Roger Espinoza

Espinoza in the jersey of Kansas City (2012 )

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

Club career

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

Ranks # 11 of the Kansas City Wizards selected, he came in his first professional season, mainly in the left midfield to 22 league operations, in his second season, he brought it to just 16 appearances, also due to its tournaments with the national team, six of them stood he in the starting lineup. For the 2010 season coach Peter Vermes pulled him back to the left-back position, where he has acted as a regular player.

Beginning in January 2013 moved to the English first division Espinoza Wigan Athletic. He signed a contract until the end of June 2015.

National

Espinoza was first called by coach Reinaldo Rueda for the Copa Centroamericana Nations Cup 2009 in the Honduran national team. During the tournament Espinoza came to three stakes in a 1-0 success in the 3rd place match against El Salvador, he also scored his first international goal. A few months later, he was also the CONCACAF Gold Cup 2009 squad, came in reaching the semi-finals in all five games for use and scoring one goal in a 4-0 group stage win against Grenada. In the official tournament report Espinoza is listed as one of three "outstanding " players of his team, was the opinion of the Technical Study Group the "ideal complement to Carlo Costly and Walter Martínez ", "half in the midfield and the defense of" and " took stock clearances around to be playable. "

In May 2010, Rueda nominated the midfielder in the 23- man squad for the FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa.