Víctor Hugo Merino "El Pega" Dubón (born 18 August 1979) is a Salvadoran 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 an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

FC Jazz

Merino signed his first professional contract at the age of 17 with Finnish team

FC Jazz Pori Football Club Jazz, commonly known as just Jazz, is a Finnish football club based in Pori, which plays in the Finnish third tier, Ykkönen. The club was founded in 1934 as Porin Pallo-Toverit. PPT changed its name to FC Jazz in November 1991. FC ...

. In Finland he is known by his

maternal A mother is the female parent of a child. A woman may be considered a mother by virtue of having given birth, by raising a child who may or may not be her biological offspring, or by supplying her ovum for fertilisation in the case of gestatio ...

family name ''Dubón''. Initially, the contract was for five years, but Merino struggled to accommodate himself with the change in climate and the

Finnish language Finnish (endonym: or ) is a Finnic languages, Finnic language of the Uralic languages, Uralic language family, spoken by the majority of the population in Finland and by ethnic Finns outside of Finland. Finnish is one of the two official langu ...

. As a result, he returned after four seasons. Merino spent his first year in Finland with FC Jazz's junior team. The next season, he debuted in the Finnish top level,

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

. Merino played total of 76 games in Veikkausliiga, scoring five goals. He also represented FC Jazz in

2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Aston Villa, Paris Saint-Germain and Troyes. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ...

as the club played against

Gloria Bistriţa Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkins ...

and

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain () or simply PSG, is a French professional Association football, football club based in Paris. They compete in Ligue 1, the French football league system, top d ...

Alianza FC

On his return to

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 ...

, Merino signed with one of the countries biggest clubs in Alianza FC. His dribbling skills quickly made him a fan favourite, but his lack of consistency saw him transfer to San Salvador FC for the Apertura 2001.

San Salvador FC

At San Salvador FC, Merino began to excel and mature as a player. He was arguably the team's driving force in attack and helped them win the Clausura 2003 title, scoring one of their three goals at the final against

Luis Ángel Firpo Luis Ángel Firpo (October 11, 1894 – August 7, 1960) was an Argentine boxer. Born in Junín, Argentina, he was nicknamed ''The Wild Bull of the Pampas''. He was the first Latin American in history to challenge for the world heavyweight titl ...

Luis Ángel Firpo

His great form saw him not only be selected into the national team, but also saw him gain the attention of another one of El Salvador's larger clubs in

, whom he signed for the following tournament after his title win with San Salvador FC. Here Merino continued to impress and was seen as one of the country's best creative

s. Unfortunately for Merino, he suffered an injury in the Clausura 2005 and upon his return found it difficult to return to the high level of play that he had held for many years. Although he still produced moments of brilliance, he was not as consistent and he also failed to at times, play as part of a team.

FAS

His lack of form saw him once again transfer to another one of the Salvadoran giants of football in FAS. Here he saw limited playing time and as a result was transfer after one year to Águila.

Águila

This move not only meant a fresh start for Merino, but also saw him join the list of a select few players that have played for what are considered the "Big Four" clubs in the country (that being Alianza FC, Luis Ángel Firpo, FAS and Águila). Fortunately for Merino this move has seen to have suited him well as he has now become a regular starter and an important part of the team. Although his form is far from what it once was, he has lifted it to a level that many had not seen him play at for well over three years.

Return to Luis Ángel Firpo

In 2009, Merino signed again with Luis Ángel Firpo.

Isidro Metapán

Merino signed with Isidro Metapán for the Apertura 2013.

Sonsonate FC

In July 2015, Merino signed with Sonsonate FC.

Chalatenango

In 2017, Merino signed with Chalatenango for the Apertura 2017.

International career

Dubón received his first called up to the

El Salvador national football team The El Salvador national football team (), known as ("the National Team"), represents El Salvador in international football, and is governed by the Federación Salvadoreña de Fútbol (). The national team's first match was played in Septemb ...

in 2003. He made his debut for the ''Cuscatlecos'' in a July 2004

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and has earned a total of 20 caps, scoring 1 goal. He has represented his country in 4

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

2007 UNCAF Nations Cup The 2007 UNCAF Nations Cup was the ninth version of the biennial association football, football tournament for the CONCACAF national teams of Central America. The event took place in San Salvador, El Salvador from February 8 to February 18, 2007. I ...

as well as at the

2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the ninth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), and was won by the United States over Mexico. It was contested in the United States from J ...

.CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2007 - Full Details
- RSSSF His final international match was a September 2007 friendly match against

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list El Salvador's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

; San Salvador FC * Champion: Clausura 2003 * Runners-up: Apertura 2002 ;

* Runners-up: Clausura 2005, Clausura 2007 ; FAS * Runners-up: Apertura 2007, Clausura 2008 ; Isidro Metapán * Apertura 2013, Clausura 2014, Apertura 2014 * Runners-up: Clausura 2015

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Merino, Victor 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from San Salvador Department Men's association football midfielders Salvadoran men's footballers 21st-century Salvadoran sportsmen El Salvador men's international footballers 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players FC Jazz players Alianza F.C. (El Salvador) footballers San Salvador F.C. footballers C.D. Luis Ángel Firpo footballers C.D. FAS footballers C.D. Águila footballers C.D. Atlético Marte footballers Veikkausliiga players Salvadoran expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Salvadoran expatriate sportspeople in Finland