Roque Santa Cruz

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Roque Santa Cruz
Personal information
Full name Roque Santa Cruz
Date of birth August 16, 1981
Place of birth Asuncion, Paraguay
Position Forward
Club information
Current club Bayern Munich
Youth clubs
1988-1990 Olimpia Asunción
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1990-1999
1999-		 Olimpia Asunción
Bayern Munich
131 (29)
National team**
1999- Paraguay 42 (13)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of 31 December, 2005.

Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero (born August 16, 1981 in Asunción, Paraguay) is a Paraguayan football striker, who currently plays for Bayern Munich of the German Bundesliga.

Contents

[edit] Personal life

He married his former national team and Olimpia teammate Ricardo Tavarelli's sister Giselle in 2004. He has one son, Tobias (born December 17, 2003), and one daughter, Fiorella (born November 11, 2005).

[edit] Career

[edit] Club

[edit] 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 Roque to practice with the first team squad at the age of fifteen. His professional debut on the first team was in 1998, at the age of sixteen. Roque'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.

[edit] FC Bayern Munich

Because of his excellent performances with Olimpia and the Paraguay national football team, Roque signed for Bayern Munich in the second half of 1999. Santa Cruz has been 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 has limited his impact.

[edit] Club career stats

All-Time Club Performance
Club Season Bundesliga DFB Cup Champions League Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Bayern Munich 2006-07 3 0 1 0 1 1 5 1
2005-06 13 4 3 0 2 0 18 4
2004-05 4 0
2003-04 29 5
2002-03 14 5
2001-02 22 5
2000-01 19 5
Total 104 24
Career Totals

[edit] National team

[edit] 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Trivia

  • 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.
  • In a 2006 World Cup edition of German magazine Kicker he was voted the sexiest man to be taking part in the tournament. [1]
  • He was also chosen by the German newspaper Die Welt as the sexiest footballer of the 2006 World Cup. [2]
  • He´s on the cover of the german version of the PC, PS2 and X-Box 360 game Pro Evolution Soccer 6. [3]

[edit] External links


FC Bayern Munich - Current Squad

1 Kahn | 2 Sagnol | 3 Lúcio | 5 Van Buyten | 6 Demichelis | 7 Scholl | 8 Karimi | 10 Makaay | 11 Podolski | 14 Pizarro | 17 van Bommel | 18 Görlitz | 19 dos Santos | 20 Salihamidžić | 21 Lahm | 22 Rensing | 23 Hargreaves | 24 Santa Cruz | 25 Ismaël | 26 Deisler | 29 Dreher | 30 Lell | 31 Schweinsteiger | 36 Fürstner | 37 Saba | 39 Ottl | Coach: Magath
Paraguay Paraguay squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Paraguay

1 Villar | 2 Núñez | 3 Toledo | 4 Gamarra | 5 Cáceres | 6 Bonet | 7 Cabañas | 8 Barreto | 9 Santa Cruz | 10 Acuña | 11 Gavilán | 12 Gómez | 13 Paredes | 14 da Silva | 15 Manzur | 16 Riveros | 17 Montiel | 18 Valdez | 19 dos Santos | 20 López | 21 Caniza | 22 Bobadilla | 23 Cuevas | Coach: Ruiz
Paraguay Paraguay squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Paraguay

1 Chilavert | 2 Arce | 3 Sarabia | 4 Gamarra | 5 Ayala | 6 Struway | 7 Báez | 8 Alvarenga | 9 Santa Cruz | 10 Acuña | 11 Campos | 12 Villar | 13 Paredes | 14 Gavilán | 15 Bonet | 16 Morínigo | 17 Franco | 18 Cáceres | 19 Sanabria | 20 Cardozo | 21 Caniza | 22 Tavarelli | 23 Cuevas | Coach: Maldini
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