Hernán Medford


Hernán Evaristo Medford Bryan is a retired Costa Rican football player and coach. He is currently the manager of C.S. Cartaginés.

Playing career

Club

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. 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, the Yugoslav First League, the Austrian Bundesliga, La Liga in Spain playing for Rayo Vallecano, and the Mexican Primera Division, with Pachuca, León and Necaxa. Pachuca decided to retire Medford's number 17 after he scored his 100th goal in his career.

International

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 Cup as well as at the 1991, 2000, and 2002 CONCACAF Gold Cups and the 1997 and 2001 Copa Américas. His final international was a June 2002 FIFA World Cup match against Turkey.

International goals

DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.31 July 1988Estadio Revolución, Panama City, Panama2–02–01990 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.20 June 1990Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Italy2–12–11990 FIFA World Cup
3.1 July 1991Rose Bowl, Pasadena, United States1–01–21991 CONCACAF Gold Cup
4.13 December 1992Estadio Nacional de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica2–05–01994 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.17 November 1996Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica2–03–01998 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.23 March 1997Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica1–13–21998 FIFA World Cup qualification
7.19 June 1997Estadio Ramón Tahuichi Aguilera, San José, Bolivia1–11–11997 Copa América
8.9 November 1997Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico1–23–31998 FIFA World Cup qualification
9.29 December 1999Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica1–01–1Friendly match
10.17 February 2000LA Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, United States2–22–22000 CONCACAF Gold Cup
11.9 July 2000Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica2–07–1Friendly match
12.9 July 2000Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica3–07–1Friendly match
13.9 July 2000Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica4–17–1Friendly match
14.23 July 2000Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica2–12–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification
15.3 September 2000Estadio Ricardo Saprissa Aymá, San José, Costa Rica3–03–02002 FIFA World Cup qualification
16.16 June 2001Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico2–12–12002 FIFA World Cup qualification
17.11 January 2002Estadio Alejandro Morera Soto, Alajuela, Costa Rica2–12–1Friendly match
18.18 January 2002Orange Bowl, Miami, United States1–02–02002 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Managerial career

After retiring from professional football in 2003, he entered coaching. 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 second FIFA Club World Championship Toyota Cup in Japan, in December 2005, 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. 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. 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. He took charge of Guatemalan side Xelajú in September 2011.
In May 2013, he was unveiled as the new manager of Honduran giants Real España. 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, 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 is married to Arlene Lewis and they have two daughters themselves.