Alfredo Moreno

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Alfredo Moreno
Personal information
Full name	Alfredo David Moreno
Date of birth	January 12, 1980
Place of birth	Santiago del Estero, Argentina
Height	175cm
Nickname	Chango, Negro
Position	Forward
Club information
Current club	Club Necaxa
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1999-2000 2001 2002 2002 2002-2003 2003- present	Boca Juniors Club Necaxa Shandong Lokomotiv Boca Juniors Club Necaxa
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Alfredo David Moreno (born January 12, 1980 in Santiago del Estero, Argentina) is an Argentine football forward, who currently plays for Necaxa of the Primera División de México.

Moreno began his career with Boca Juniors, making his debut for the team September 26, 1999. He had a brief but successful stint with the team, scoring 5 goals in the Copa Libertadores 2000 match against Bolivian Blooming.

At the tender age of 21, Alfredo Moreno joined Necaxa (on loan with the option to buy the player in a definite purchase) for the Verano 2001 (Summer 2001) season. Moreno's debut in Mexico was on January 21, 2001 against Puebla. On his third game, he managed to score his first goal on Mexican soil by the virtue of penalty kick. However, in that same game against Toros del Celaya he was also booked twice and sent off. He scored 6 goals in 472 played for an average of one goal every 78 minutes in a season in which Necaxa failed to qualify for the post-season. The next six months were sort of a drought, for he only scored three goals. Moreno Necaxa did not make the purchase valid and Moreno was back in Argentina playing for Boca Juniors where he stayed there for a year and a half, helping the team to win the 2003 Copa Libertadores de América.

After he left Necaxa, however, Boca Juniors sent Alfredo on loan to China's Shandong FC where he had difficulty not only with his football abilities, but also the culture and communication. While in Asia, Moreno says that in training the coach would yell out some indications and a someone would have to translate to Spanish. To make things worse, the coach was Russian, so the indications started out in Russian, then Chinese and finally into Spanish. Later on, he joined Lokomotiv of the Russian League where he was there for a brief period of one month.

Once again, Moreno would have a second stay with "los Rayos" for the newly renamed 2003 Apertura where his presence was immediately noticed. Once again, on his third game on August 16, 2003, Moreno scored twice to win the game 2-0 against Atlante. In what would be his best season with Necaxa, Alfredo scored 10 times in 20 games (13 starts), but the team slumped in the quarter finals against the champion Pachuca 4-3 in an aggregate score (Necaxa lost 1-3 at home and won 2-1 away). For the next 2 and a half years (Apertura 2004, 2005 and Clausura 2004, 2005 and 2006) Moreno has scored 29 goals.

In 2006 he played the Copa Libertadores again, this time with UANL Tigres along side of fellow Necaxa striker Ariel Lopez "el Chupa". However, both failed to score in two goaless draws against Libertad of Paraguay where Tigres lost in penalty kicks.

Moreno has been an excellent striker, placing in Necaxa's top ten all-time goal scorers with 49 goals in 136 games played. He was also been publicly criticized for partying late at night in the annual celebration of La Feria de San Marcos in Aguascalientes. Also, he's been questioned that a player of such caliber has yet appear during the crucial times that the team needs him. In the years he has been with Necaxa, they have reached the Liguilla (or postseason) four times, being eliminated by Cruz Azul (Invierno 2001), Pachuca(Apertura 2003 and Apertura 2005) and Tecos UAG (Clausura 2005) and Moreno still cannot find the net in those eight games played.

Many had speculated that Moreno and Necaxa would part ways for this upcoming Apertura 2006, however, no interesting offers were made have his services at another club and so el "negro" will have another year with Rayos. With the signings of strikers Kleber Boas and Aaron Padilla, summed up with Moreno's minor knee injury, it seems as though Alfredo will have to fight even harder to have a place assured in Enrique Lopez Zarza's starting eleven.

Page edited my Everardo :D