Luis Carlos "Matador" Tejada Hansell is a Panamanian professional association football striker. He currently plays for Sport Boys of the Peruvian Primera División and the Panamanian national team. Club career
Tejada's debut in professional soccer was with Tauro in the local league, where he managed to make a good impression and quickly moved to Colombia to play with Colombian side Deportes Tolima. In 2005, he signed a 3-year contract to send him to Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates. However, he did not yield the same results he obtained in the Gold Cup, reason why shortly after finished the AFC Champions League, and he returned to Panama. Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer announced the signing of Tejada on December 12, 2006, for the 2007 season. Matador scored only 3 goals in the Torneo Finalizacion 2007, however he became a key player for America in the next tournament. Tejada played 19 games in the Torneo Iniciacion 2008 where he scored 12 goals, becoming America de Cali's top-scorer and the second in the tournament. In December 2013, Tejada returned to Peru where he played with Juan Aurich for two years. He joined Universidad Cesar Vallejo. International career
Tejada made his debut for Panama in a June 2001 friendly match against Trinidad and Tobago and has, as of 1 August 2015, earned a total of 88 caps, scoring 40 goals and making him Panama's all-time record goalscorer just ahead of Blas Perez. He represented his country in 24 FIFA World Cup qualification matches and in March 2005, Tejada scored a goal on an overhead kick against Mexico in a World Cup 2006 qualifying match that gave Panama a 1:1 tie against the CONCACAF giants. This goal was voted the best goal of the year by Fox Sports. Tejada led Panama to the 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup final, where they finished as runners-up to the United States. He scored three goals to end up as joint top scorer, but unfortunately, he missed his penalty kick in the penalty shoot-out against the United States in the final. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament for his efforts. Tejada is currently the all-time leading scorer in Panama history. Tejada was ejected from the 2015 CONCACAF Gold Cup semi final against Mexico after receiving a red card. |
