Wilmer López
| Wilmer López | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Wilmer López Arguedas | ||
| Date of birth | (1971-08-03) 3 August 1971 | ||
| Place of birth | Alajuela, Costa Rica | ||
| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Number | 6 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| AD Carmelita | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1992–1993 | AD Carmelita | ||
| 1993–1998 | LD Alajuelense | 238 | (46) |
| 1998 | Deportes Tolima | ||
| 1998–2007 | LD Alajuelense | ||
| 2007–2008 | Municipal Pérez Zeledón | 14 | (1) |
| 2008–2009 | AD Carmelita | ||
| National team | |||
| 1996–2003 | Costa Rica | 76 | (6) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). | |||
Wilmer López Arguedas (born 3 August 1971) is a retired Costa Rican footballer. He played for LD Alajuelense and is one of the club's biggest idols of all time.
Club career
López made his debut in the Costa Rican Primera División on 5 January 1992 playing with AD Carmelita against ASODELI. The following next season, he was bought by LD Alajuelense, becoming one of the most beloved players and a crowd favorite, playing 13 seasons and winning 7 Costa Rican Championships, 3 Copa Interclubes UNCAF championships and 1 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, being part of the team that won 4 national championships in a row (1999–2000–2002–2003). He was named the best player of the national tournament for two seasons in a row before moving to Colombia, and again during another season, when he returned to Costa Rica. He also played the Copa Merconorte and the Copa Sudamericana.
The midfielder, known as "El Pato" (The Duck), played for Carmelita, Deportes Tolima in Colombia and LD Alajuelense, before he was transferred to his current club, Municipal Pérez Zeledón. He is also known as "El Ingeniero" (The Engineer) due to his amazing ability to create plays with short and long passes and also for his fast thinking that made him one of the best midfielders in the region during the '90s and the early 2000s. After 2003, he suffered multiple injuries that made him lose a lot of games and he never regained his earlier abilities as a player, although he was still loved by the crowd and gave a few good games along the road to the end of the 2007 season when his contract expired and the team decided not to hire him again. It was a very sad day for all the LD Alajuelense's fans. Every time the Municipal Pérez Zeledón plays at the Alejandro Morera Soto stadium, his former fans wait for him singing and clapping every time he touches the ball, letting him know he still has part of their hearts.
International career
López played 76 times and scored 6 goals for the Costa Rica national football team. He was a part of the national squad during the qualifying matches for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, and also played in all 3 games during the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in Korea and Japan. He played his last international game in 2003 against the USA.
Retirement
On Wednesday 23 July 2009 Wilmer "El Pato" Lopez played his retirement match with LD Alajuelense vs a team of friends that he picked himself, he will play the first half with his friends and the second half with LD Alajuelense, to finish the match defending the colors that he loves. In this match, "Pato" played along with his song, who plays as he did when he was starting his career.
"El Pato" was one of the most loved players in LD Alajuelense, along with his devotion to "La 12", the official group of Fans. This become more notorious the day of his retirement, when all the fans jumped into the field to carry him on shoulders for almost an hour.
External links
- Wilmer López at National-Football-Teams.com
- Profile on fifa.com
- Appearances for Costa Rica National Team
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