Rudy Muñoz is a 20-year-old left footed left winger for CSD Municipal and the Guatemalan senior national team. During an impressive campaign domestically, he earned his first senior cap, remaining in the team for World Cup qualification. He provided an assist then followed it up by establishing himself as a starter during their Cinderella run at the Gold Cup, adding another assist in 400 minutes.
Though strongest in a wide winger role, Muñoz has primarily played as a half winger for Guatemala out of necessity. This has led to a considerable amount of defensive workload for an attacker, but his work rate and athleticism have made him serviceable on that end.
Muñoz is short (1.68 m) with a slim frame. He is extremely quick and agile, with elite pace in short bursts and over long distances. His explosiveness allows him to recover quickly on the counter or re-engage when beaten in 1v1s. He frequently overcommits or mistimes his stand tackles, getting dribbled past or fouling (though some were tactical while chasing counters). He must work on his discipline when pressing or in his own half. Muñoz has notable awareness, too, showing spatial understanding to create traps in the press and anticipate to either intercept or challenge. His pressing is overall quite active, emphasizing his elite quickness to closeout, usually forcing back passes or an occasional rushed decision. He tracks runs well by combining his pace and awareness to stick to the hip of markers off ball. When offering cover, he displays intelligent positioning especially when central. A main area for improvement for Muñoz outside of defensive discipline is strength, as he struggled in aerial and shoulder-to-shoulder duels, being easily bodied off the ball or boxed out by bigger opponents.
In possession, he continues to thrive with his pace, especially when carrying. Muñoz’s outstanding acceleration and top-end speed frequently allows him to explode up the left half space and flank past defenders to progress. He has some confidence on his dribble, especially when linking play deep, having smooth turns from pressure and using both feet when progressing. His hesitations and changes of direction when dribbling manipulates defenders well. Due to his lack of physical strength, he struggles in tight areas or 1v1s at times and is dispossessed. In addition, Muñoz dribbles into pressure without a plan/scan in some moments, exemplifying a need to refine his decision-making in attack. Another place he can improve his decision-making is in his distribution, getting too ambitious and rushing or misplacing passes forward when a simpler option is available to retain. Despite this, Muñoz is a creative incisive passer, lofting in crosses or using the outside of his foot to break lines. His crossing technique is admirable, both driving and floating in deliveries. His Gold Cup assist came via a first time cross from the endline. This delivery came at the end of one of many underlapping runs in support he provided as a half winger. When linking play, Muñoz is capable in one-touch play and still effective when facing pressure. Muñoz also displays decent vision when switching play and unlocking space for teammates. As a finisher he showed willingness to shoot from distance, but lacked consistent power or placement, often getting blocked or saved if even on target.
Against tougher competition like the United States and Canada, Muñoz was limited in possession. Relegated to a link up role with the opposition having much more possession, it demonstrated that he must develop some more before becoming a reliable attacker at a higher level.
A creative presence from the left, Muñoz’s carrying ability and elite pace separates him as a prospect. Add his crossing deliveries and overall work rate into the mix and Guatemala has a serviceable winger that has room to grow. Though not MLS-ready yet, his athleticism and mentality give him the potential to reach that level within the next year or two. At his peak, I envision Muñoz playing bottom half football for a Dutch or Portuguese club, but he must show more initiative attacking against higher quality teams first.
Target Scouting 