Ignacio Baez

Ignacio Baez (born August 12, 1959 in Mexico) is a former Mexican-American soccer midfielder who played professionally in Mexico and the United States first divisions. He has coached in the U.S. lower divisions and coached at the Blanchet Catholic School. Baez signed his first professional contract with Mexican powerhouse Club América at 15. Two years later, he moved to the United States and signed with the Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League as a seventeen year old midfielder. Baez never broke into the first team and he returned to Mexico to play for Cruz Azul and Club Irapuato. In 1988, he signed with F.C. Portland of the Western Soccer Alliance. He remained with the team in 1989, now renamed the Portland Timbers. In...