Sergio de Jesús Méndez Bolaños (14 February 1943 – 18 December 1976) was a

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 from

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

who represented his country at the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the 9th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Club career

Méndez came from a family of footballers, his younger brother and some first cousins were also professional soccer players for CD Luis Angel Firpo and Alianza FC. Nicknamed (El Tabudo) because of the town where he was born, Méndez played for Atlético Marte, C.D. Suchitepequez (Guatemala) and C.D.Águila where he was one of the top scorers during his years in the team. Méndez was a very good friend of Brazilian defender Zózimo Alves Calazães, both met while playing for CD Aguila. Calazães said during an interview in 1968 for La Prensa Grafica, he'd never seen a midfielder-striker with the qualities of Méndez. "The speed, the aerial skills and his style of playing were incomparable, and those qualities made Méndez a very dangerous striker". He also predicted El Salvador was going to qualify for the FIFA 1970 Mexico World Cup. Ironically, Calazães also died in an automobile accident in 1977.

National team career

Méndez played 7 matches for

at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

, after he had scored against

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

in the qualifiers. Méndez also had the opportunity to play at the

1965 CONCACAF Championship The 1965 CONCACAF Championship, was the 2nd edition of the CONCACAF Championship, the tournament was held in Guatemala from 28 March to 11 April. It had 6 participating teams. Qualifying round Caribbean Zone Jamaica, Trinidad, Dominican Republ ...

where he played all of the games. In the Championship he started in 6 games, substituted in 2 games and scored 5 goals for the Salvadoran team. He also played in all the world cup qualification games scoring 3 goals and the three subsequent matches at the 1970 World Cup Finals.

Personal life

Besides playing soccer and alongside being a professional soccer player, Méndez was pursuing his other passion of becoming a lawyer at the National University of El Salvador, at the time of his death he was already in his second year of his political science degree and was already teaching political and law science as a substitute professor in a private university. Salvadorean international footballer Mágico González said during an interview that Méndez was his inspiration to become a professional soccer player; "I always admired his style of play and his overall ability with the ball, he stated".

Death

Sergio Méndez died in a car accident in December 1976. He is one of six Mexico 1970 FIFA world cup attended players and the 1968 Olympic footballers of El Salvador National team who have already died. Méndez was a very good friend of footballer José Quintanilla as they were also teammates in C.D. Atletico Marte and the national team.Hace 40 años de aquel México 70
- El Salvador.com

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Méndez, Sergio 1943 births 1976 deaths Sportspeople from Usulután Department Men's association football midfielders Salvadoran men's footballers El Salvador men's international footballers Footballers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for El Salvador 1970 FIFA World Cup players C.D. Atlético Marte footballers C.D. Águila footballers Road incident deaths in El Salvador