Roger Espinoza ‘05 sits back as he reflects on his transition from Honduras to Regis Jesuit and how it boosted his career. “I wanted to take my skills and my education to the next level so I needed to find somewhere where I could learn better English, educate myself more and be at a level of soccer where I knew I could succeed”

Espinoza has lived all over the world. He was born in Honduras and lived there until he was eleven in when he moved over to the US. He talks about the difficulties he faced. “Not knowing the language or knowing any people was hard for me,” He says. “I was able to play club soccer at Colorado storm, that helped me with the transition.”

Espinoza spent three years at Regis, and, after graduation, continued playing soccer in college. In his junior year, he transferred to Ohio State University and helped his team make the National Championship final. Espinoza scored in the 12th minute, but that joy didn’t last long as his team suffered a 2-1 defeat to Wake Forest. That year, he made the 2008 NCAA college cup All-Tournament team. The next year, he entered the MLS Draft.

He reminisces about his draft night. “I was the most nervous guy. I was confused because they said the name of my youth club wrong. People were looking at me, but they hadn’t said my name yet. The commissioner was just staring at me, but I was so confused. But when they finally said my name it hit. You start thinking about all the hard work and all the hours you put in on the field. You think about your family and your friends and everyone who helped you get there. I was so proud.”

He was drafted to the then known as Kansas City Wizards and in his first season, he appeared in 22 games. In his first five years at the club, he made 113 regular-season appearances and in 2012 he helped his team to victory in the U.S. Open Cup. This was his first trophy as a professional senior player. “It meant all the hard work paid off but there’s a lot more to go, there’s a lot more places I want to go, a lot more things I want to achieve and that was the beginning of what I’d say a great career.”

After winning the U.S. Open, he made a move to Wigan Athletic, who were, at the time, in the highest division in England, the Premier League. “I didn’t want to leave Kansas City, but it was my dream to play in the Premier League. It’s every player’s dream to play in the Premier League. It’s the best league in the world. There’s no other league that comes close. The TV and the media make it more exciting. For me, I had to have the mindset that one day I want to play in the premier league and I can only make that happen if every day I go to training and train very hard. That will give me better opportunities.”

He went on to talk about playing in the Prem. “The first game was very tough. It was a cup game which meant we were playing against a side in the lower league. If you watch the lower levels, from League One to the Championship, you know the players who are very physical and are tackling all over the place. The English way of playing. It took me probably a month to get used to.”

Espinoza talks about possibly his greatest sporting achievement. In 2013, Espinoza and his team, Wigan, made an amazing F.A. Cup run. The F.A. Cup is one of the highest honors an English Club team can receive and is the oldest soccer cup competition in the world. The F.A. Cup is not comparable to any sporting tournament in the U.S. It is a separate competition to the normal league, and it consists of teams from all the different leagues in England to play against other teams. It is a great opportunity for lower league clubs or clubs that don’t have the biggest fan base to grow and get more attention.

In 2013, Wigan played Manchester City, who finished the season in second place and were favorites to win the tournament. It was the final of the Cup, and Wigan had already made history by getting this far. He speaks about a memory he had a few days before the final. “The owner had gotten us in a team meeting in the facility. He had put a cargo bag in the locker room. There were a million pounds in the bag. And the owner said, “If you win this game, this money is all yours.” It motivated me to get to the next level and win the game.”

They did win that game. On the 11th of May, Wigan Faced Manchester City in the final. “It’s one of the most viewed games in the world. It’s such a competitive tournament. Man City were one of the best teams in the world at the time. They had players like Kun Aguero, YaYa Toure, Joe Hart, [Carlos] Tevez, [Vincent] Kompany, so many great players. It was a very difficult game. I think the style Wigan were playing at the time, our coach was Roberto Martinez, who is now the coach of the Belgian National team, he had a very different style of playing. That style set us up for victory. I thought we played a very good game the entire game, we held Man City with zero goals, having all the power that they had. In the last minute, there was a corner kick and we had used a sub very late in the game, his name was Ben Robertson. He hadn’t played in the last few months because he was injured. He came on in the last few minutes and he scored on the corner. One or two minutes later the referee blew his whistle and everybody went crazy. The celebration lasted for about a week. People still celebrate it to this day. Wigan is a very small town north of Manchester. Soccer is all they have. Soccer and pies are really all they have over there. It’s amazing. It was probably the greatest moment of Wigan’s history.”

