Moisés Muñoz

Moisés Muñoz

Moisés Muñoz playing for América in 2012
Personal information
Full name	Moisés Alberto Muñoz Rodríguez[1]
Date of birth	(1980-02-01) 1 February 1980
Place of birth	Aguililla, Michoacán, Mexico
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	América
Number	23
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999–2010	Morelia	282	(0)
2010–2011	Atlante	53	(0)
2011–	América	72	(1)
National team‡
2004–	Mexico	12	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 January 2014. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 20 November 2013

Moisés Alberto Muñoz Rodríguez (born 8 May 1980) is a Mexican football goalkeeper currently playing for América of the Liga MX. Muñoz began his career with Monarcas Morelia, eventually moving to Atlante in 2010. He has also participated with the Mexico national team, debuting in 2004, and was part of the national team which finished fourth place at the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup.

Among his abilities are his accuracy and aerial ability; he is noted for his precise long clearances and passes and his aerial clearances. He has a good penalty stopping ability as well. Earlier in his career, Muñoz was criticized for being deemed "overweight" at some stages, although his physique hasn't seemed to have hampered his performances.

In June 2012, Muñoz lost control of his automobile and crashed while driving to Morelia, Michoacán.^[2]

Early life

Muñoz was born in Morelia, Michoacán. Munoz speaks flawless English due to him living in Northern California during his formative years, attending elementary school and junior high school in Redwood City as an undocumented child of migrant workers. He does not have dual citizenship, but his parents have U.S. resident status and live in San Jose. He returned to Mexico before high school and by age 19 was playing for his hometown club in Morelia.^[3]

Club career

Morelia

Muñoz made his league debut on 19 September 1999 against Pachuca. During the Invierno 2000 league tournament, despite not starting, Morelia achieved their only league title with a win against Toluca. A native of the city of Morelia, he became a mainstay of the club, even achieving a cult status among the fans, with his 11 years at the club one of the longest for a goalkeeper in the league. He played 282 games for the club, conceding 372 goals, before being transferred to Atlante in the 2010 Draft, in exchange for goalkeeper Federico Vilar.

Atlante

For the 2010 Apertura, Moisés joined Atlante in a trade for former Atlante goalkeeper Federico Vilar who moved to Monarcas. He would go on to be a permanent fixture for the club until his departure, making 53 league appearances.

América

In December 2011 Moisés Muñoz was signed by league giants América.^[4] During the Clausura 2012 tournament, he helped América reach the semifinals, starting 21 games and playing 90 minutes in 20 of them (he was taken off in the second half in a league match against Atlas).

In 2013, Muñoz played his first league final for América, conceding the only goal in a 0–1 away loss against Cruz Azul. His performance in the second-leg at the Estadio Azteca on 26 May helped América achieve a dramatic comeback after losing 0–1, 0–2 aggregate, to tie the match 1–1 in the 88th minute with a goal from club captain Aquivaldo Mosquera. In the 92nd minute of the game, second of injury time, Muñoz scored a flying header off an Osvaldo Martínez corner, which deflected off Cruz Azul defender Alejandro Castro, and scored América's second goal to send the game into extra-time, and subsequently to a penalty shoot-out. Muñoz saved Javier Orozco's penalty kick. América would go on to win its eleventh league title, with Muñoz's performance being lauded by the world media.^[5][6]

International career

Mexico national team

Muñoz has been selected to represent Mexico mainly as an alternative. His first international cap was in a friendly game against opposing team Ecuador on 27 October 2004. Muñoz was the second choice keeper in both the 2004 Copa América and the 2005 Confederations Cup. Muñoz was the starting goalkeeper for the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He made the preliminary list for the 2006 World Cup by coach Ricardo La Volpe, unfortunately he was part of the last cut. Muñoz has been called up as a backup goalkeeper by Hugo Sánchez and Sven-Göran Eriksson. His most recent call up was on 12 November 2008 for a friendly against Ecuador.

