Humberto Suazo

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Humberto Suazo

Suazo playing for Monterrey in 2013
Personal information
Full nameHumberto Andrés Suazo Pontivo
Date of birth (1981-05-10) 10 May 1981
Place of birthSan Antonio, Chile
Height1.71 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Playing positionStriker, second striker
Club information
Current clubMonterrey
Number26
Youth career
1987–1996Club Torino
1996–2000Universidad Católica
2000-2001Ñublense
2001Deportes Magallanes
2001-2002San Antonio Unido
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2002-2004San Luis40(40)
2004–2005Audax Italiano62(40)
2006–2007Colo-Colo54(52)
2007–Monterrey197(98)
2010→ Real Zaragoza (loan)17(6)
National team‡
2006–Chile60(21)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 9 November 2013.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13 March 2013
This name uses Spanish naming customs; the first or paternal family name is Suazo and the second or maternal family name is Pontivo.

Humberto Andrés Suazo Pontivo (Spanish pronunciation: [umˈberto ˈswaso]; born 10 May 1981 in San Antonio, Chile), nicknamed Chupete, is a Chilean football player, who currently plays as a striker in Monterrey. In 2006 he was awarded by IFFHS as the world's top goal scorer of the year.[1] According to his 2010 FIFA World Cup profile, Suazo is known for his "keen positional sense and ability to finish with either foot,."[2]

Youth years

At six years old, Suazo's father took him to play with Club Torino in his hometown of San Antonio. His father had made a name for himself playing with the same team. At the age of 14 he tried out for Catolica.

In December 1995, Suazo tried out for Universidad Católica. In March of the following year he was part of the club's youth system. However, Suazo's time spent there was troubled. He did not like to practice and at any given chance he would leave the facilities and return to San Antonio. Suazo now admits he wasted the opportunity the club gave him.[3]

Club career

Early career

In 2000, Universidad Católica loaned Suazo out to Chilean second division, Ñublense. His professional debut came against Magallanes, the club he would later play for, and he scored his first goal. At the end of the year he fractured his fibula and was sidelined for seven months. The injury also kept him out of the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. In 2000, he won the Milk Cup.

At the end of 2001, no longer part of Universidad Católica, Suazo played for Magallanes. He would go on to join his hometown club San Antonio Unido in 2002. In 2003 Suazo turned heads with his new club San Luis Quillota of the Chilean third division, when he scored 40 goals in one season.

The next two seasons, Suazo would spend with Audax Italiano. In early 2004, Suazo suffered another major injury which kept him out a significant amount of time. With Audax, Suazo scored 40 goals before being transferred to Colo-Colo.

Colo-Colo

Suazo's trademark celebration.

Suazo began his career with Colo Colo just in time for the Copa Libertadores 2006. Even though Colo-Colo exited the tournament early, Suazo showed his ability by scoring a hat-trick against Chivas de Guadalajara.

In the 2006 Apertura tournament in Chile, Suazo led all scorers with 14 goals in 33 games[4] on the way to capturing Colo-Colo's 24th national championship.

Colo-Colo, with the help of Suazo's tournament-leading 10 goals in 12 games, reached the finals of Copa Sudamericana 2006. On the way to the finals, he netted a hat-trick against Gimnasia LP. Suazo dazzled fans and scouts alike throughout the tournament, which raised questions about him staying with the team in 2007. Teams such as Santos Laguna of Mexico and Calcio Catania of Italy were both rumored to be interested in the player. However, Colo-Colo put those rumors to rest when they bought the rest of Suazo's ownership from his former club, Audax, on 15 December 2006, for one million US dollars. Ten percent of that fee ($100,000) went to Suazo's pocket. The move also assured his services to the club until June 2007.

In the 2006 clasura tournament final, Colo-Colo played again against Suazo's former team Audax. Colo-Colo won the first leg 3–0, with Suazo scoring his thirteenth goal of the season,[5] and the second leg 3–2, with Suazo scoring the first two goals .

In the 2007 Apertura tournament, Suazo finished as the leading goal scorer, also scoring in the final match against Palestino. His lone goal, coming in at the 79th minute, gave Colo-Colo their 26th tournament win, cementing his place in Colo-Colo history.

Monterrey

After months of speculation over where Suazo would end up after his contract expired in June, Suazo was finally sold for $5 million to a Mexican club, Monterrey. The fee paid by the Mexican team is one of the highest for a Chilean player coming out of Chile.

