Paulo Wanchope

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Personal information
Paulo Wanchope

Full name	Paulo César Wanchope Watson
Date of birth	July 31, 1976 (age 30)
Place of birth	Heredia, Costa Rica
Height	192cm
Nickname	The Cobra
Playing position	striker
Club information
Current club	FC Tokyo
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994-96 1996-99 1999-00 2000-04 2004-05 2005 2006 2006 2007-	CS Herediano Derby County West Ham United Manchester City Málaga CF Al-Gharrafa CS Herediano Rosario Central FC Tokyo	79 (28) 46 (15) 64 (27) 25 (6) 14 (5)
National team²
1996-	Costa Rica	71 (45)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 June 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 15 June 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Paulo César Wanchope Watson (born July 31, 1976) is a Costa Rican football player who currently plays for FC Tokyo in Japan. As of February 2007 Wanchope is the second most prolific goalscorer in the history of the national football team (surpassed by Rolando Fonseca), with 45 goals in 68 international matches.

Wanchope began his career with Club Sport Herediano, until he went to England to play with Derby County, in 1997, and for whom he scored a memorable goal against Manchester United on his debut, beating four United players before slotting past Peter Schmeichel. After scoring 28 goals in 79 games for Derby County, Wanchope was sold to West Ham United. He never quite settled in at West Ham, despite scoring 15 goals in 46 games, and was eventually sold to Manchester City. Wanchope earned a starting position at Man City, and helped lead the team to promotion to the FA Premier League. Although at times scintillating, Wanchope may have been something of a disappointment in English football because of a reputation for inconsistency. At the end of the 2004 season, Wanchope was sold to Málaga CF of the Spanish league for £500,000.

Wanchope has been hugely important to the Costa Rican national team, playing for the team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and several Gold Cups. On October 8, 2005, Wanchope became the all-time leading goal scorer for Los Ticos when he scored the first goal in a home win over the USA in the qualifying match that sent Los Ticos to the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

In 2005, ESPN declared Wanchope's goal against Numancia the best of the entire 2004/05 Spanish First Division . On 9 June, 2006, he scored twice in the opening game of the 2006 World Cup, a 4-2 loss to Germany. These two goals made Wanchope the first Costa Rican to score twice in one World Cup match, and put him alongside Rónald Gómez as the only Costa Ricans ever to score more than one World Cup goal. After the defeat to Germany, Costa Rica were defeated by both Ecuador and Poland. Thus Costa Rica finished last in their group and failed to qualify for the second round. Wanchope played his last game for his country in the defeat to Poland, a match in watch he saw a goal of his disallowed for an infringement. In 2006, following the World Cup in Germany, he has signed with Argentine club Rosario Central ^[1].

On 29 Dec 2006 FC Tokyo, a first division club in the J. League, announced the acquisition of Wanchope on a transfer from Rosario Central. Along with prospect Sota Hirayama, Wanchope gives FC Tokyo a pair of large (190cm+) strikers.

[edit] References

^ Tactical Formation. Football-Lineups.com. Retrieved on February 10, 2007.

[edit] External links

Paulo Wanchope career stats at Soccerbase
Paolo Wanchope official website (in Spanish)

	Costa Rica squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Lonnis \| 2 Drummond \| 3 Marín \| 4 Wright \| 5 Martínez \| 6 López \| 7 Fonseca \| 8 Solís \| 9 Wanchope \| 10 Centeno \| 11 Gómez \| 12 Parks \| 13 Vallejos \| 14 Rodríguez \| 15 Wallace \| 16 Bryce \| 17 Medford \| 18 Mesén \| 19 Cordero \| 20 Sunsing \| 21 Chinchilla \| 22 Castro \| 23 Morgan \| Coach: Guimarães

	Costa Rica squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Mesén \| 2 Drummond \| 3 Marín \| 4 Umaña \| 5 Martínez \| 6 Fonseca \| 7 Bolaños \| 8 Solís \| 9 Wanchope \| 10 Centeno \| 11 Gómez \| 12 González \| 13 Bernard \| 14 Azofeifa \| 15 Wallace \| 16 Hernández \| 17 Badilla \| 18 Porras \| 19 Saborío \| 20 Sequeira \| 21 Núñez \| 22 Rodríguez \| 23 Alfaro \| Coach: Guimarães