After high school, he chose to forgo college and moved to Europe to train with Valencienne in France and Sporting Club of Portugal.
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.
[1] 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.
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.
In 2005, Vargas played the part of John Souza in The Game of Their Lives, a movie about the U.S. victory over England in the 1950 FIFA World Cup.