

Death and legacy

He was killed by automatic weapons fire as he was allegedly engaged in a sexual act in his parked car in La Unión, the

red light district A red-light district or pleasure district is a part of an urban area where a concentration of prostitution and sex-oriented businesses, such as sex shops, strip clubs, and adult theaters, are found. In most cases, red-light districts are partic ...

San Pedro Sula San Pedro Sula () is the capital of Cortés Department, Honduras. It is located in the northwest corner of the country in the Sula Valley, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) south of Puerto Cortés on the Caribbean Sea. With a population of 701, ...

. After the shooting, he tried to drive himself to a hospital but drove into a tree where he died. It has, alternatively, been voiced that he was passing a notoriously criminal neighborhood where gang members, taking his for a rival car, started shooting Flores' car. After his death, a football stadium was named after him in La Lima, his hometown. His wake took place in Polideportivo Chulavista, with massive attendance by fans, making it one of the most noted funerals ever in Honduras. Soccer players, friends, TV reporters from national and international channels and family gathered to say farewell. He was famous for his imitations of TV personalities in Honduras, and a skillful dancing. Real Espana's fans remember him as one of their team's most memorable players until the present day. He was buried in Lima Nueva Cemetery, next to his mother. He was survived by his wife, Roxana Flores.

Honours and awards

Club

;C.D. Real Espana *

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 ...

(4): 1993–94, 2003–04 A, 2006–07 C, 2010–11 A *

Honduran Cup The Honduran Cup was the top knock-out Association football, football tournament in Honduras. The first tournament was played in 1968 Honduran Cup, 1968, four years later the second tournament took the name ''Copa Presidente'' () in honor of Dr. R ...

: (1):

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

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 ...

(1):

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 ...

References

External links

*
Miles de hondureños en sepelio de Milton "Chocolate" Flores
- Terra {{DEFAULTSORT:Flores, Milton 1974 births 2003 deaths Footballers from Cortés Department Men's association football goalkeepers Honduran men's footballers Honduras men's international footballers 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Real C.D. España players Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Honduras players People murdered in Honduras 21st-century crimes in Honduras Deaths by firearm in Honduras Honduran murder victims Footballers at the 1995 Pan American Games Pan American Games competitors for Honduras Central American Games gold medalists for Honduras Central American Games medalists in football