Youth Vargas attended
Miami Coral Park High School and played youth soccer with Inter Juventus in Miami. After high school, he chose to forgo college and moved to Europe to train with Valencienne in France and Sporting Club of Portugal. He signed his first professional contract at the age of 16 to play for
Standard Liège in Belgium.
Professional The
Tampa Bay Mutiny selected Vargas in the twelfth round (117th overall) in the
1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft. He spent two seasons with the Mutiny before the
Miami Fusion selected Vargas in the
1997 MLS Expansion Draft. On July 25, 2000, while playing in an Open Cup game in
Saginaw, Michigan, Vargas sustained a right ankle sprain that turned out to be a career-ending injury. After three seasons in Miami, the Fusion waived Vargas in November 2000.
International In 1991, Vargas was a member of the
United States men's national under-17 soccer team at the
U-17 World Youth Championship which went 3–0 in the first round. In the second round, the team tied Qatar 1–1 in regulation only to fall 5–4 in
penalty kicks. That same year, he earned his first of four
caps with the
U.S. national team when he came on at half time for
Mike Slivinski in a September 14 win over
Jamaica. At the time, Slivinski was the youngest U.S. player to earn a cap and Vargas was only three months older. Vargas did not play again with the senior national team until November 19, 1994, in a loss to
Trinidad and Tobago. He then played two more games that year, his last coming on December 11. In 1993, Vargas was selected for the U.S. team which qualified for the
1993 U-20 World Cup to be held in Australia. He scored two goal in the
CONCACAF qualifying games. At the World Cup, the U.S. went 1-1-1 in group play, qualifying for the second round where it fell to Brazil. In 1996, U.S. coach
Bruce Arena named Vargas to the
U.S. soccer team at the
1996 Summer Olympics. Once again, the team went 1–1–1, but this time failed to make the second round. ==Acting==