Towering inferno: the retirement of diminutive midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos will sap some of the creativity from the Galaxy attack

Soccer Digest, Oct-Nov, 2003 by D'Hippolito Joseph

MAURICIO CIENFUEGOS' LAST name means "100 fires" in English. That aptly describes the level of determination of a man who has been the Los Angeles Galaxy's' midfield dynamo since MLS's inception.

When the Galaxy take the field for its ninth season next spring, however, they will be without Cienfuegos. The 5'6" midfielder from El Salvador will retire after the 2003 season to pursue a coaching career. His retirement will make Cobi Jones the only original member of the Galaxy still with the team. "I've been thiking about retiring and when we won the MLS championship, that sealed it," says Cienfuegos, 35. "Besides, it was a good time to take steps toward becoming a coach."

Cienfuegos leaves MLS as one of its most honored players. He was named to the MLS Best 11 in 1996, 1998, and 1999, played in seven All-Star Games, and was the Galaxy's most valuable player in 1997.

With Cienfuegos in their midfield, the Galaxy won MIo Cup 2002, the 2001 U.S. Open Cup, and the 2000 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, thus becoming the only MLS team besides D.C. United to earn all three championships. Cienfuegos also competed in World Cup qualifying and the CONCACAF Gold Cup, representing El Salvador more than 90 times from 1987 to 2003.

Galaxy coach Sigi Schmid considers Cienfuegos a unique, devastating package of skill and stamina. "People don't realize that to be a professional soccer player, you need a physical quality," says Schmid, "For Cobi, it's speed. For Alexi Lalas, it's size and strength. For Mauricio, it's tremendous endurance. Add great technical ability and speed of thought to that and you can see why he was a pain in the rear for anybody who had to mark him in the early days of MLS. He was just a joy to watch."

In training, Cienfuegos is a generator of disciplined energy. While his teammates relax after practice, Cienfuegos works with a medicine ball or has a teammate roll long passes so he can practice his touches and cuts. "He keeps working all the time," says Schmid. "He's one of the first on the field and he's always one of the last off of it."

Many of his teammates consider him a compassionate tutor. "Mauricio was kind of a mentor to me," says Galaxy goalkeeper Kevin Hartman. "There was a period when I wasn't playing but he was always there, being very supportive. He was willing to take people under his wing, guide them in the right direction, and show them the type of professionalism it takes to succeed."

Cienfuegos' warmth made one of the Galaxy's most popular players. Whenever his name was announced in the starting line-up, Cienfuegos arguably received the loudest ovation from the fans, rivaling only the response Jones gets. "He's been such a tremendous ambassador for the game," says Schrnid. "Because of his stature--he's not a big guy--he automatically becomes a crowd favorite wherever he goes. Everybody wants to see the underdog succed."

Cienfuegos' success story began in San Salvador, the capital of his homeland, where he was born into a poor family immersed in soccer. "I was born attached to a soccer ball," says Cienfuegos with a wry smile. "It wasn't a leather ball like we play with now, but a plastic one. We didn't have money for a leather ball.

"I remember playing soccer when I was four or five years old. One of my uncle had teams. Another uncle played in the first division. Everybody played soccer in my hometown."

That passion enabled the young Cienfuegos and his friends to endure a civil war that erupted in 1979 and lasted 13 years. "Fear was always there," says Cienfuegos. "You could have been the target of a bullet or a bomb any time you crossed the street. We learned how to live with the war, but we could get away from it through soccer. We were playing soccer in the midst of the bombs, the bullets, and everything else. When we played soccer, the war didn't exist. We felt free from all that. It was beautiful.

While the civil war raged, El Salvador qualified for its second World Cup in 1982. Although the national team lost all three of its first-round games, it provided a beleaguered nation with hope--and Cienfuegos and his friends with inspiration. "I remember I was about 14 and everybody had their idols," he says. "Everyone looked to that generation of players. Unfortunately, they didn't do well in the World Cup, but that didn't diminish the joy they gave us, There hasn't been another generation of players like them. That 1982 World Cup team was a point of reference for my generation."

Cienfuegos began playing professionally in 1985 and reached the turning point of his career three years later when he met Milovan Djoric, the Yugoslav coach who came to El Salvador in 1988 to coach the national team. "I really learned how to be a professional when he arrived," says Cienfuegos, "He demonstrated professionalism. I always use him as a point of reference because he has been one of the best coaches in my career. Because of Milovan, I went to Mexico, where I broadened my understanding of what it takes to be a professional."