A '91 who spent 4 years at UC Irvine, Cardenas went undrafted in the 2014 MLS Draft and signed with OC Blues. I officially signed for Atlante FC in Mex. Thanks to everyone who has supported me along the way. All glory be to God #AO1 #adelanteAtlante— Enrique Cardenas (@keeeykeh) January 6, 2015
Couldn't find a lot on him, but here's his college bio: http://www.ucirvinesports.com/sports/m-soccer/mtt/cardenas_enrique00.html He was mentioned in a Boehm article today and scored a goal in a reserve match: The next day, in a seemingly unrelated happening some 700 miles west of Jamaica, a promising young attacker from Southern California made his first competitive appearance for his new club. His name is Enrique Cardenas. After a successful trial stint he was turning out for the reserve side of Atlante FC, the Cancun-based Mexican club that was once home to Jonathan Bornstein. Almost exactly a year after going undrafted in the 2014 SuperDraft and finding not a single MLS team willing to give him a shot, the small but skillful Cardenas shined on his quiet debut in Atlante's navy-and-red colors. Cardenas scored a goal and earning man of the match honors. It marked an encouraging first step as the playmaker looks to break into the starting 11 of the second-division side after signing a short-term contract earlier this month alongside another overlooked Latino creator from California, Jose “Choco” Gomez. Cardenas grew up in little Coachella, California, a few steps removed from the SoCal spotlight. Even at a smaller youth club, he caught the attention of a few college coaches and worked his way into a leading role at UC Irvine. Last year, he watched his stock fall while playing out of position at the MLS Combine. Afterward he roundly criticized the larger system that cast him aside as “foolish” and “ludicrous.” “They don’t give players like us an opportunity,” Cardenas told TopDrawerSoccer.com. “We’re just going to keep bringing creative players from abroad and players born in the US aren’t going to succeed. There’s something wrong with the system.”
From the TDS article for January 2014: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/coll...rafted-cardenas-examines-mls-process_aid32446 Cardenas has options, and Europe appears to be one. His agent is probing for interest, and there’s been a fair amount of pushback from Sweden in particular. Mexico is another. Both of Cardenas’ parents are from Mexico, and he was offered a contract with Pachuca he didn’t take when he was 14. Cardenas says the road south is open as well. But he ultimately hoped it wouldn’t come to that. The technical midfielder is frustrated by what he sees as MLS’ propensity to stock its ranks with attacking talent from outside instead of taking more risks on smaller players on its own shores. Now, he’s on to new ventures.
Cardenas made his first team debut with a 29 minute runout in a CopaMX match two weeks ago. He's on the subs' bench for Atlante again tonight.
And he did make an appearance: UC Irvine product Enrique Cardenas came off the bench to log 13-plus minutes for Atlante, but he was unable to prevent Los Potros Hierros from falling 2-0 to Emanuel Guzman and regional rivals Merida... http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...scores-club-tijuana-win-book-top-seed-copa-mx
Cardenas played for PSA Elite in the US Open Cup in May. He also doesn't pop up in the Liga MX database. Seems as though he's no longer with Atlante?