José Manuel Contreras

José Manuel Contreras

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Personal information
Full name	José Manuel Contreras
Date of birth	(1986-01-19) January 19, 1986
Place of birth	Jutiapa, Guatemala
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Comunicaciones
Number	10
Youth career
	Comunicaciones
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2011–2012	Univ. Concepción	23	(2)
2012–	Comunicaciones	110	(35)
International career‡
2007–	Guatemala	65	(5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 30 June 2014 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 30 June 2014

José Manuel "El Moyo" Contreras (born 19 January 1986) is a Guatemalan football midfielder who plays for Comunicaciones of the Guatemalan top division. He is also a member of the Guatemalan national team since 2006.

Contreras has also played for clubs Arsenal de Sarandí in Argentina and C.D. Universidad de Concepción in Chile, among other clubs.

Club career

Having begun his career at Comunicaciones in the Guatemalan top division, Contreras briefly played in the Primera División (second level) with Deportivo Achuapa, and then returned to Comunicaciones where he played until July 2008, when he joined Arsenal de Sarandí. He made his debut for Arsenal on August 27, 2008 against Boca Juniors for the second leg of the Recopa Sudamericana, a match that ended 2–2 (3–5 aggregate in favor of Boca Juniors). Contreras came in at the beginning of the second half in substitution of Luciano Leguizamón, who left the pitch injured at the end of the first half.

In July 2009 it was rumored that Contreras would join Gimnasia de Jujuy of the Argentine 2nd division, but then a move to Uruguayan side CA Fénix at the end of August 2009 was announced. On 28 December 2009 he returned to Guatemala and signed with Xelajú MC.

In June 2010 Contreras rejoined the club where he started his career, Comunicaciones., playing there for the entirety of the 2010–2011 season; one year later, in June 2011, he was signed by C.D. Universidad de Concepción, and in August 2011 he made his debut scoring the third goal of his team's 3–0 win over Colo-Colo.

International career

Contreras' debut match for the Guatemala senior side was against Haiti in August 2006, where he made an assist to Mario Rodríguez in a 1–1 draw. He scored his first international goal in the match versus El Salvador in the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup.

In 2008, Contreras played for the U-23 national team of Guatemala in the qualification rounds to the 2008 Olympic tournament, where he led the team to a 1–0 victory against Haiti and an upseting 2–1 victory against Mexico. The Guatemalan team ended the group stage in first place earning a semifinal berth against Honduras in which they came short of qualifying, losing 6–5 on penalty kicks. After his performances throughout the tournament, he was named one of the "eleven best" in the tournament alongside teammate Carlos Castrillo.

International goals

Scores and results list. Guatemala's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	9 June 2007	Home Depot Center, Carson, California, USA	El Salvador	1–0	1–0	2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup
2	10 September 2008	Estadio Mateo Flores, Guatemala City, Guatemala	Cuba	4–1	4–1	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
3	22 January 2013	Estadio Nacional, San José, Costa Rica	Costa Rica	1–1	1–1	2013 Copa Centroamericana
4	6 February 2013	Sun Life Stadium, Miami Gardens, USA	Colombia	1–3	1–4	Friendly
5	14 August 2014	Estadio Pensativo, Antigua Guatemala, Guatemala	Nicaragua	1–0	3–0	Friendly

External links

• Argentine Primera statistics (Spanish)