Eduardo Hurtado

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Eduardo Hurtado Roa (born January 12, 1969, in Esmeraldas, Ecuador) is a soccer striker, one of the all-time leading scorers for the Ecuador national team with 26 goals in 74 caps.

Hurtado, nicknamed El Tanque for trying to roll over everything in his path, has played for many teams in different countries. His first teams were now defunct Valdez Sporting Club from Milagro and Emelec from Guayaquil, in his native Ecuador, and he also had stops in Switzerland, Chile, Mexico, the United States, Argentina, and Scotland. He later returned to Ecuador.

Hurtado was one of the early stars of Major League Soccer. In 1996, the league's first year, he finished second in goals, scoring 21 for the Los Angeles Galaxy. He added three in the playoffs as Galaxy fell short in the MLS Cup final and was named to the MLS Best XI after the season. After only eight goals in 1997, Hurtado was traded to the MetroStars two games into the 1998 season and finished the year with 11 goals and 15 assists (10 and 14 of those for the Metros), plus added a goal in the playoffs.

And then 1999 came. After scoring two goals in the Metro season opener, Hurtado scored just five the rest of the way. Playing for one of the worst teams in league history, he was the epitome of everything wrong with the squad, missing easy sitters and empty nets game after game. El Tanque became known as El Stanque, and the Metros let him go on waivers after the season. The New England Revolution picked him up, but he only lasted three goalless games there before getting his release.

Since his departure from MLS, Hurtado played for Hibernian, Argentinos Juniors, Barcelona Sporting Club, Liga Deportiva Universitaria, El Nacional, the team of Universidad de Concepción, and Audaz Octubrino from Machala. In 2004, he came back to the United States to play indoor soccer, signing with the Cleveland Force of the MISL in December. However, he couldn't adjust to the indoor game and was released in less than a month, going back to Ecuador to play for Olmedo.