Hernán Evaristo Medford Bryan ( , ; born May 23, 1968) is a Costa Rican professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Liga Guate club Marquense. Highly regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of Central American football, Medford achieved success as both a player and a coach.

As a player, Medford is fondly remembered in Costa Rica for two historic goals, both of which he considers his favorite, while playing for Costa Rica: the winning goal of a group stage match against Sweden to qualify to the knockout stage, and the winning goal of the Aztecazo, Mexico's first defeat in a non-friendly match at the Estadio Azteca.

Numerous media outlets regard Medford as the most successful coach in Central America, as he also found massive success across the region, winning championships in Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala. He also coached Saprissa to win the 2005 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, thus qualifying to the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship, finishing in third place.

Club career Nicknamed Pelicano, or Pelican, Medford made his league debut for Sagrada Familia on 28 September 1986 against Cartaginés and scored his first goal on 4 January 1987 against Limonense.Las vivencias de Hernán Medford en su trajinar por el futbol mundial - Nación In Costa Rica's first division, he played for Deportivo Saprissa, where he won three national championships and the 1993 CONCACAF Champions Cup. After three years at Saprissa he played in several different leagues worldwide, including Serie A of Italy (Foggia Calcio), the Yugoslav First League (Dinamo Zagreb), the Austrian Bundesliga (SK Rapid Wien), La Liga in Spain (Rayo Vallecano), and the Primera División de México (Pachuca, León and Necaxa).Medford al Necaxa - Nación Pachuca decided to retire Medford's number 17 after he scored his 100th goal in his career.Se fue la 17 Hernán Medford se despidió del Pachuca con un gol - Nación

International career Medford was part of the 1985 FIFA U-16 World Championship held in China, the first FIFA World Cup tournament where Costa Rica ever appeared, and scored the first goal ever for his home country in this type of tournaments. He made his senior debut for Costa Rica in a February 1987 friendly match against South Korea and earned a total of 89 caps, scoring 18 goals. He represented his country in 37 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and played in two World Cups, Italy 1990 and Japan-Korea 2002. He scored a goal against Sweden in the 1990 World Cup, which resulted in qualification for the second round. He also scored the winning goal at the Azteca Stadium against Mexico in the qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The match, known as the Aztecazo, is one of only two World Cup qualifiers that Mexico have ever lost on home soil. He also played at the 1995 UNCAF Nations CupUNCAF Tournament 1995 - RSSSF as well as at the 1991,CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 1991 - Full Details - RSSSF 2000,CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2000 - Full Details - RSSSF and 2002 CONCACAF Gold CupsCONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2002 - Full Details - RSSSF and the 1997Copa América 1997 - RSSSF and 2001 Copa Américas.Copa América 2001 - RSSSF His final international was a June 2002 FIFA World Cup match against Turkey.

Managerial career After retiring from professional football in 2003, he entered coaching.Medford y Ramírez Reencuentro de amigos - Nación He first coached Deportivo Saprissa with great success, where he has won several championships, including 2 national tournaments, the Uncaf Cup and the CONCACAF Champions Cup, giving Saprissa the right to compete in the 2005 FIFA Club World Championship in Japan, in which Saprissa finished 3rd.

As of October 28, 2006, the Costa Rican Football Federation, or Federación Costarricense de Fútbol, announced him as the new head coach for the Costa Rica national football team. He was sacked on 28 June 2008 after a string of poor results and only a few wins, and showing unprecedent bias in favor of his old former players of Saprissa.

He took the reins of Club León for the Clausura 2009 season.El Pelícano asumió ayer Medford se llevará cuatro ticos al León - Nación His first game as head coach was against Tampico Madero, ending in a 1–1 tie. He was fired as manager by the president of the club owing to poor results in the pre-season and the season itself.

