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Roque Santa Cruz

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Roque Santa Cruz
Personal information
Full name Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Blackburn Rovers
Number 9
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 14:16, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Roque Luis Santa Cruz (born 16 August 1981 in Asunción) is a Paraguayan football striker, who currently plays for Blackburn Rovers.

Career

Club

Olimpia Asunción

He joined Olimpia Asunción youth division at the age of nine, where he became the top scorer during several seasons until the head coach of Olimpia's first team, Luis Cubilla, invited Santa Cruz to practice with the first team squad at the age of fifteen. His professional debut on the first team was on July 27 1998 in the Paraguayan Super Clásico against Cerro Porteño, at the age of sixteen.[4] Santa Cruz's club performance led Olimpia Asunción to a Paraguayan championship in 1998 and 1999, and the winning of the Paraguayan Footballer of the Year award.

FC Bayern Munich

Because of his excellent performances with Olimpia and the Paraguay national football team, Santa Cruz signed for Bayern Munich in the second half of 1999. Santa Cruz was unexceptional at Bayern Munich — although he scored five goals in his first season with the club, a series of injuries and heavy competition at forward for the German giants limited his impact.

Blackburn Rovers

Santa Cruz agreed a four-year deal with Blackburn Rovers on 28 July 2007. Blackburn agreed to pay Bayern Munich £3.5 million for the player.[5] He scored his first goal for Rovers after just three touches of the ball when he came on as a substitute for the injured Benni McCarthy against Middlesbrough in the opening game of the 2007-08 Premier League season.[6] Santa Cruz celebrated his 26th birthday and his first full Rovers start when he scored the winner away to MyPa in the UEFA Cup.[7] Roque Santa Cruz scored his first hat-trick for Blackburn in a 5–3 loss to Wigan on December 15 2007,[8] becoming the first player in over ten years in English football to score a hat-trick for the losing side, since Dwight Yorke's hat-trick on 30 September 1996 for Aston Villa in their 4–3 away loss to Newcastle United.[9] On 12 January 2008, he was named Barclays Premier League “Player of the Month” for December 2007. He has had a successful first season in the Premier League, scoring 19 goals for Blackburn.

On the 18th June 2008, according to Cruz, he claimed that Manchester United have made an approach for him and insisted that he wanted to leave Ewood Park. Manchester United have not yet commented on the case.

Club career statistics

(correct as of 5 May 2008)[10]
Club Season League Cup[11] Europe Total
Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists Apps Goals Assists
Olimpia Asunción 1998–99 9 3 - - - - - - - 9 3 -
Total 9 3 ?
Bayern Munich 1999–00 28 5 - 4 2 - - - - 32 7 -
2000–01 19 5 - - - - - - - 19 5 -
2001–02 22 5 - - - - 10 3 - 32 8 -
2002–03 14 5 - - - - - - - 14 5 -
2003–04 29 5 - - - - 8 1 - 37 6 -
2004–05 4 0 - - - - - - - 4 - -
2005–06 13 4 - - - - 2 0 - 15 4 -
2006–07 26 2 - 2 0 - 7 1 - 35 3 -
Total 155 31 - 6 2 - 27 5 - 188 38 ?
Blackburn Rovers 2007–08 36 19 6 3 3 0 3 1 0 42 23 7
Total 42 23 7

National team

Paraguay U20

Santa Cruz made a name for himself at the 1999 U-20 FIFA World Youth Championship, where he scored three goals for a surprising Paraguay team. His performance there led to a call-up to the full Paraguay national team for the Copa América at the age of 17.

Paraguay Senior

Santa Cruz made his senior debut at age 17 for Paraguay at Copa América leading his national team in scoring with three goals. He also scored a total of seven goals in the 2002 and 2006 World Cup qualification rounds, and appeared in the 2002 World Cup, where he scored one goal while helping his team advance to the elimination rounds.

Santa Cruz was in doubt for the 2006 World Cup as he was recovering from a serious knee injury. However, he recovered in time for the start of the tournament and played all three group stage matches for Paraguay. Santa Cruz was not able to score a goal, but he did assist Nelson Cuevas and had a good game in the 2–0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago. Despite the win, Paraguay failed to qualify to the second round of the tournament. Santa Cruz scored a hat trick against Colombia in a 5–0 Paraguayan victory during the Copa América 2007 in Venezuela.

Off the pitch

  • He married Giselle Tavarelli, the sister of his former national team and Olimpia teammate Ricardo Tavarelli in 2004. He has one son, Tobias (born December 17, 2003), and one daughter, Fiorella (born November 11, 2005).
  • In 2004 he teamed up with German rock band Sportfreunde Stiller to sing the words "Ich, Roque" in the song with the same title - a pun on the phrase I rock. The song made it into the Top-40 in Austria and Germany.
  • In a 2006 World Cup edition of German magazine Kicker he was voted the sexiest man to be taking part in the tournament.[12]
  • He was also chosen by the German newspaper Die Welt as the sexiest footballer of the 2006 World Cup.[13]
  • He is on the cover of the German version of the PC, PS2 and Xbox 360 game Pro Evolution Soccer 6.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Official site personal data". Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  2. ^ "Roque Santa Cruz official site statistics". Retrieved 2007-08-20.
  3. ^ "Paraguay - Record International Players". Retrieved 2007-12-30.
  4. ^ "Santa Cruz official site" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-12-30.
  5. ^ "Santa Cruz seals Blackburn move". BBC Sport. 28 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-08-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Middlesbrough vs Blackburn". Blackburn Rovers Official Website. 2007-08-11. Retrieved 2007-08-12. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ "MyPa 0–1 Blackburn". BBC Sport. 2007-08-16. Retrieved 2007-08-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  8. ^ "5–3 Blackburn vs Wigan". Espn Soccernet,. 2007-12-15. Retrieved 2007-12-15. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  9. ^ "Dwight Yorke Biography". Perfect People. Retrieved 2007-12-17. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  10. ^ "History". Soccernet. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
  11. ^ Includes FA Cup, League Cup and FA Community Shield.
  12. ^ "You'll never be great". Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  13. ^ "Santa Cruz, el más fachero" (in Spanish). Retrieved 2007-12-02.
  14. ^ "Pro Evolution Soccer 6" (in German). Retrieved 2007-12-02.

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