Nelson Vargas (born August 6, 1974) is an American former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player and coach. Vargas spent five seasons in

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 ...

and earned four

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

with the

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT), officially recognized as USA by FIFA, represents the United States in men's international Association football, soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation, which is ...

. He was also a member of the U.S. soccer team at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Soccer

Youth

Vargas attended

Miami Coral Park High School Miami Coral Park Senior High School is a secondary school located in the Westchester, Florida, Westchester census-designated place of Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

in Belgium.

Professional

The

Tampa Bay Mutiny The Tampa Bay Mutiny were an American professional soccer team based in Tampa, Florida. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The Mutiny were a charter member of MLS, playing from 1996 to 2001. Th ...

selected Vargas in the twelfth round (117th overall) in the

1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before Major League Soccer's initial 1996 season, distributed players to the league's ten inaugural teams. The Inaugural Player Draft occurred on February 6 and 7, 1996 after each team was allocated four marqu ...

. He spent two seasons with the Mutiny before the

Miami Fusion Miami Fusion F.C. was an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team played from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one ...

selected Vargas in the 1997 MLS Expansion Draft. On July 25, 2000, while playing in an Open Cup game in

Saginaw, Michigan Saginaw () is a city in Saginaw County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 44,202 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located along the Saginaw River, Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township, ...

, Vargas sustained a right ankle sprain that turned out to be a career-ending injury. After three seasons in Miami, the Fusion waived Vargas in November 2000.

International

In 1991, Vargas was a member of the

United States men's national under-17 soccer team The United States U-17 men's national soccer team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation. The highest level of competition in which the team may compete is in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, which is held every two years. Competitive re ...

at the U-17 World Youth Championship which went 3–0 in the first round. In the second round, the team tied Qatar 1–1 in regulation only to fall 5–4 in

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

s. That same year, he earned his first of four

with the U.S. national team when he came on at half time for Mike Slivinski in a September 14 win over

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

. At the time, Slivinski was the youngest U.S. player to earn a cap and Vargas was only three months older. Vargas did not play again with the senior national team until November 19, 1994, in a loss to

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

. He then played two more games that year, his last coming on December 11. In 1993, Vargas was selected for the U.S. team which qualified for the 1993 U-20 World Cup to be held in Australia. He scored two goal in the

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

qualifying games. At the World Cup, the U.S. went 1-1-1 in group play, qualifying for the second round where it fell to Brazil. In 1996, U.S. coach

Bruce Arena Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who currently serves as the head coach and sporting director of the San Jose Earthquakes. He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. ...

named Vargas to the U.S. soccer team at the

. Once again, the team went 1–1–1, but this time failed to make the second round.

Acting

In 2005, Vargas played the part of John Souza in The Game of Their Lives, a movie about the U.S. victory over England in the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first Wo ...

.IMDB: Nelson Vargas
/ref> He also starred in a Powerade and Allsport commercial that also featured Alexi Lalas.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vargas, Nelson 1974 births Living people Sportspeople from Holyoke, Massachusetts American sportspeople of Colombian descent American men's soccer players Soccer players from Massachusetts Tampa Bay Mutiny players Miami Fusion players Major League Soccer players United States men's youth international soccer players United States men's under-20 international soccer players United States men's under-23 international soccer players Olympic soccer players for the United States Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics United States men's international soccer players American expatriate men's soccer players Men's association football forwards Miami FC coaches Miami Coral Park Senior High School alumni 20th-century American sportsmen