Román Aureliano Torres Morcillo (; born 20 March 1986) is a Panamanian 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 plays as a defender for the Tacoma Stars in 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 played for the Panama national team and captained them in their first ever

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, where he was regarded as the 'star player' for the national side.

Club career

Torres started his career at Chepo and played alongside compatriot Anthony Basile at Colombian side Cortuluá from January 2006. In January 2007 he moved to La Equidad, where he was joined by compatriot Orlando Rodríguez. His performances gained him notice with several clubs, particularly with English Championship sides

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

and Swansea City during the winter transfer market in 2010. However, a move to England never materialised. He was also on trial for the Championship team

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

in December 2011–January 2012, impressing manager, Steve Cotterill. However, this move also failed to materialize.

Millonarios FC

More recently, his continued good form at Millonarios FC caused Roman to be linked with a move to Brazilian side Palmeiras, though this too failed to materialize. He was a champion of the Colombian national football tournament Liga Postobón II 2012 with Millonarios FC, for whom he played over 100 matches.

Seattle Sounders FC

On 12 August 2015, Torres signed with American club

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The club was established on ...

. He made his debut for the club on 18 August, during a 4–0 win over

Orlando City SC Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...

in Seattle. During a match on 12 September against the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

, Torres suffered a knee injury that resulted in him being substituted at half-time. It was later revealed to be an

anterior cruciate ligament injury An anterior cruciate ligament injury occurs when the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is either stretched, partially torn, or completely torn. The most common injury is a complete tear. Symptoms include pain, an audible cracking sound during in ...

, forcing Torres to miss the rest of the season for surgery and rehabilitation. Torres returned to team training in June 2016 and made his full return on 28 August during a match against the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

. On 10 December 2016, Torres scored the Cup-winning penalty in a shoot-out against

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

to win the

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

, the first in Sounders history. On 2 August 2019, Torres was suspended for ten matches after testing positive for a

performance-enhancing substance Performance-enhancing substances (PESs), also known as performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), are substances that are used to improve any form of activity performance in humans. Many substances, such as anabolic steroids, can be used to improve ath ...

by the league. He was also fined one-fifth of his salary.

Inter Miami CF

On 29 December 2019, it was announced that Torres had joined

Inter Miami CF Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami (), commonly referred to as Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (M ...

ahead of their inaugural season in

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional 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 sanctioned by the United ...

in 2020.

Return to Seattle Sounders FC

On September 28, 2020, Torres was traded back to

Cartagines, Costa Rican League

In January 2021, Torres signed with Costa Rican club C.S. Cartaginés.

Dallas Sidekicks

Torres signed with the Dallas Sidekicks of the

on 3 February 2023.

Tacoma Stars

Torres returned to the Pacific Northwest in August 2023, signing with the

's Tacoma Stars.

International career

Torres was a member of the Panama U-20 squad that took part in the 2005 FIFA World Youth Cup in the Netherlands. Torres has made 119 appearances for the full Panama national team, including qualifying matches for the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

and 2018 World Cup. He made his debut at the

2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the eighth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). It was contested in the United States in July 2005. The United States emerged victorious i ...

against

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

on 17 July 2005. He also made three appearances at the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup. While captaining the Panamanian squad in the semi-final match of the

2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 13th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup competition and the 23rd CONCACAF regional championship overall in the organization's fifty-four years of existence. It was held in the United States, with two matches bei ...

Torres scored the first goal of the match on a header. His team, down a man based on a red card awarded by the referee, lost the match in extra time after Torres was called for a handball late in regulation. On 10 October 2017, during the final qualifying match for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Torres scored the game-winning goal 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 ...

with three minutes left in the game, which combined with 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 ...

' 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 ...

, helped Panama qualify for their first ever World Cup, making him a national hero. Torres was named in Panama's 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. Before Panama's final game in the 2018 World Cup against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, Torres announced his official retirement from the national side. Torres achieved his dream of helping Panama reach the country's first ever World Cup. However he has since backtracked from his statement, accepting a call-up for a friendly against

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

in September 2018, and was included in Panama's squad for the

2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 15th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's association football, soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was p ...

Career statistics

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Panama's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Torres earned a U.S. green card in February 2018, which also qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes. He has a son named, Adriano Torres who was born in 2008. Currently, his son is going to middle school as of 2019.

Honours

Chepo * Copa Rommel Fernández: 2003 San Francisco * Liga Panameña de Futbol: 2005 Clausura, 2006 Apertura La Equidad *

Copa Colombia The Copa Colombia (); officially known as Copa BetPlay Dimayor is an annual football tournament in Colombia. It is contested by the 36 professional clubs affiliated to the División Mayor del Fútbol Profesional Colombiano (DIMAYOR) and is the ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Atlético Junior *

Categoría Primera A The Categoría Primera A (), commonly referred to as Liga BetPlay Dimayor due to Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by online betting company BetPlay, is a professional association football league in Colombia and the highest level of the Colombian ...

: 2010 Apertura Atlético Nacional *Categoría Primera A: 2011 Apertura Millonarios *Categoría Primera A: 2012 Finalización Seattle Sounders *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Panama * Copa Centroamericana:

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

; runner-up:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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 ...

runner-up:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

; third place:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Individual * CONCACAF Best XI:

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Torres, Roman 1986 births Living people Footballers from Panama City Men's association football defenders Panamanian men's footballers 21st-century Panamanian sportsmen Panama men's international footballers Panamanian expatriate men's footballers Chepo F.C. players San Francisco F.C. players Cortuluá footballers La Equidad footballers Atlético Junior footballers Atlético Nacional footballers Millonarios F.C. players Seattle Sounders FC players Tacoma Defiance players Inter Miami CF players Expatriate men's footballers in Colombia Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in Colombia Panamanian expatriate sportspeople in the United States 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Liga Panameña de Fútbol players Categoría Primera A players Major League Soccer players FIFA Men's Century Club 2018 FIFA World Cup players USL Championship players 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup players