Matías Vera

Matías Gabriel Vera (born 26 October 1995) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer.

Not to be confused with Matías Vega or Matías Vera (footballer, born 1998).

Matías Vera

Personal information
Full name	Matías Gabriel Vera
Date of birth	(1995-10-26) 26 October 1995
Place of birth	Merlo, Argentina
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7 ^1⁄2 in)[1]
Playing position(s)	Midfielder
Club information
Current team	Houston Dynamo
Number	22
Youth career
	Nueva Chicago
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2015–2018	Nueva Chicago	82	(2)
2018–2019	San Lorenzo	0	(0)
2018	→ O'Higgins (loan)	28	(2)
2019–	Houston Dynamo	30	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 06:47, 7 October 2019 (UTC)

Career

Nueva Chicago

Vera started his career with Nueva Chicago and came through their youth ranks, serving as a captain for his teams. He originally played as a right winger and right back before his coaches moved him to defensive midfield due to his ball winning ability and natural instincts.[2] Vera was promoted to the first team during the 2015 Argentine Primera División season.[1][3] He made his debut on 6 April in a 2–1 defeat to Banfield and went on to make 17 appearances across all competitions in his first season.[1] Nueva Chicago were relegated to Primera B Nacional in 2015, where they remained for the next three seasons as Vera featured sixty-eight times for them in all competitions while also scoring twice, netting in games with All Boys and Atlético Paraná.[1][4]

O'Higgins

In January 2018, Vera joined Argentine Primera División side San Lorenzo.[1] However, he was immediately loaned to O'Higgins of the Chilean Primera División.[1][5]

His first appearance for O'Higgins was against Huachipato on 18 February 2018 in matchweek 1 of the Primera División season. He would start the first 8 games of the season before he missed matchweek 9 after getting two yellow cards in the previous match. He returned to the starting lineup for matchweek 10 Vera scored his first goal for O'Higgins on 25 August in a 1–1 draw with his first Unión Española. Vera was suspended for their matchweek 29 game due to yellow card accumulation. He returned to the lineup in matchweek 30, the final week of the season, and scored in a 4–0 win over Audax Italiano.[6] Vera started 30 out of a possible 32 games for O'Higgins, only missing out on 2 due to suspension. O'Higgins finished the season eighth in the table, missing out on qualification to 2019 Copa Sudamericana first stage to Unión Española on goal difference.[7]

Houston Dynamo

On 21 December 2018, Vera signed with the Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer.[8] Vera made his Dynamo debut on 19 February, playing all 90 minutes in a 1–0 win over CD Guastatoya in the CONCACAF Champions League. He played every minute of the tournament as Houston reached the quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by Tigres UANL. Vera made his MLS debut on 2 March in a 1–1 draw with Real Salt Lake, but he was sent off after picking up two yellow cards.[9] He scored for the Dynamo for the first time on 11 June, netting in a 3–2 win over Austin Bold in the U.S. Open Cup.[9] Although Houston missed out on the playoffs, Vera enjoyed a strong debut season, leading the team in minutes played with 2,639 in the league and 3,088 in all competitions. He was voted as the team MVP and Newcomer of the Year by local journalists and the Dynamo staff.[10]

Career statistics

As of 7 October 2019.[1]

Club statistics

Club	Season	League			Cup[lower-alpha 1]		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Nueva Chicago	2015	Argentine Primera División	16	0	1	0	—		—		17	0
	2016	Primera B Nacional	18	1	0	0	—		—		18	1
	2016–17		38	1	2	0	—		—		40	1
	2017–18		10	0	0	0	—		—		10	0
	Total		82	2	3	0	—		0	0	85	2
San Lorenzo	2017–18	Argentine Primera División	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2018–19		0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	Total		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
O'Higgins (loan)	2018	Chilean Primera División	28	2	2	0	—		—		30	2
Houston Dynamo	2019	Major League Soccer	30	0	2	1	4[lower-alpha 2]	0	—		36	1
	2020		0	0	0	0	—		0	0	0	0
Career total			140	4	7	1	4	0	0	0	151	5

1. Includes the Copa Argentina, Copa Chile and US Open Cup
2. Appearances in the CONCACAF Champions League

Honors

Individual

Houston Dynamo

Dynamo Team MVP: 2019[10]

Dynamo Newcomer of the Year: 2019[10]

References

1. "Argentina - G. Vera". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
2. "Matías Vera: The Houston Dynamo's ball winner". The Bayoucitian. 8 August 2019. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
3. "Ficha Estadistica de MATIAS VERA". BDFA. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
4. "Fue el último en Mataderos?". Solo Ascenso. 3 December 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
5. "Nicolás Oroz y Matías Vera son nuevos refuerzos de O'Higgins". El Rancagüino. 9 January 2018. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
6. "Matías Vera 2018 Match Logs". FBref.com. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
7. "2018 Primera División Stats". FBref.com. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
8. "Dynamo sign midfielder Matías Vera on full transfer from San Lorenzo" (Press release). Houston Dynamo. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
9. "Argentina - G. Vera - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
10. "Houston Dynamo Announce 2019 Team Awards". Houston Dynamo. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2019.

External links

• Matías Vera at Soccerway