Marco Pappa

Marco Pablo Pappa Ponce (born 15 November 1987) is a Guatemalan former professional footballer who primarily played as a midfielder. Born in Guatemala City, Pappa, who plays as a winger, joined his local side, Municipal, in 2004 at the age of 16, and made his professional debut in a domestic league match in August 2006 against Deportivo Petapa. He scored his first professional goal against Nicaraguan side Real Madriz during the 2007 UNCAF tournament. Pappa signed a one-and-a-half-year loan deal with Chicago Fire on 30 July 2008, and made his MLS debut for Fire on 2 August 2008, against Chivas USA. He scored his first MLS goal on 5 April 2009, in a game against the New York Red Bulls. On 3 December 2009 The Fire exercised their option to buy Pappa's rights from Municipal, thus ending almost two-year loan deal it had for Pappa and securing his services through the 2012 season. Pappa started the 2010 MLS season in great form for the Chicago Fire with 5 goals and 4 assists in his first 11 games, making one of the league's top performing midfielders, and finished the year with seven goals (being the team's top scorer) and five assists. He was also awarded the MLS "Goal of the Year" award of the 2010 season for his goal against San Jose Earthquakes on 10 April 2010. During the 2011 season, Pappa scored eight goals, including a hat-trick on 28 September 2011 in an away win against Real Salt Lake, earning the "Player of the Week" award and becoming the second Guatemalan player to score three goals in an MLS match after Carlos Ruiz had done it in 2002 and 2003. Per an announcement made on 13 August 2012 Pappa was originally going to join the Dutch club SC Heerenveen of the Eredivisie on 1 January 2013 on a three-and-a-half-year deal.