Juan Carlos Plata

Plata's playing style focuses more on technique rather than physical prowess, utilizing skills such as a strong sense of positioning and playing without the ball. In addition to being recognized as a finisher, he was also known to be a creative playmaker and passer. His personal-best 33 goals in one season came at age 35.

Plata, born in Guatemala City, made his debut in the Liga Mayor (Major League, now Liga Nacional) in the 1988–1989 league season, won by Municipal, under coach Rubén Amorín. He has since been a regular for the club, and has helped them win 14 league titles, 5 domestic cups, and 2 Central American championships. A consistent goalscorer throughout his career, Plata has scored at least 15 goals in 13 different seasons, with his most prolific season in terms of total goals scored being 2005–2006, when he scored 32 goals in total for both the Torneo de Apertura and the Torneo de Clausura. On 15 February 2008, Plata played his 500th official match with Municipal against Deportivo Zacapa for the domestic league. On 17 May 2009, Plata scored his 400th career goal against Deportivo Petapa.

Notable goals

Plata holds the domestic record for most goals scored in finals. Some of his most memorable performances include scoring 4 goals in a 9–2 beatdown over rival team CSD Comunicaciones in the Apertura 2004 final. He also scored 2 late goals in the Apertura 2005 championship over Comunicaciones to win the title. In the Clausura 2005 final, he scored a record 4 goals in one game against CD Suchitepequez to win another title. His latest final was against Xelajú MC in the Clausura 2010 tournament, coming in as a late substitute after being inactive for the majority of the tournament due to a major injury and scoring a header which gave Municipal its third goal in an eventual 3–1…

He made his debut for Guatemala as a second half substitute for Jorge Rodas in a January 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup match against Mexico and scored 35 international goals in 86 international matches. He played in the World Cup qualification processes of 1998, 2002 and 2006, scoring 7 goals in 27 World Cup qualification matches, including 2 in a 2–1 win against Costa Rica on 5 September 2004 that helped Guatemala advance to the final stage of the 2006 CONCACAF World Cup qualification. On 21 January 2002 he scored his 26th goal with the national team, against Mexico at the 2002 Gold Cup, surpassing the record of 25 that had been held by Carlos Toledo since 1953. Plata's most famous goal with the national team, however, might be the one he scored in the dying seconds of the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup match against Brazil, a header from a corner kick to equalize the score 1–1, a very surprising result considering Brazil were the reigning world champions at the time and fielded stars like Romario, Mauro Silva, Edmundo, Denilson and Taffarel. El Pin retired from international play in 2006, after a friendly match against Panama. He did however earn a final cap in a testimonial match against Belize on 9 October 2010 in which he came on as a second-half substitute.

International goals

Scores and results list Guatemala's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Plata goal.