Suazo's performance during his first tournament wasn't what was expected (only three goals in twelve games) and combined with conflicts with teammates and coaches, it led to speculations that Suazo had been sold to Argentine club Independiente. However the deal fell through once the Argentine club refused to pay $8 million for the transfer. On 4 January, Humberto called for a press conference, and in front of television cameras and news media, he acknowledged the fact that his performance and attitude wasn't positive during his first 6 months with the club, but that from now and on, he was determined to change things. He was going to take responsibility for his actions and committed himself to work hard to achieve better results.[6][7][8]

On 6 April Suazo scored four goals against Veracruz, in his team's victory 7–2.[9] This feat is the most a player from Monterrey has achieved in one game (tied with Milton Carlos). In his second season at Monterrey, he ended up as top goalscorer of the Mexican tournament with a total of 13 goals in 17 games. Suazo then scored 3 more games at the playoffs, 1 in the quarter final's 1st leg against Chivas, and two more against Santos Laguna in the semifinals, though Monterrey was unable to advance to the final. The next tournament was a pretty poor one for both Suazo and Monterrey, failing to advance to the playoffs. The following tournament, Clausura 2009, Suazo helped Monterrey achieve quarter finals where they lost against Puebla. Suazo scored a goal in the 1st leg where Monterrey lost 3–1.

In the Apertura 2009 final, Suazo became a key player in the title. In the Final's first leg, he gave an extraordinary game and helped Monterrey get back from a 3–1 loss at halftime in their home stadium to win 4–3, with Suazo scoring 2 of the goals. In the 2nd leg, he made a pass for his colleague, Aldo de Nigris, and then scored a goal himself at injury time to secure the title. Rayados won by an aggregate score of 6–4 against Cruz Azul, taking the championship.[10][11]

Real Zaragoza

On 8 January 2010, he left Monterrey and signed for the Spanish club Real Zaragoza[12] on a loan deal with an option for Zaragoza to buy Suazo for 10 million euros. He made his debut for Zaragoza in a 0–0 draw against Xerez at La Romareda stadium.

As of the 20 May 2010, Suazo's card still belongs to Monterrey and its worth has been raised to $25 million, provided that Real Zaragoza does not make valid their option to buy his card at $14 million.

Return to Monterrey

Suazo made a surprise return to Monterrey for the Apertura 2010, after Zaragoza decided not to pay for Suazo's card. In this tournament he exceeded all the expectations from fans and the media, scoring 10 goals in the tournament and giving Monterrey their fourth league title in December 2010, plus obtaining the 2010-11 CONCACAF Champions League against Real Salt Lake the following May, making Monterrey the CONCACAF representative in the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup.

Statistics

Club Season League Libertadores Sudamericana Interliga CONCACAF Club World Cup Total
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Chile Colo-Colo Apertura 2006 211923--------2322
Clausura 2006 1615--1210------2825
Apertura 2007 171875--------2423
Total 5452981210------7570
Mexico Monterrey 2007–2008 3119----21----3320
2008–2009 3214----------3214
2009–2010 2211----------2211
Total 8544----21----8745
Spain Real Zaragoza 2009–2010 176----------176
Total 176----------176
Mexico Monterrey 2010–2011 3521-–----84--4325
2011–2012 3113-–----97114121
2012–2013 3210-–----95––4115
2013–2014 1410-–----00––1410
Total 11254------26161113971
Career total 26815698121021261611318192

International

Suazo had also become a fixture with his international side. In 2006 he scored 17 goals in national and international matches, surpassing Peter Crouch by one goal for the "World's Top Goal Scorer Award".[13] His four international goals all came in friendlies. He scored goals against New Zealand and Sweden. His other two goals came in the form of penalties versus Ivory Coast and Colombia. In January 2007 he was awarded world's top goal scorer of 2006 by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics in Salzburg, Austria. He was also awarded the Silver Football as world's second first league top scorer with 34 goals, behind Klaas-Jan Huntelaar from Ajax Amsterdam with 35 goals.[14]

Suazo played for Chile in the Copa América 2007, scoring three goals, two in his first match against Ecuador, and one in the quarter final match against Brazil. He finished as CONMEBOL's top scorer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification with 10 goals, one ahead Brazilian striker Luís Fabiano.