Five years after his last call up, Muñoz was selected by coach José Manuel de la Torre to Mexico´s 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup squad. On 14 July 2013, he was the starting goalkeeper for Mexico´s last group stage match against Martinique, which Mexico won 3–1, despite failing to save a penalty kick from Kévin Parsemain. Later that year, after Miguel Herrera took over as national team coach, Muñoz was named the starting goalkeeper for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification playoff matches against New Zealand.

Accident

On 3 June 2012, Muñoz was driving his Honda Odyssey through the highway that connects Mexico City with Guadalajara when he lost control of his vehicle and flipped it on to its roof.^[2] The goalkeeper was heading to Morelia, Michoacán at around 7:00 p.m. with his wife Verónica Castro Alfaro (aged 31), and along with his two kids: Héctor Moisés (aged 8) y Zafiro (aged 3).^[2][7] All of them were taken to Ángeles del Pedregal hospital by helicopter – the same hospital where Salvador Cabañas, a former Paraguayan footballer and Club América player, was treated after being shot in the head.^[8][9] Apparently, the harsh rainfall in the area caused Muñoz to lose control of his vehicle.^[10] Moreover, according to reports by the Mexican Red Cross, Muñoz suffered from traumatic brain injury but was "stable and conscience."^[2] Originally, it was reported that Muñoz's health condition was serious, but it improved as he received medical attention.^[8] It was later stated that his head wound did not risk his life nor his football career.^[11] Muñoz only had a head wound and never lost conscience of what had happened.^[12]

Miguel Herrera, manager of Club América, stated in a press conference what Muñoz had personally told him:

I am very well. Fortunately, the doctors discarded any head fractures, and I am now boarding the helicopter and heading to Ángeles del Pedregal (the hospital). I will recover. Wait on me, Miguel.^[13]

— Moisés Muñoz

Honours

Club

Morelia

• Primera División (1): Invierno 2000

América

• Liga MX (1): Clausura 2013

References

External links

• Transfermarkt profile
• Moisés Muñoz Liga MX stats at Medio Tiempo.com (Spanish)

Mexico squads v t e Mexico squad – 2004 Copa América 1 Sánchez 2 Suárez 3 Briceño 4 Márquez 5 Davino 6 Torrado 7 Valdez 8 Pardo 9 Borgetti 10 Bautista 11 Osorno 12 Pérez 13 Muñoz 14 Morales 15 Oteo 16 Méndez 17 Palencia 18 Carmona 19 Lozano 20 Osorio 21 Arellano 22 Altamirano Coach: La Volpe v t e Mexico squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup Fourth Place 1 Sánchez 2 Galindo 3 Salcido 4 Márquez 5 Osorio 6 Torrado 7 Sinha 8 Pardo (c) 9 Borgetti 10 Bravo 11 Morales 12 Muñoz 13 Márquez Lugo 14 Pineda 15 Sánchez Guerrero 16 Méndez 17 Fonseca 18 Carmona 19 Medina 20 Rodríguez 21 Lozano 22 Pérez 23 Corona Coach: La Volpe v t e Mexico squad – 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup 1 Muñoz 2 Rodríguez 3 Salcido 4 Osorio 5 López 6 7 Sinha 8 R. García 9 Borgetti 10 Bravo 11 Osorno 12 Corona 14 Pineda 15 Morales 16 Méndez 17 Márquez Lugo 18 Padilla 19 Medina 20 J. García 21 Galindo 22 Altamirano 23 Pérez Coach: La Volpe v t e Mexico squad – 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi-finalists 1 J. E. Orozco 2 I. Jiménez 3 López 4 Huiqui (c) 5 Chávez 6 Peña 7 Cortés 8 Montes 9 R. Jiménez 10 Fabián 11 Márquez Lugo 12 Talavera 13 Aldrete 14 Enríquez 15 Velarde 16 Ponce 17 Brizuela 18 Valenzuela 19 Layún 20 Pereira 21 J. A. Orozco 22 Castro 23 Muñoz 24 Cárdenas Coach: de la Torre