Erick Torres (footballer, born 1993)

Erick Estéfano Torres Padilla (born 19 January 1993) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a striker. He is nicknamed "El Cubo" (The Cube) due to his large, cubical shaped head.

Guadalajara
Born in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico, Torres came into the Guadalajara first team in 2010 and was a promising young player at the club. After being captain of the Chivas U-17 team, taking them to the championship game of the Bicentenario 2010, He made his official debut in the Mexican Primera División in November 2010 against C.F. Monterrey, where he scored 21 minutes into the second half. Chivas would go on to tie the game 1–1. He scored a brace against Pachuca, where Chivas would win the match 4–1. He scored in his first "Super Clasico" on 10 April 2011 against arch-rivals América in a shock 3–0 victory. After the Clausura 2011 season, he finished with 6 goals in 19 appearances, and the club's second top goal scorer, behind Marco Fabián.

Chivas USA (loan)
Erick Torres was loaned to sister club Chivas USA from Guadalajara on 10 July 2013, and was signed as a designated player.

Torres made his debut with Chivas in July 2013 against Toronto FC scoring the winning goal during the 79th minute. He played all 90 minutes. On 29 June 2014 Torres scored his 17th career goal with Chivas USA and became Major League Soccer's all-time Mexican-born scoring leader. On 20 July 2014, Torres tied Ante Razov's club record of 14 goals in a single season while being in a 6 match goal streak. On 5 August 2014, Torres was chosen for the MLS All Star team facing against Bayern München. Torres came in off the bench for Obafemi Martins in the 60th minute. The match resulted in 2–1 win. Torres finished the 2014 MLS season with 15 goals scored in 29 games. During his time with Chivas he scored a total of 22 goals in 45 games before the club was dissolved in 2014.

Houston Dynamo
On 18 December 2014, Guadalajara announced that MLS made the purchase clause effective to move Torres permanently to the MLS under the condition that Guadalajara acquire Torres on loan for six months.

On 23 December 2014, Houston Dynamo announced that they had signed Torres to a Designated Player contract. The contract is for five years.

Guadalajara (loan)
Torres was loaned back to Guadalajara for six months as part of the agreement made with MLS. He made his return debut for the club at home against Pumas UNAM coming in as a substitute for Ángel Reyna. Guadalajara won the match by a score of 2–1.

On 14 March 2015, Torres scored his first two and only league goals of the season coming on as a substitute in the 60th minute for Israel Castro against Puebla.

Torres played mostly in the Copa MX where he scored three goals and helped Guadalajara reach the final where they lost 4–2 to Puebla.

Cruz Azul (loan)
On 3 September 2016, Cruz Azul announced that Torres would join the club on loan for the remaining season of the Liga MX with an option to buy.

Return to Houston Dynamo
After spending six months on loan with Guadalajara, Torres returned to Houston Dynamo of Major League Soccer to make his debut with the team. He made his debut for Dynamo in the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup on 21 July 2015, when he came off the bench as a sub in the 63rd minute in a 3–1 loss to Sporting Kansas City. He made his official league debut as a sub once again for Will Bruin in the 69th minute on 25 July 2015, against LA Galaxy in a 3–0 win. After going 22 games without scoring a single goal, Houston Dynamo decided to loan Cubo to Cruz Azul for the remainder of the year. After returning from Cruz Azul, Torres made his appearance back with Houston Dynamo in their first game of the 2017 Major League Soccer season on 5 March 2017. He turned out to score his first goal with the Houston Dynamo in their 2–1 away win against Seattle Sounders FC. On 1 April 2017, Torres scored a hat-trick against New York Red Bulls on their 4–1 home win. The hat-trick was his first of his career and it made him the second ever Mexican player to score a hat-trick in the MLS. On August 23, 2017, in a match against rivals FC Dallas, Torres set a club record for most goals in a season, 14, beating Brian Ching's previous record of 13.

UNAM
On 24 January 2018, Torres joined Mexican club Pumas UNAM in a reported $2 million deal.

Tijuana
On 5 June 2018, Torres was sold to Club Tijuana.

Atlanta United
On 31 July 2020, Torres returned to Major League Soccer, joining Atlanta United FC as a Season-Ending Injury Replacement Player for the injured Josef Martínez. On August 22, 2020, Torres made his debut against Nashville SC, which resulted in a 2–0 win for Atlanta. Torres entered the match as a substitute in the 80th minute for Atlanta teammate Adam Jahn. Following the 2020 season, Torres was released by Atlanta on 24 November 2020.

On 3 February 2021, it was announced that Torres had re-signed with Atlanta United, occupying a supplemental roster spot for the season, as well as also taking on an undefined role in the club's academy.

Following the 2021 season, Atlanta declined their contract option on Torres.

Orange County SC
On 13 January 2022, Torres signed with USL Championship club Orange County SC.

Las Vegas Lights FC
On 7 March 2023, Torres signed with USL Championship club Las Vegas Lights FC.

Youth
Erick Torres participated In the 2010 Milk Cup at the age of 16. He was the starting forward of the under-17 squad, finalizing 4th place in the tournament.

Torres participated in the 2011 Toulon Tournament with Mexico, finalizing in 4th place after losing to Italy on penalties in the Third Place Match. Erick Torres was included in the squad that represented Mexico at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Colombia, he was listed as the youngest player in the team at the age of 18, And wore the number 10. Mexico reached 3rd place in the tournament.

In 2012 Torres Participated in the 2012 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament with the Mexico U23 national team, appearing 3 times and scoring one goal against Panama in extra time winning the match 1–0. Mexico won the Tournament defeating Honduras in the Final. However Erick did not make the final cut for those players participating in the 2012 Summer Olympics where Mexico won its first olympic gold medal in football.

On 18 September 2015 Erick Torres was selected by coach Raul Gutierrez to play in the 2015 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship

Senior
Erick Torres was in the preliminary list of players participating in the 2011 Copa América in Argentina under coach Luis Fernando Tena. He was listed as the youngest player on the list at only 18 years old, but didn't make it to the final cut.

On 21 August 2014, Torres received his first call-up to the senior national team under coach Miguel Herrera, for two matches against Chile on 6 September and Bolivia on 9 September. On 12 October 2014, Torres scored his first goal with the national team in a friendly versus Panama in Queretaro on a mistake from the Panamanian goalkeeper. Torres was also assisted with a header by Oribe Peralta. It was the game-winning goal in the 89th minute of the match.

After a two-year absence, Torres was called up to replace the injured Alan Pulido for the 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He would go on to play three games in the tournament.

Style of play
He has been compared to Javier Hernández due to their similarity in their style of playing and his rapid success months after his debut, but he has mentioned that it is only the beginning of his career and he has to make his own path in football. On the Chivas official website, he was described as having a good presence in the area and an outstanding shot at goal.

An article written on Goal.com described Torres as "having quick feet, good positional sense and plenty of skill. He shares one trait particularly in common with Hernandez in that he likes to move the ball quickly, playing one and two touch football and then, like Chicharito, comes alive in the penalty area."

Erick Torres was nominated as La nueva Promesa' (The New Pledge) for the year 2012 during the 2012 Premios Juventud but lost to Boxer Saúl Álvarez.

Honours
Mexico Youth
 * FIFA U-20 World Cup third place: 2011
 * Central American and Caribbean Games: 2014
 * CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship: 2012, 2015

Individual
 * MLS All-Star: 2014
 * CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship Best XI: 2015