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 24 March 2006Estadio El Teniente, Rancagua, Chile  New Zealand 1–1 4–1 International Friendly
2. 30 May 2006Stade Jean-Bouloumie, Vittel, France  Ivory Coast 1–1 1–1 International Friendly
3. 2 June 2006Rasunda Stadion, Stockholm, Sweden  Sweden 1–1 1–1 International Friendly
4. 16 August 2006Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile  Colombia 1–0 1–2 International Friendly
5. 27 June 2007Polideportivo Cachamay, Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela  Ecuador 1–1 2–3 Copa America 2007
6. 27 June 2007Polideportivo Cachamay, Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela  Ecuador 2–2 2–3 Copa America 2007
7. 7 July 2007Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos, Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela  Brazil 1–5 1–6 Copa America 2007
8. 17 October 2007Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile  Peru 1–0 2–0 FIFA World Cup qualifier
9. 18 June 2008Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos, Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela  Venezuela 1–1 2–3 FIFA World Cup qualifier
10. 18 June 2008Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos, Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela  Venezuela 2–3 2–3 FIFA World Cup qualifier
11. 10 September 2008Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile Colombia 2–0 4–0 FIFA World Cup qualifier
12. 29 March 2009Estadio Monumental "U", Lima, Peru  Peru 0–2 1–3 FIFA World Cup qualifier
13. 6 June 2009 Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asuncion, Paraguay  Paraguay 0–20–2 FIFA World Cup qualifier
14. 9 September 2009Estádio de Pituaçu, Salvador, Brasil  Brazil 2–1 4–2 FIFA World Cup qualifier
15. 9 September 2009Estádio de Pituaçu, Salvador, Brasil  Brazil 2–2 4–2 FIFA World Cup qualifier
16. 10 October 2009Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Medellin, Colombia  Colombia 1–2 2–4 FIFA World Cup qualifier
17. 14 October 2009Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago, Chile  Ecuador 1–0 1–0 FIFA World Cup qualifier
18. 30 May 2010Estadio Municipal de Concepción, Concepción, Chile  Israel 1–0 3–0 International Friendly
19. 19 June 2011 Estadio Monumental, Santiago, Chile  Estonia 3– 0 4–0 International Friendly
20. 17 July 2011Estadio del Bicentenario, San Juan, Argentina  Venezuela 1–1 1–2 2011 Copa América
21. 11 October 2011Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago, Chile  Peru 4–2 4–2 FIFA World Cup qualifier

Titles

Club

Season Club Title
Apertura 2006ChileColo-ColoPrimera Division Chile
Clausura 2006ChileColo-ColoPrimera Division Chile
Apertura 2007ChileColo-ColoPrimera Division Chile
Apertura 2009MexicoMonterreyPrimera División de México
Apertura 2010MexicoMonterreyPrimera División de México
2010–11MexicoMonterreyCONCACAF Champions League
2011–12MexicoMonterreyCONCACAF Champions League
2012–13MexicoMonterreyCONCACAF Champions League

Individual

References

  1. ↑ IFFHS – Various Annual Awards. Rsssf.com (2007-08-02). Retrieved on 2011-11-28.
  2. ↑ "Player Profile". FIFA. Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Humberto "Chupete" Suazo" – Familia.cl (Spanish)
  4. ↑ "2006 Apertura" – Emol.com (Spanish)
  5. ↑ "2006 Clasura" – Terra.cl (Spanish)
  6. ↑ Monterrey anunció oficialmente la contratación de Humberto Suazo. Radio Cooperativa. 12/06/2007 (in Spanish)
  7. ↑ FIFA.es – The fantastic return of 'Chupete'. Es.fifa.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-28.
  8. ↑ FIFA.es – Suazo triumphs with Monterrey. Es.fifa.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-28.
  9. ↑ (Spanish)Rayados de Monterrey salió en una tarde muy inspirada y con cuatro goles de Humberto Suazo goleó 7–2 a los Tiburones de Veracruz. ESPN Deportes. 5 April 2008
  10. ↑ Gloria rayada, Monterrey campeón. terra.com.mx. 13 December 2009
  11. ↑ ¡Monterrey Campeon! Rayados Claim Mexican League Title. Goal.com (2009-12-13). Retrieved on 2011-11-28.
  12. ↑ Suazo nach Saragossa. Transfermarkt.de. Retrieved on 2011-11-28.
  13. ↑ "World's Top Goal Scorer" – IFFHS
  14. ↑ EMOL. EMOL. Retrieved on 2011-11-28.

External links

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C.F. Monterrey – current squad
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