Martín Zúñiga was a Mexican

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 soccer goalkeeper, who last played for C.D. Chivas USA

C.D. Chivas USA

Club Deportivo Chivas USA is an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California that competes in Major League Soccer , the top professional soccer league in the United States of America and Canada....

 of Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...

.

Prior to coming to MLS, Zúñiga played for Mexican clubs Tigres

UANL Tigres

Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, often known only as Tigres or UANL, a Mexican football club that plays in the Primera División. It is one of the two professional football teams of the state of Nuevo León. The team plays home games at the Estadio Universitario, located in San...

, Chivas, Celaya

Atlético Celaya

The Club Atlético Celaya was a Mexican football club from Celaya, Guanajuato. The club was formed in 1994 when the two second-division clubs Atletico Cuernavaca and Escuadra Celeste de Celaya merged...

, Puebla, and Veracruz

CD Veracruz

Tiburones Rojos de Veracruz, known as Veracruz, is a Mexican professional football club. Veracruz plays in the Liga de Ascenso de México. Their nickname "Tiburones Rojos" means red sharks. The club was founded in 1943 after two clubs from the city state of Veracruz, Iberia de Córdoba and Veracruz...

. He backstopped Chivas to the Mexican championship in 1997. Nicknamed El Pulpo (The Octopus

Octopus

The octopus is a cephalopod mollusc of the order Octopoda. Octopuses have two eyes and four pairs of arms, and like other cephalopods they are bilaterally symmetric. An octopus has a hard beak, with its mouth at the center point of the arms...

), Zúñiga has also been capped for the Mexican national team

Mexico national football team

The Mexican national football team represents Mexico in association football and is governed by the Mexican Football Federation , the governing body for football in Mexico. Mexico's home stadium is the Estadio Azteca and their head coach is José Manuel de la Torre...

.

Zúñiga was supposed to be the primary goalkeeper for Chivas USA, but tore a ligament

Ligament

In anatomy, the term ligament is used to denote any of three types of structures. Most commonly, it refers to fibrous tissue that connects bones to other bones and is also known as articular ligament, articular larua, fibrous ligament, or true ligament.Ligament can also refer to:* Peritoneal...

 in his left knee in an exhibition against the U.S. national team

United States men's national soccer team

The United States men's national soccer team represents the United States in international association football competitions. It is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF...

on March 3, 2005. He returned to action in May, starting four games, but reinjured his knee again in July. He announced his retirement from professional soccer on August 29, 2005, he was team's "soccer ambassador" but stepped down after the 2007 season to pursue a job with Major League Soccer.

Sources