Nelson Vargas (born August 6, 1974 in Holyoke, Massachusetts) is a former U.S. soccer player. He spent five seasons in Major League Soccer. He was also a member of the U.S. soccer team at the 1996 Summer Olympics.

[edit] Youth

Vargas attended Miami Coral Park High School and played youth soccer with Inter Juventus in Miami. After high school, he chose to forego college and he moved to Europe to train with Valencienne in France, and Sporting Club of Portugal. Vargas signed his first professional contract at the age of 16 to play for Standard Liege in Belgium.

[edit] MLS

The Tampa Bay Mutiny selected Vargas in the twelfth round (117th overall) in the 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft. He spent two seasons with the Mutiny before the Miami Fusion selected Vargas in the 1997 MLS Expansion Draft. On July 25 2000 while playing in a Open Cup game in Saginaw, Michigan, Vargas sustained a right ankle sprain that turned out to be a career ending injury. After three seasons in Miami, the Fusion waived Vargas on November 2000.^[1]

[edit] U.S. national teams

In 1991, Vargas was a member of the U.S. team at the U-17 World Youth Championship which went 3-0 in the first round. In the second round, the team tied Qatar 1-1 in regulation only to fall 5-4 in penalty kicks.

That same year, he earned his first of four caps with the U.S. national team when he came on at half time for Mike Slivinski in a September 14 win over Jamaica. At the time, Slivinski was the youngest U.S. player to earn a cap and Vargas was only three months older. Vargas did not play again with the senior national team until November 19, 1994 in a loss to Trinidad and Tobago. He then played two more games that year, his last coming on December 11th.

In 1993, Vargas was selected for the U.S. team which qualified for the 1993 U-20 World Cup to be held in Australia. He scored two goal in the CONCACAF qualifying games. At the World Cup, the U.S. went 1-1-1 in group play, qualifying for the second round where it fell to Brazil.

In 1996, U.S. coach Bruce Arena named Vargas to the U.S. soccer team at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Once again, the team went 1-1-1, but this time failed to make the second round.

[edit] Acting

In 2005, Vargas played the part of John Souza in The Game of Their Lives, a movie about the U.S. victory over England in the 1950 FIFA World Cup.^[2] He also starred in a Powerade and Allsport commercial that also featured Alexi Lalas.

v • d • e United States squad – 1996 Summer Olympics 1 Keller • 2 McKeon • 3 Walsh • 4 Pope • 5 Peay • 6 Lalas • 7 Baba • 8 Kirovski • 9 Wood • 10 Reyna • 11 Joseph • 12 Pollard • 13 Hejduk • 14 Maisonneuve • 15 Vargas • 16 Smith • 17 Silvera • 18 Snitko • Coach: Arena