Eduardo Missael Espinoza Padilla (born 12 April 1965) is a Mexican former 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 played 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 ...

Club career

A versatile player capable of lining up in the attack or on the right side of midfield, Espinoza began his career with

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

during the 1984–85 season.MedioTiempo
"Misael Espinoza - Monterrey"
Retrieved on January 19, 2013. He participated with the Monterrey team that won the shortened Mexico 86 championship, becoming a frequent starter two seasons later and remaining with the club through 1993. Espinoza then joined Chivas, coming back from a serious injury that sidelined him for much of 1993, and scored a career-high 14 goals in 1994–95. In 1996, he signed with the San Jose Clash of the newly formed

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

, scoring 10 goals and winning honors as the club's most valuable player. Returning to Mexico with Chivas, he filled the role of a designated substitute as the club won the Verano 1997 title. He moved to León, finishing as runner-up to

Cruz Azul Club de Futbol Cruz Azul S.A. de C.V., commonly referred to as Cruz Azul, is a professional association football, football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. It competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football league system, Mexican footba ...

in the Invierno 1997 tournament, then joined

Necaxa Impulsora del Deportivo Necaxa S.A. de C.V. (); often simply known as Club Necaxa, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in Aguascalientes (city), Aguascalientes. It competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican ...

to win the Invierno 1998 competition. He returned to León in 2000, transferred

Querétaro Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...

upon the 2002 relegation of León, and closed his top-flight career with his original club Monterrey in 2005 at the age of 40.

International career

Espinoza also obtained a total number of 41 caps and 4 goals for the Mexico national team between 1990 and 1995. His first cap came in a 2–0 victory over

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

on April 17, 1990. He later represented Mexico at the inaugural

CONCACAF Gold Cup The CONCACAF Gold Cup () is an association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for men's senior national teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The tournament is held every two ...

of 1991, playing all five matches, and appeared in six qualifying matches for the

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

under the direction of

César Luis Menotti César Luis Menotti (; 22 October 1938 – 5 May 2024), known as ''El Flaco'' ("Slim"), was an Argentine association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager who won the 1978 FIFA World Cup as the head coach of the ...

. Espinoza made the final squad for the World Cup, albeit without playing a game in the competition. He was also selected for

Miguel Mejía Baron --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands *São Miguel (disamb ...

's 22-man squad at the

1995 Copa América The 1995 Copa América football tournament was staged in Uruguay. The host country, Uruguay, won it for a record-tying 14th time by beating Brazil 5–3 in the penalty shootout after a 1–1 draw in the final. All 10 CONMEBOL members took part, w ...

, which was the final major event of his international career. His last cap came in a penalty-kick defeat in the Copa América quarterfinal 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 ...

on July 17, 1995.Tabeira, Martín
"Copa América 1995"
''

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

'', March 25, 2011. Retrieved on January 19, 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Espinoza, Missael 1965 births Living people Footballers from Tepic, Nayarit Men's association football midfielders Mexican men's footballers Mexico men's international footballers 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1994 FIFA World Cup players 1995 Copa América players C.F. Monterrey players C.D. Guadalajara footballers San Jose Earthquakes players Club León footballers Club Necaxa footballers Querétaro F.C. footballers Liga MX players Major League Soccer players Mexican expatriate men's footballers Mexican expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 20th-century Mexican sportsmen