Róger Espinoza

Róger Espinoza
Espinoza in the Jersey of Kansas City (2012)
Personnel
Surname	Róger Anibal Espinoza Ramírez
birthday	October 25, 1986
place of birth	Puerto Cortés ,  Honduras
size	181 cm
position	Defense , midfield
Juniors
Years	station
2005-2006	Yavapai College
2007	Ohio State University
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2006	Arizona Sahuaros	7 (1)
2008–2012	Sporting Kansas City	113 (2)
2013-2014	Wigan Athletic	36 (2)
2015–	Sporting Kansas City	212 (6)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals) 2
2009–	Honduras	52 (5)
1 Only league games are given. As of August 26, 2018 2 As of March 28, 2017

Róger Anibal Espinoza Ramírez (born October 25, 1986 in Puerto Cortés ) is a Honduran football player .

Club career

Espinoza learned to play football on the streets of the Honduran coastal city of Puerto Cortés, but did not play in a club. At the age of twelve he moved to Denver with his parents and siblings in the United States . Sponsored by former MLS professional Rafael Amaya , Espinoza led the soccer team of the Regis Jesuit High School in 2003 and 2004 into the semifinals and quarterfinals of the Colorado State Championship , also in 2004 he won the national championship with the selection of the Colorado Olympic Development Program . He then played for two years for Yavapai College in the National Junior College Athletic Association (in the 2006 season break also in the men's area for the Arizona Sahuaros ) and in 2007 moved to Ohio State University . There, too, he was one of the top performers, won the Big Ten Conference with the college team and reached the national championship final, in which the team from Wake Forest University lost 2-1. Since he would not have been eligible to participate in the MLS draft after a year in college , he decided on a Generation Adidas contract and then took part in the MLS SuperDraft 2008 .

Espinoza was selected by the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting Kansas City ) and he came in his first professional season mainly in left midfield to 22 league appearances. In his second season, due to his tournament participation with the national team, he made 16 games, six of which he was on the starting line-up. For the 2010 season , coach Peter Vermes pulled him back to the left-back position, where he has been a regular since then.

In early January 2013, Espinoza moved to the English first division side Wigan Athletic . He signed a contract until the end of June 2015. There he came to 12 Premier League appearances in the 2012/13 season; In 2013/14 he played 18 times in the Football League Championship after his club was relegated .

National team

Espinoza was appointed to the Honduran national team for the first time by national coach Reinaldo Rueda for the UNCAF Nations Cup 2009 . Espinoza made three appearances in the course of the tournament, and in the 1-0 win in the game for third place against El Salvador, he also scored his first international goal. A few months later he was also part of the team at the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 , was used in all five games when reaching the semi-finals and scored one goal in the 4-0 preliminary round win against Grenada. In the official tournament report, Espinoza is listed as one of three “outstanding” players on his team. According to the technical study group, it was the “ ideal complement to Carlo Costly and Walter Martínez ”, “ helped out in midfield and the defense ” and “ created space for himself to be playable ”.

In May 2010 Rueda nominated the midfielder in the 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa , in which Espinoza was used in the games against Chile and Spain . He was also nominated again for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil .

Web links

• Róger Espinoza in the database of weltfussball.de
• Róger Espinoza in the database of National-Football-Teams.com (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ socceramerica.com: Life In the Pros: The New Generation (Feb. 4, 2008)
2. ↑ ohiostatebuckeyes.com: Roger Espinoza bio  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ ohiostatebuckeyes.com: Men's Soccer: Ohio State Junior Roger Espinoza to Enter MLS Draft (16. Jan. 2008)  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ mlssoccer.com: KC's Espinoza keeping World Cup dream alive (April 20, 2010)
5. ↑ wiganlatics.co.uk: ESPINOZA DEAL COMPLETE , January 4, 2013, accessed January 4, 2013
6. ^ CONCACAF (Ed.): CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 - Technical Report . New York 2009, p. 38
7. ↑ Coach Suarez names World Cup line-up. kicker online, May 5, 2014, accessed June 15, 2014 .