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Roque Santa Cruz Career 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. 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. 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. Santa Cruz celebrated his 26th birthday and his first full Rovers start when he scored the winner away to MyPa in the UEFA Cup. Roque Santa Cruz scored his first hat-trick for Blackburn in a 5–3 loss to Wigan on December 15, 2007, 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. 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. 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. source: wikipedia.org GNU Free Documentation License Back to top ^ |
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