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Mariners Acquire Internationals Aguilera and Arguedas

January 11, 2003 - USL First Division (USL-1)
Virginia Beach Mariners News Release


Virginia Beach, VA – Mariners owner Mike Field announced that the team has acquired Roland Aguilera, a 24 year-old midfielder from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, who played two seasons in Major League Soccer (MLS). In addition, the Mariners signed Juan Carlos Arguedas, a 32 year-old midfielder/forward who scored 125 goals during 10 seasons playing in Costa Rica's First Division.

According to Field, "Roland comes from one of Bolivia's great soccer families, and we expect an equally great future with him here in Tidewater Virginia.

"With Juan Carlos, we've added a decade of experience from Costa Rica's top professional league," added Field.

The Columbus Crew drafted Aguilera in the 2000 MLS SuperDraft as a Junior International player. Aguilera recorded his first MLS point playing against New England in July 2000, as he assisted on a goal from John Wilmar Perez in a 4-1 win. Aguilera played in a total of 18 games for the Crew before being traded for veteran midfielder John Harkes in May 2001. In July 2001, the New England Revolution loaned Aguilera to a Bolivian First Division club to give him more playing time. New England released Aguilera to waivers on November 15, 2001.

Aguilera comes from the world-renowned Tahuichi (tah-WEE-chee) soccer school that produced MLS All-Stars such as Marco Etcheverry and Jaime Moreno. The school was founded in 1978 by Rolando Aguilera, who wanted to revive the family's soccer tradition after returning from seven years in the United States.

The school was named after Ramon Aguilera, a famous soccer player with Santa Cruz's Blooming club in the nineteen-forties and -fifties who was known by his nickname, Tahuichi (or Big Bird).

Arguedas was Costa Rica's top scorer in 1995 when he led the nation with 28 goals for LDA (Liga Deportiva Alajuelense). LDA also won national championships with Arguedas in 1990, 1991 and 1992. Arguedas regained the goal-scoring crown in 2001 with 23 goals for Carmelita. In 2002, he scored 15 goals for Heredia, Costa Rica's oldest soccer team. In addition, Arguedas has 50 international caps (class A) with 12 goals for Costa Rica.



USL First Division Stories from January 11, 2003


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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