The joy wasn’t to last. A few days later, they got relegated from the Premier League to the championship. “It’s because we celebrated too much, I’m telling you. We forgot that we had a game three days later against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium. That was a difficult part. Being a small club in England, you don’t have as big of a roster as the big clubs do. So if you play F.A. Cup on a Wednesday and then the Premier League on a Saturday, you have so many games with the same squad. We were doing OK in the Premier League but in the last few games we needed eight points from a maximum of about ten, but we had the F.A. Cup quarter-finals and the League Cup to play so that made it very difficult. So the last 2 crucial games we tied against Swansea, 2-2. Then we had the finals of the cup and then had to play Arsenal three days later. Our mentality was to focus on the finals and we won, but we didn’t play well against Arsenal and we lost. Being a small club, we were all sad for the town and we were bummed that we didn’t play well and we got relegated. No one wanted to go to the championship. To the surprise of all the players, the fans were not mad at all. We showed up back to Wigan and the fans were still supportive. I was bummed, but that’s what it is in soccer sometimes. Sometimes you just have to deal with those bumps in the road. I’m thankful for the experience and I wouldn’t give up the F.A. Cup to keep playing in the Premier League.

In 2015, Espinoza made a move back to America, joining what is now known as Sporting KC. “Wigan had a roster that had a high wage bill, but with the club back in the Championship, they weren’t doing the best financially. I still wanted to stay in England. The clubs that were asking me were clubs whose style didn’t fit mine. Most of them were in the championship too and I didn’t want to continue in the championship. It has nothing to do with the league, it’s a very compelling league, it just didn’t fit my style. So my options were to go to another club somewhere in Europe or go back to Kansas City. So talking to Wigan, we came to the conclusion that it would be ok for me to go back to Kansas. There would be no transfer fee, so it ended up working well. I left KC on a free and went back on a free.”

In 2017, Espinoza won the U.S. Open Cup for a second time. “Cups just follow me huh,” Roger joked “There are similarities and differences but every season is different. I always say the next one you win it feels the best. That’s because it’s the one you’re always chasing. They all have a different feeling because of how the season went. It’s hard to describe the feeling.”

Roger is still playing for Sporting KC and recently reached 20,000 minutes for them. The 34-year-old talks about what his future holds after he retires. “I want to stay around the game, whether that be coaching or working with the club on other stuff I’m not sure yet, it’s hard to tell. I’m still locked in that player mentality and I still want to play for a few more years. But having said that, I’m happy with what I’ve achieved and if soccer was to end for me tomorrow id have no regrets. I think I’ve achieved all my goals, but hopefully, there’s an opportunity to stay near the sport.

Espinoza was called up for the Honduras national team in 2009. He played in the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and reached the quarter-finals of the 2012 Olympic Games “It’s amazing to be able to play for my country. You come to a different country and it’s really hard. You think you’re never going to go back to your country and everyone will forget you soccer wise. That was the only culture I knew. When I got to KC I had an ok first season and then the Call up came. I didn’t hesitate to say yes. Right away I put myself in a position to play. It was a dream come true. When your little you dream of seeing your national team compete in a World Cup. I never saw Honduras do that. When I got the call, I realized I’m achieving my dreams right here. Plus, I got to play with players who growing up were my Idols. I wanted to work so hard. It happened so quickly. Next thing you know we are playing the qualifiers against the U.S., Mexico, Costa Rica. Only three out of six teams qualify and we did it. We got to South Africa. Now, the other problem was that I needed to make sure I was in the squad to play in the World Cup. So I went to my club team and worked very hard and did everything possible. When I saw my name on the list, I’m not gonna lie, I got very emotional because that was the pinnacle of my career. Once you see the group and see you’re playing Spain, Switzerland, and Chile, you’re like wow, this is a tough group, but hey I’m just excited to be there and I’m going to do everything I can to do well. Spain ended up winning the World Cup, but it was an unbelievable experience.

He speaks fondly of his time at Regis and talks about the role athletics play at Regis. “It’s great being at Regis because of the way they see sports is different anywhere else. Kids either go for academics, or they go there for athletics. The best athletes in the state go there because they want to be the best and be with there. You not only have soccer, but you also have Football, Lacrosse, swimming. Swimming is one of the most competitive sports there. And you see that every day. Swimmers get to the facilities at four in the morning sometimes to go train. You see the commitment of all the players that have been successful. One thing you do see in all the athletes is hard work.”

“Some advice I have for the athletes is to never complain. Regardless of who the coach is or who your teammates are. Represent the school the right way. Do your best, work hard and good things will happen to you. It definitely did for me, it definitely did for other athletes who have turned professional. It will pay off in the end. Once you achieve something and you have that feeling, you want that rush again, work for that.”

Espinoza is still playing for Sporting KC and hopes to continue his career. Although Sporting KC were knocked out, he hopes to have success within the next few years. You can follow his Instagram at luckylefty_15.

Special Thanks to Mr. Rick Wolf.