Hernán Medford

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Hernán Evaristo Medford Bryan (born May 23, 1968) is a Costa Rican soccer player and coach. Nicknamed "el Pelicano", he played in several different leagues worldwide, including Serie A of Italy (Foggia Calcio), the Yugoslavian first division (Dinamo Zagreb), the Austrian Bundesliga (SK Rapid Wien), la Liga in Spain playing for Rayo Vallecano, and the Mexican premier league, with CF Pachuca, León and Necaxa. Pachuca decided to retire Medford's number 17 after he was transferred to a different team in the late 1990s.

In Costa Rica's first division, he played for Deportivo Saprissa, were he won three national championships and the 1993 CONCACAF Champions Cup. He 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. Medford also represented Costa Rica's national squad, playing 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, Costa Rica's best World Cup performance. He also scored the winning goal at the Azteca Stadium against Mexico in the qualification for the 2002 World Cup, the only home World Cup qualifier game that Mexico has ever lost.

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 second FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup in Japan, in december of 2005, 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.

	Costa Rica squad - 1990 World Cup
1 Conejo | 2 Quesada | 3 Flores | 4 González | 5 Obando | 6 Chaves | 7 Medford | 8 Chavarría | 9 Guimarães | 10 Ramírez | 11 C. Jara | 12 Gómez | 13 Davis | 14 Cayasso | 15 Marín | 16 Jaikel | 17 Myers | 18 G. Jara | 19 Marchena | 20 Montero | 21 Barrantes | 22 Segura | Coach: Milutinović

	Costa Rica squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Lonnis | 2 Drummond | 3 Marín | 4 Wright | 5 Martínez | 6 López | 7 Fonseca | 8 Solís | 9 Wanchope | 10 Centeno | 11 Gómez | 12 Parks | 13 Vallejos | 14 Rodríguez | 15 Wallace | 16 Bryce | 17 Medford | 18 Mesén | 19 Cordero | 20 Sunsing | 21 Chinchilla | 22 Castro | 23 Morgan | Coach: Guimarães