Hernán Medford
Hernán Medford
Main page
1940752

Hernán Medford

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Hernán Medford

Hernán Evaristo Medford Bryan (/ɜːrˈnɑːn/ er-NAHN, Spanish: [eɾˈnam ˈmeðfoɾ(ð)]; born May 23, 1968) is a Costa Rican professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Liga Guate club Marquense. Highly regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Central American football, Medford achieved success as both a player and a coach.

As a player, Medford is fondly remembered in Costa Rica for two historic goals, both of which he considers his favorite, while playing for Costa Rica: the winning goal of a group stage match against Sweden to qualify to the knockout stage, and the winning goal of the Aztecazo, Mexico's first defeat in a non-friendly match at the Estadio Azteca.

Numerous media outlets regard Medford as the most successful coach in Central America, as he also found massive success across the region, winning championships in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala. He also coached Saprissa to win the 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, thus qualifying to the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship, finishing in third place.

Nicknamed Pelicano, or Pelican, Medford made his league debut for Sagrada Familia on 28 September 1986 against Cartaginés and scored his first goal on 4 January 1987 against Limonense. In Costa Rica's first division, he played for Deportivo Saprissa, where he won three national championships and the 1993 CONCACAF Champions Cup. After three years at Saprissa he played in several different leagues worldwide, including Serie A of Italy (Foggia Calcio), the Yugoslav First League (Dinamo Zagreb), the Austrian Bundesliga (SK Rapid Wien), La Liga in Spain (Rayo Vallecano), and the Primera División de México (Pachuca, León and Necaxa). Pachuca decided to retire Medford's number 17 after he scored his 100th goal in his career.

Medford was part of the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship held in China, the first FIFA World Cup tournament where Costa Rica ever appeared, and scored the first goal ever for his home country in this type of tournaments. He made his senior debut for Costa Rica in a February 1987 friendly match against South Korea and earned a total of 89 caps, scoring 18 goals. He represented his country in 37 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and played in two World Cups, Italy 1990 and Japan-Korea 2002. He scored a goal against Sweden in the 1990 World Cup, which resulted in qualification for the second round. He also scored the winning goal at the Azteca Stadium against Mexico in the qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The match, known as the Aztecazo, is one of only two World Cup qualifiers that Mexico have ever lost on home soil. He also played at the 1995 UNCAF Nations Cup as well as at the 1991, 2000, and 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cups and the 1997 and 2001 Copa Américas. His final international was a June 2002 FIFA World Cup match against Turkey.

After retiring from professional football in 2003, he entered coaching. He first coached Deportivo Saprissa with great success, where he has won several championships, including 2 national tournaments, the Uncaf Cup and the CONCACAF Champions Cup, giving Saprissa the right to compete in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship in Japan, in which Saprissa finished 3rd.

As of October 28, 2006, the Costa Rican Football Federation, or Federación Costarricense de Fútbol, announced him as the new head coach for the Costa Rica national football team. He was sacked on 28 June 2008 after a string of poor results and only a few wins, and showing unprecedent bias in favor of his old former players of Saprissa.

He took the reins of Club León for the Clausura 2009 season. His first game as head coach was against Tampico Madero, ending in a 1–1 tie. He was fired as manager by the president of the club owing to poor results in the pre-season and the season itself.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.