Petter Villegas
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Petter Enrique Villegas España | ||
| Date of birth | November 15, 1975 | ||
| Place of birth | Esmeraldas, Ecuador | ||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder/Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1995 | Kean Cougars | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1996–1999 | NY/NJ Stallions | ||
| 1996 | → NY/NJ MetroStars (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| 1999–2002 | MetroStars | 88 | (15) |
| 2002–2003 | D.C. United | 18 | (2) |
| 2003–2005 | Aucas | 26 | (0) |
| 2004 | → Barcelona SC (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 2004 | → Manta (loan) | 13 | (0) |
| 2005 | → Deportivo Cuenca (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2005–2009 | Puerto Rico Islanders | 107 | (15) |
| 2011 | River Plate Puerto Rico | 4 | (1) |
| 2011–2012 | Puerto Rico Islanders | 12 | (2) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2008-2011 | Puerto Rico | 13 | (3) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 17, 2011. ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of December 17, 2011 |
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Petter Villegas (born November 15, 1975 in Esmeraldas) is an Ecuadorian-born Puerto Rican footballer who played for Puerto Rico Islanders in the North American Soccer League.
Villegas came to the United States with his family as a child, settling in Newark, New Jersey. He attended Saint Benedict's Preparatory School, where he was a three-time New Jersey All State high school player, scoring 34 goals, assisted on 18 more in 1993. In 1999, he was named by The Star-Ledger as one of the top ten New Jersey high school soccer players of the 1990s.
He played one year of college soccer at Kean College, earning first team All-NJAC honors in 1995, before turning professional.
Villegas' first taste of Major League Soccer action came in 1996, when he played three games for the MetroStars on loan from the New Jersey Stallions of the USISL. Three years in the minors followed, until the Metros drafted Villegas in the first round of the 1999 MLS Supplemental Draft. He played the next four and a half seasons for the Metros, mostly as a right midfielder, but also as a forward and defender. Villegas' erratic play matched his versatility – brilliant one moment, awful the next – earning him the sarcastic nickname The Greatest Metro Ever. Despite his inconsistency, he scored a number of key goals, including an overtime game winner in a comeback against the Tampa Bay Mutiny in 2000. Overall, Villegas scored 13 goals and 21 assists in his Metro career, adding two goals and two assists in the playoffs.
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