D.C. United announced today the club has acquired defender Gonzalo Martinez from Millonarios of the Colombian First Division. The 32-year-old defender, who has earned 36 caps with the Colombian national team, will join the Black-and-Red for pre-season training camp and be officially added to the roster upon receipt of his P-1 work visa and ITC.
"We are very pleased to have signed a versatile defender with tremendous pace who we feel will add stability and leadership to our defense," said United General Manager Dave Kasper. "Gonzalos's experiences at the club level in Italy and South America and with the Colombian national team will be a great asset to our club."
Martìnez began his professional career in the Colombian First Division with Deportes Tolima in 1996 before moving to Italian Serie A side Udinese in 2001. Martinez made 24 appearances for Udinese from 2001-03 before joining Napoli on loan, where he spent part of the 2003 and 2004 campaigns. In the 2003-04 season, he moved to Reggina, where he made 14 appearances. The 5'10", 165-pound defender returned to his native Colombia and rejoined Deportes Tolima for the 2005 season, notching three goals in 21 appearances. Martìnez then moved to Olimpia, and later, Libertad, in 2005-2006 in Paraguay, where he started in a combined 27 games and helped Libertad capture the Paraguayan First Division championship. In 2007, Martìnez returned to Colombia and appeared in 36 games for Millonarios. </p>
Martinez brings a wealth of international experience to the Black-and-Red back line, both at the country and club level. He represented Colombia at the 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup and 2004 Copa America tournament in Peru and has played in various World Cup qualifiers leading up to the 2002 and 2006 FIFA World Cups. For his career, he has 36 caps and one goal with the Colombia national team.
At the club level, Martinez was a stalwart for Millonarios' back line in 2007, helping the Bogota-based club reach the semifinals of the Copa Nissan Sudamericana, eventually bowing out to Club America of Mexico. In 2006, Martinez played for Libertad in the Copa Libertadores, South America's most prestigious club cup competition.
D.C. United will soon face Jamaica's Harbour View FC in the quarterfinal round of the prestigious CONCACAF Champions' Cup. The two-game series will begin mid-March, with United traveling to Jamaica for the first leg March 11-13 with the second leg taking place at home March 18-20. The winner of the series will advance to face either Pachuca (Mexico) or Motagua (Honduras) in the semifinal round. United and Harbour View have met once before in Champions' Cup play, when in March of 2005 the two teams met in the quarterfinal round. United captured a 2-1 victory on March 9 in the first leg and advanced 4-2 on aggregate following a 2-1 win in Jamaica on March 16.
