Andres Riera '25 Recruiting Profile

My name is Andres and my passion is soccer. I started playing when I was around 6 and it was like love at first sight; I loved playing so much that it became my favorite activity to do. My first memory of playing soccer was on vacation in Switzerland, where I played with my cousin. It hadn’t really dawned on me that this would become my passion and probable future profession, I just really enjoyed playing. A few years later, me and my family moved to Houston and there I had more opportunities to invest myself more into soccer. When I first arrived, I started joining little clubs which weren’t all that professional but just for fun and games. But then, I joined Albion Hurricanes and that‘s when my passion started sparking off. I was getting quality practices, training day in day out. But, then my family and I had to move to Angola in Africa because of my dad‘s job. There I played in the Angolan Academy in which I trained twice a week, whilst also training individually. Playing there, I think was a beneficial step to my journey because most of the players there were really good so it gave for a competitive and challenging environment to play in. After Angola, my dad got relocated back to the United States and we moved to Houston again. Now, I’m living here in Houston playing for the Houston Dynamo and training/playing with both PA (preparatory academy) and Academy teams. I’m taking soccer really seriously, training 6 times a week, hoping to turn professional one day. I also know that I need to take my academics seriously too so that I can get recruited.