| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Rodrigo Javier Millar Carvajal | ||
| Date of birth | November 3, 1981 | ||
| Place of birth | Arauco, Chile | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Colo-Colo | ||
| Number | 14 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–1998 | Huachipato | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1999–2006 | Huachipato | 190 | (56) |
| 2007– | Colo-Colo | 103 | (14) |
| 2008 | → Once Caldas (loan) | 10 | (3) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2002– | Chile | 28 | (2) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 25 August 2010. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Rodrigo Javier Millar Carvajal (born 3 November 1981) is a Chilean football midfielder who currently plays for Colo-Colo. He has been capped in the national team for the FIFA World Cup 2010.
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Millar started his career at Huachipato in 1999, playing as a playmaker. He made his Chilean Primera División debut, aged 20, against Santiago Wanderers on 30 April 2000. Millar scored his first goal for Huachipato against Rangers de Talca in a 1–1 draw. In the season 2003, Millar was consecrated in the club, scoring 12 goals in 32 games and was revealed that several teams of Europe are interested in him.
On 6 March 2004, it was reported that Millar was invited to train with the Bundesliga side Hertha BSC. After his trainings with the club it was revealed that the German club would purchase Millar for the next season. Because the good performance of the player in Huachipato, he was nominated for the 2004 Copa América in Peru. After the Copa América, the move of Millar to German was frustrated and he remained in Huachipato. In the next season, he improved his performance considerably scoring 14 goals in 39 games.
In July 2006, after a very good Torneo de Apertura, Millar was nearly transferred to Tenerife of the Spanish Second Division. He also was linked with the FC Terek Grozny of the Russian Second Division. He later rejected this offer for personal reasons. However, Millar had an irregular Torneo de Clausura performance for a series of injuries, only scoring 3 goals in 8 games.
On 14 December 2006, was reported that Millar had come to verbal agreements with Colo-Colo. He put pen to paper on a three-year deal, and was officially presented on 16 December. He joined to the club's pre-season in February 2007, and suffered during a training a injury, that forced to Millar leave the fields for three months.
Fully recovered now, he made his debut on 20 March 2007 against the Venezolan side Caracas FC for the Copa Libertadores and scored his club's first goal for the same tournament in a 4–0 win over LDU Quito. In his fully debut aganist O'Higgins for a league game, he scored a twice with his team-mates Giovanni Hernández and Humberto Suazo, but he was voted as the man of match according to the commentators.
After a good semester, the second part of the year was very poor for the player, having many problems off the field and being relegated as substitute. At the end of season, Millar was nearly transferred to the Israeli club Ashdod, but he failed to join with this club and attempted to return to Chile, but was outcast by Colo-Colo's coach Claudio Borghi and shorlty after loaned to Once Caldas.
After of his decoupling with Once Caldas, was supposed that the coach Fernando Astengo would not have in their plans to the player, however he formed part the manager's plans and returned to Colo-Colo in June 2008. Millar made his re-debut against the team's archi-rival Universidad de Chile for the Copa Gato in a 2–1 victory at Tierra de Campeones Stadium in Iquique. He did not have much continuity in the team with Astengo, and frequently he was in the bench, entering to the field as substitute. However under Astengo as coach, Millar scored the goal of the victory against Unión Española in a 2–1 home victory. With the arrival of the coach Marcelo Barticciotto, he always was in the starting lineup achieving a very good performance. On 8 November 2008, Millar scored his first goal in the Barticciotto era against Cobresal in a 1–1 home draw. In the Championship playoffs second leg final, Millar was proclaimed for third time in his career champion, after of score also the goal of the championship in the 3–1 victory against Palestino, eluding to the goalkeeper Felipe Núñez and finally defining of form masterfully.[1]
On 14 February 2009, for the Apertura tournament, Millar scored his season's first goal in a 2–0 victory over Universidad de Concepción at Estadio Monumental, scoring the first goal of the game. On 22 April, for the Copa Libertadores, he scored his side goal in the 2–1 loss against Sport Recife in Brazil. Before of his club failed to qualify to the playoffs, he scored the first goal of Colo-Colo's home victory 5–2 over Cobresal. At the end of season, Millar become the first footballer in contracts the swine flu on 16 June, being a world new.[2] He was full recovered for the start of the Torneo Clausura, against Curicó Unido, he start the game as titular and finish being replaced in the 46th minute for Daud Gazale. Millar was titular during the obtaining of the Clausura 2009 title with the coach Hugo Tocalli.
He was a notable 2010 season, being titular in Colo-Colo during the year, selected in the squad of Chile for play the FIFA World Cup 2010 and finally voted the Chilean Footballer of the Year in the ANFP awards, his club completed a regular season, lossing a championship practically won against Universidad Católica, the club had finished three points behind them. Despite this, for his good season, he had the opportunity of play in Toluca of the Mexican Primera División, however the directive failed to move him to Mexico and remained in Chile.
In the 2011 season, Millar was promoted to captain of the team, because the departure of Arturo Sanhueza to Deportes Iquique, but because another departure, now of his coach Diego Cagna and the arrival of Américo Gallego, the player was relegated of role and his team-mate Andrés Scotti become the new team's captain for his long trajectory according to Gallego.
His performances in Colo-Colo earned Millar a call up for the national team in early 2009 for a friendly match against Honduras. He went on to be part of Chile's squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he scored Chile's goal in the 1-2 defeat to Spain in the first round (the last goal received by the Spaniards in the tournament).
| Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 September 2009 | Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago, Chile | Venezuela | 2–2 | 2–2 | FIFA World Cup qualifier |
| 25 June 2010 | Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria, South Africa | Spain | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2010 World Cup |
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