Queens soccer star scores goal to keep USA out of Olympics
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Former Maspeth soccer star Juan Carlos Obregón scored a goal for Honduras in an Olympic qualifier victory over the US national team March 28. Photo via Juan Carlos Obregón/Facebook
By David Brand
A New York-born soccer star who honed his skills on a pitch in Maspeth helped keep the US Men’s National Team out of the Tokyo Olympics last week.
Juan Carlos Obregón, a striker on the Honduran national team, scored the opening goal in an Olympic qualifier victory over the US on March 28. The 2-1 Honduras win prevented the US men’s team from making the Olympics for the third straight time.
“I feel enormous happiness, enormous pride,” Obregón said in Spanish following the match. “It’s the most important goal of my career and it helped us qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, and it’s dedicated to all the Hondurans and my family who have helped me.”
The build up began just before halftime, when a Honduras defender sent a perfectly placed lob into the box from about 40 yards out. A teammate headed the ball across the goal and Obregón deflected it into the net with his thigh.
But really, it all started back in the five boroughs, where Obregón kicked off his career.
He grew up in Brooklyn and came up playing for Met Oval Academy, a high-level youth club based at Maspeth’s Met Oval. The field is New York City’s oldest soccer pitch and draws top talent from across the area, as well as spectators who watch matches and practices from an industrial overpass on Andrews Avenue.
Obregón attended middle school in Ridgewood and high school in Middle Village before starring at Siena College. He later spent time at Mexican club Nexaca before signing last year with the Rio Grande Valley Toros of the United Soccer League’s Championship division.
Obregón chose to represent Honduras, his family’s home country, when he first got the call from the U20 side in 2017.
His role torpedoing the USA’s Olympic chances didn’t go unnoticed back in Queens.
Queens Tourism Council Director Rob MacKay doubles as a local soccer historian, and he pays special attention to fútbol in Honduras, where he served in the Peace Corps. MacKay is also passionate about Met Oval, which he has chronicled over the past several years.
“It's really not surprising that somebody from the Met Oval scored a goal for a national team during a qualifier for the Olympics. And to be honest, it's not a surprise that the Met Oval alum was playing against the United States since Queens is the most diverse county in the world,” MacKay said. “Soccer-crazy immigrants and their children literally couldn't live without the Met Oval. It's central to their culture, social activities, and enjoyment.”
MacKay wrote about the illustrious history of the field for City Limits more than 20 years ago.
“For soccer fans, the Oval is something close to sacred ground,” he wrote at the time. “A perennial launching point for Olympic and World Cup stars ever since the 1930s.”
Another alum of Met Oval, Laurelton native Timothy Weah, has scored for the US National Team and shared the pitch at Paris St. Germain with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. He now plays for Lille in France’s Ligue 1.
Weah, the son of legendary Liberian striker — and current president — George Weah, began his youth career with Ridgewood’s Blau-Weiss Gotschee.
MacKay said it’s only a matter of time before the next international superstar emerges from the Maspeth pitch.
“Pretty soon, the Met Oval will produce somebody who stars for the U.S. National Team and becomes a household name around the world with a major European team like Barcelona or Manchester United,” he said. “I can just feel it.”
