Sebastián Soria

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Sebastián Soria
Personal information
Full nameAndrés Sebastián Soria Quintana
Date of birth (1983-11-08) 8 November 1983
Place of birthPaysandú, Uruguay
Height1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing positionStriker
Club information
Current clubLekhwiya
Number23
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2002–2004Liverpool de Montevideo41(8)
2004–2005Al-Gharafa26(14)
2005–2012Qatar SC150(100)
2012–Lekhwiya40(30)
National team‡
2006Qatar U-237(6)
2006–Qatar84(28)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 Febraury 2014 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18:35, 19 November 2013 (UTC)

Andrés Sebastián Soria Quintana (Arabic: أندريس سيبستيان سوريا كوينتانا‎, born in Paysandú, Uruguay) commonly known as Sebastián Soria, is a naturalized Qatari footballer who plays as a striker for Lekhwiya.

Club career

Early career

Soria originally had a 2-week trial at Uruguayan club Defensor Sporting in Montevideo as a youngster, however they subsequently rejected Soria, and he returned home.

Soria continued playing in the minor leagues and a new, unlikely chance soon emerged, rewarding the youngster's persistence. In 2001, a cyclist, who had watched Soria playing in the minor leagues and was impressed by his talents, brought him to the attention of a football agent he knew, and Soria was sent to Montevideo to play in Liverpool de Montevideo and trained under Julio Ribas. He was sent to the reserve team for a brief while before making it back on the first team. He eventually proved his value and ended up playing the rest of the 2003 season on the first team.

In mid-2004, Soria got an offer from Frenchman Bruno Metsu to play for Al-Gharafa in Qatar. He had to look Qatar up on a map as he was unsure of where it was located. Nevertheless, at a time when opportunities to leave Uruguay for the European leagues were scarce, Soria jumped at the chance despite the geographical uncertainty. He arrived in Qatar in 2004 and was naturalized in 2006.[1]

Al Gharafa

Soria joined Al Gharafa in 2004 under the supervision of Bruno Metsu. It was the first time he had played outside of Uruguay. Soria ended up winning the 2004–05 Qatar Stars League season with Al Gharafa.

Qatar SC

Soria transferred to Qatar SC from league winners Al Gharafa in 2005. In 2009, he won the Qatar Crown Prince Cup with Qatar SC.

The Qatar SC star has attracted interest from Europe, with Italian team Udinese as well as Spanish capital sides Getafe and Atletico Madrid scouting for his services in the past couple of years. But after much consideration, Soria chose to extend his contract with his Qatari club team.[2]

AC Milan vs Al Sadd

When AC Milan came to visit Doha in March 2009, in a farewell match for Jafal Rashed Al-Kuwari, Soria guested for Al Sadd. "They invited me to play for Al Sadd, so of course I said yes. I like to play against the strong defenders," Soria said after his tussles with Milan defender Philippe Senderos. After being substituted, Soria was swamped by local fans and patiently signed autographs for approximately 15 minutes.

Lekhwiya

After transferring to Qatari champions Lekhwiya, Sebastian had the opportunity to play in the 2013 AFC Champions League. He scored 4 goals in Lekhwiya's first four group stage games, including one of the fastest goals in any Asian competition after 9 seconds against Pakhtakor on 9 April 2013.[3] It was alleged to be the fastest goal in Asia's premier continental club competition during the AFC Champions League format.[4]

Club career statistics

Soria in 2012

Statistics accurate as of 4 Febraury 2014[5]

Club Season League League Cup1 League Cup2 Continental3 Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Al-Gharafa 2004–05 QSL 2614
Total 2614
Qatar SC 2005–06 QSL 2519
2006–07 219
2007–08 2317
2008–09 2319
2009–10 1815
2010–11 2012
2011–12 209
Total 150100
Lekhwiya 2012–13 QSL 2219
2013–14 1811
Total 4030
Career total 216144
1Includes Emir of Qatar Cup.
2Includes Sheikh Jassem Cup.
3Includes AFC Champions League.

International career

He played for Qatar U-23 team, as in 2006 Asian Games, but some sources claim that he was actually born in 1980, but listed in Asian Games site as 1988. The official Qatar SC website has him listed as being born in 1984. In addition, QFA's website lists his actual date of birth as 1983.[6]

Soria saved the Qatari national team by scoring in the last 20 minutes, which helped tie the score. This happened in the AFC 2007 in both their games, one against Japan, and the other just recently against Vietnam. He also scored the leading goal against the United Arab Emirates. He is the only Qatari player to score on the 2007 Asian Cup. He scored three goals.

Soria scored a goal against eventual winners Japan in the 2011 Asian Cup quarterfinals but the homeside were silenced after a late goal from Inoha put Japan in the lead to win by a 3–2 victory.

International goals

Honors

Individual

Club

References

  1. ↑ Interview: Sebastian Soria – Sport – Al Jazeera English
  2. ↑ Soria targets more success
  3. ↑ "Sebastian Soria's 10 Second Goal Against Pakhtakor" (in English). AOL.com. Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  4. ↑ "Fastest goal in the history of the AFC Champions League" (in English). sauress.com. Retrieved 13 April 2013. 
  5. ↑ [http://www.qsl.com.qa/Users/Players/PlayersDetails.aspx?pregno=11597&clubid=7&p=13&s=-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,12,-1,14, QSL.com.qa – Sebastián Soria]
  6. ↑ Players Profile – Sebastian Soria

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sebastián Soria.
2012 Asia's Bests
Qatar
Qatar squad – 2011 AFC Asian Cup
Qatar
Lekhwiya SC – current squad
Qatar Stars League top scorers
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