After leaving Club León Medford decided to take a break in coaching and decided to work as an administrator/manager but he was appointed manager of Liberia Mía in December 2009.Hernán Medford es el nuevo técnico de Liberia Mía - In 2010 Hernan Medford signed with Limón, a club team from the province of Limon. He signed also as an administrator. The team seemed to have benefited from his previous experience as administrator. In June 2011 Carlos Pascal the team’s chairman was arrested due to accusations of drug trafficking leaving the club without a president. Medford tried to help the team survive this set back since without Pascal the team was left without financial support. Medford endured a difficult season with Limon F.C. In August 2011 Medford resigned, claiming it had nothing to do with the financial problems the club had suffered, but because of personal decisions.Hernán Medford dejó hoy la gerencia de Limón F.C. - Nación He took charge of Guatemalan side Xelajú in September 2011.Hernán Medford es el nuevo técnico del Xelajú de Guatemala - Nación

In May 2013, he was unveiled as the new manager of Honduran giants Real España.Hernán Medford, nuevo entrenador del Real España - La Prensa Under his direction Real España became the 2013 champion of the Honduran league. In July 2014 Medford was appointed the new national team manager of Honduras,Hernán Medford es el nuevo técnico de la Selección de Honduras - Nación leaving the post later in December due to the poor performance of the team during his tenure.

Personal life Medford is a son of Herman Medford Sterling and Gloria Bryan Givans and has two sisters. He has two daughters from his first marriage with Arlene Lewis. Currently he is married to model Ingrid Solís.

Career statistics Scores and results list Costa Rica's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Medford goal.

+ List of international goals scored by Hernán MedfordHernán Evaristo Medford - International AppearancesNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 31 July 1988 Estadio Revolución, Panama City, Panama 2–0 2–0 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification2 20 June 1990 Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Italy 2–1 2–1 1990 FIFA World Cup3 1 July 1991 Rose Bowl, Pasadena, United States 1–0 1–2 1991 CONCACAF Gold Cup4 13 December 1992 Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica 2–0 5–0 1994 FIFA World Cup qualification5 17 November 1996 Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica 2–0 3–0 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification6 23 March 1997 Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica 1–1 3–2 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification7 19 June 1997 Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera, San José, Bolivia 1–1 1–1 1997 Copa América8 9 November 1997 Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico 1–2 3–3 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification9 29 December 1999 Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica 1–0 1–1 Friendly10 17 February 2000 LA Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States 2–2 2–2 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup11 9 July 2000 Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica 2–0 7–1 Friendly12 3–013 4–114 23 July 2000 Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica 2–1 2–1 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification15 3 September 2000 Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica 3–0 3–0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification16 16 June 2001 Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico 2–1 2–1 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification17 11 January 2002 Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica 2–1 2–1 Friendly18 18 January 2002 Orange Bowl, Miami, United States 1–0 2–0 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Honours Source:

Player Pachuca Primera División A: 1995–96

Rapid Wien Austrian Cup runner-up: 1990–91

Rayo Vallecano Segunda División runner-up: 1991–92

Saprissa Primera División: 1988, 1989, 1993–94 CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 1993

Costa Rica CONCACAF Championship: 1989 CONCACAF Gold Cup runner-up: 2002

Individual CONCACAF Team of the Century: 1998"Balboa, Ramos named to CONCACAF "Team of the Century"" , Soccer America, 14 May 1998.

Manager Herediano Liga FPD: 2016 Verano, 2017 Verano; runner-up: 2016 Invierno, 2017 Apertura

Real España Honduran Liga Nacional: 2013 Apertura

Saprissa Primera División: 2003–04, 2005–06; runner-up: 2004–05 CONCACAF Champions' Cup: 2005; runner-up: 2004 FIFA Club World Championship third place: 2005 UNCAF Interclub Cup: 2003; runner-up: 2004

Xelajú Guatemalan Liga Nacional: 2012 Clausura

Costa Rica UNCAF Nations Cup: 2007 See also

References

External links