A midfielder who was a longtime star of both MLS and the U.S. national team.
Armas played the first 12 MLS seasons, initially for the Los Angeles Galaxy and later for the Chicago Fire. During those seasons, he played 264 MLS regular-season games and 37 playoff games. He was named to the MLS postseason Best XI five times, in 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003. He played in the MLS championship game four times, winning a MLS title 1998 with Chicago and finishing as runner-up in 2000 and 2003 with Chicago and 1996 with Los Angeles. He also won three U.S. Open Cup titles with Chicago, in 1988, 2000 and 2003. In addition to his MLS seasons, he also played two seasons in the USISL.
Armas played 66 full internationals for the United States between 1998 and 2005. Those included 19 World Cup qualifiers, in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005. He never played in the World Cup, although he had been expected to be a starter in the 2002 World Cup before being injured a few weeks before the tournament. He was a member of the United States teams that won the CONCACAF Gold Cup finals in 2002 and 2005, played in the FIFA Confederations Cup in 2003 and was chosen as the USSF men’s athlete of the year in 2000.