Carlos Tévez

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Personal information
Carlos Tévez
Full name	Carlos Alberto Tévez
Date of birth	February 5, 1984 (age 23)
Place of birth	Ciudadela, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	170 cm (5'7")
Nickname	Apache, Carlitos, Tev
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	West Ham United
Number	32
Youth clubs
1992-1996 1997-2001	All Boys Boca Juniors
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001-2004 2005-2006 2006-present	Boca Juniors Corinthians West Ham United	75 (25) 38 (25) 18 0(2)
National team²
2004- present	Argentina Argentina U-20	27 0(4) 52 (22)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:26, 17 March 2007 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 11 October 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Carlos Alberto "Carlitos" Tévez (born February 5, 1984 in Ciudadela, Buenos Aires Province) is an Argentine football striker who made his name with Argentine giants Boca Juniors and later in Brazil with Corinthians. He is now playing for West Ham United. When this latest transfer went through it spread shock waves through international football as it was highly anticipated he would move to one of the bigger clubs in Europe.

He is currently regarded as one of the most promising prospects in the world. Like Argentine teammate Lionel Messi, he has been labelled as the "new Diego Maradona". Maradona himself once described him as the "Argentinian prophet for the 21st century".^[1]

1 Biography
2 Titles
3 Personal awards
4 Music
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Biography

Tévez was born as Carlos Alberto Martínez, and raised in the humble neighbourhood of Ejército de Los Andes, better known as "Fuerte Apache". It was from there where he got the nickname of Apache. His parents changed his lastname to his mothers during a conflict between his junior club All Boys and Boca Juniors.^[2]

Tevez has a distinctive scar from the right ear, down his neck to his chest. This occurred when he was ten months old while he was exploring the terrain of his mother’s kitchen floor he inadvertently pulled a kettle of boiling water over himself. This caused third-degree burns to the right side of his face, neck and chest and left him in intensive care for almost two months. Today the scars are a visible signature of Tevez, who refused an offer from his Boca Juniors to have them cosmetically improved, saying that the scars were a part of who he was in the past and who he is today.

[edit] Boca Juniors

He joined Boca at the age of thirteen and played his first professional match with Boca on October 21, 2001 against Talleres de Córdoba. He played for the team until the end of 2004. With Boca Juniors he won an Argentine Championship (2003), a Copa Libertadores (2003), an Intercontinental Cup (2003), and a Copa Sudamericana (2004). Because of the Intercontinental Cup of 2003, he did not participate in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship with the Argentine team.

Tévez was a key part of Boca's victory in the 2003 Copa Libertadores, but his greatest achievement was during the 2004 Olympic Games, where he won the gold medal with his team, and scored eight goals in six matches to be the top scorer of the competition. He was named Futbolista latinoamericano más destacado ("Most notable Latin American footballer") in 2003 by Latin American Fox Sports, and the Argentine Football Writers chose him as Footballer of the Year, and also Sportsman of the Year 2004. He was the world's second Top Goal Scorer of 2004 in international competitions (according to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics^[3]), one less than Ali Daei from Iran.

[edit] Corinthians

Tévez and president Lula

In December 2004, he transferred to Sport Club Corinthians Paulista for $20 million with a five year contract worth $10 million, following the Brazilian club's deal with Media Sports Investment. The deal was the biggest transfer ever in South American football. Initially Tévez was not well received by the Corinthians fans - including Brazilian president Lula. However, Tévez became the captain and star of the team that won the 2005 Brazilian league and the fans' favourite player, and was being linked to Chelsea FC as a result of Roman Abramovich's link to MSI.

Tévez was selected by José Pekerman for Argentina for the 2006 World Cup. He started the first match against the Ivory Coast on the bench but came on as a substitute for the match against Serbia and Montenegro. He scored the fifth goal and assisted Lionel Messi's sixth goal in Argentina's 6-0 victory. In Argentina's drawn final Group C match against Holland, Tévez played the entire duration and emerged man of the match.

[edit] West Ham United

On August 23, 2006, Sky Sports revealed that Tévez was refusing to play for Corinthians.^[4] The article insinuated that a move to Europe was likely, with Chelsea and Manchester United both mentioned as possible destinations. Yet on Thursday 31 August 2006, the day of the European transfer deadline, Tévez confirmed on his website that both he and Javier Mascherano were signing for West Ham United on permanent deals, for an undisclosed fee.^[5]^[6] The deal shocked the football world and controversy surrounds the move's exact nature and terms, with media reports suggesting that several other Premiership clubs turned down the opportunity of signing Tévez and Mascherano because of the stipulations put in place by the owner of the players' contracts, Media Sports Investment.^[7]

