Martín Vásquez

Vasquez and his family moved to Los Angeles at age 12. He attended Alhambra High School in Alhambra, California, where he was a high school All-American soccer player.[2] After high school, he returned to Mexico to briefly play for the B side of the Leones Negros de Guadalajara.

In 1981, Vasquez entered California State University, Los Angeles, playing on the men's soccer team from 1981 to 1983.[3] During his first two years, he spent the college off-season with Cojumatlan in the San Gabriel Valley Soccer League, in El Monte, California.

In the fall of 1984, Vasquez signed with the Los Angeles Lazers of the Major Indoor Soccer League. He then played for the Hollywood Kickers of the Western Soccer Alliance.[4] That fall, he joined the Memphis Storm in the American Indoor Soccer Association, where he scored seventeen goals and added nineteen assists in twenty-three games, ranking second on the league's points list.[5]

In 1987, Vasquez returned to the Kickers, now renamed the California Kickers.[6] In 1988, Cachorros de la Universidad de Guadalajara signed the player, based on the recommendation of Hugo Salcedo, president of the Kickers.[7] In 1990–91, he represented Puebla FC, moving to CD Veracruz in the following campaign.

In 1992, Vasquez joined F.C. Atlas, leaving four years later to return to the United States, with the establishment of Major League Soccer. That year, he was allocated to the Tampa Bay Mutiny, and spent two season with them, before rounding out his MLS career with the San Jose Clash in 1998. The next year, he played for the Orange County Zodiac in the USL A-League.[8]

Vasquez played three games with the Mexico national team one of them being against Colombia and the other two against Russia, during César Luis Menotti's spell as coach. However, none of the matches he played for his birth nation were FIFA-sanctioned.

Vasquez received American citizenship in 1996. Subsequently, he was called up to the national team by Steve Sampson, going on to earn seven caps in a two-year span. His debut came on December 21, 1996 against Guatemala (2–2 away draw), in a 1998 World Cup qualifier, and he last appeared in the home 4–2 victory over El Salvador, for the same competition, on November 16, 1997. He started the game, then came off in the 63rd minute for Mike Sorber.[9]