Following the arrivals of Tévez and Mascherano, West Ham failed to win for 9 games (1 draw and 8 defeats), including 7 consecutive matches without scoring. On the 5th of October 2006, Argentina National Coach Alfio Basile urged the pair to quit West Ham. Just three days later, however, Tévez told the media that he was aiming to stay at West Ham "for the long-term". Until West Ham's 1-0 defeat by Chelsea on 18th of November 2006, he had not played for West Ham since coming off the bench against Tottenham Hotspur on 22nd of October 2006 (a game West Ham lost 1-0), during which time West Ham had managed to end their losing streak. Tévez also left the ground early after being substituted and throwing a mini tantrum versus Sheffield United in November. As punishment, which was decided upon by his Upton Park team mates, Tévez had to donate half of a weeks wages to charity and train in a Brazil shirt. Tévez refused to wear the Brazil shirt saying "I played in Brazil and have a great respect for Brazil and Brazilians but I’m Argentinian and won’t wear that shirt".^[8]

Tévez was praised for his performance the following week despite the 2-0 defeat against Everton. He created many chances and was a constant threat. It appeared the South American may have been finally finding his feet in England. Also the West Ham United fans in the away section were clearly heard chanting "There's only one Carlos Tévez!"^{[citation needed]}

On 17 December 2006, the News of the World revealed that Tévez said he was surprised Alan Pardew had not been sacked earlier than now, and that he criticized Pardew's management.^[9]

On 6 January 2007, Tévez made his first start for West Ham United under the management of Alan Curbishley against Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup 3rd round. West Ham United won the game 3-0, with Tévez playing a crucial role in all of the goals. However, during a routine Premiership clash against Fulham, Tévez suffered an injury which was expected to keep him out for a sustained period of time. However, Tévez soon began full training again and came on as a substitute against Watford on 10 February in a 1-0 defeat.

Tévez scored his first goal for the club on March 4, 2007 in a 3-4 home defeat to Tottenham Hotspur, scoring from a direct free kick and assisting West Ham's other two goals on the day.

Tevez scored again in West hams following fixture against Blackburn. He scored from the penalty spot making it 1-1. West Ham went on to win 2-1, it was their first away win of the season.

[edit] Titles

Men's Football
Olympic medal record
Gold	2004 Athens	Team

2005 – Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (Corinthians)
2004 – Olympic gold medal (Argentina)
2004 – Pre-Olympics (Argentina)
2004 – Copa Sudamericana (Boca Juniors)
2003 – Intercontinental Cup (Boca Juniors)
2003 – Argentine Apertura (Boca Juniors)
2003 – Copa Libertadores (Boca Juniors)
2003 – South American under-20 Championship (Argentina)

[edit] Personal awards

2005 – Campeonato Brasileiro's Best Player by CBF (Brazilian Soccer Confederation)
2005 – Campeonato Brasileiro's Best Player (Brazilian Placar magazine)
2004 – Olimpia de Oro award for Argentine most important Sportperson of the year (Shared with Basketball player Manu Ginobili) (Clarín newspaper)
2004 – Olympic Golden Boot (8 goals in 6 matches)
2003, 2004 and 2005 – South American Player of the Year (Uruguayan newspaper El País)

[edit] Music

Tévez performs as the frontman for his Cumbia Villera ("Shantytown" Cumbia) musical group Piola Vago with his brother Diego.^[10]

[edit] References

^ "The News Hammers", The Guardian, 2006-08-21.
^ "Carlos Tevez: En All Boys era Carlos Martínez", Clarín, 2005-10-23.
^ "IFFHS' World's Best Goal Scorers Of The Year 2004"
^ "Tevez goes on strike", Sky Sports, 2006-08-23.
^ "Star pair to sign for Hammers", Sky Sports, 2006-08-31.
^ Tévez and Mascherano confirmed signings for West Ham
^ "West Ham only club to agree to MSI's terms", Football365, 2006-09-04.
^ "Tevez Unwelcome Back At Corinthians", [goal.com], 2006-12-02.
^ Dunn, Alex. "Tévez torments departed Pards", Sky Sports, 17-12-2006. Retrieved on 2007-01-31.
^ "Pablo Lescano: “Tévez does not do cumbia, does reggaetón”", Pagina 12, 2006-06-08.

[edit] External links

Preceded by José Cardozo	South American Footballer of the Year 2003, 2004, 2005	Succeeded by Matías Fernández

	Argentina squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Abbondanzieri \| 2 Ayala \| 3 Sorín \| 4 Coloccini \| 5 Cambiasso \| 6 Heinze \| 7 Saviola \| 8 Mascherano \| 9 Crespo \| 10 Riquelme \| 11 Tévez \| 12 Franco \| 13 Scaloni \| 14 Palacio \| 15 Milito \| 16 Aimar \| 17 Cufré \| 18 Rodríguez \| 19 Messi \| 20 Cruz \| 21 Burdisso \| 22 González \| 23 Ustari \| Coach: Pekerman