Carl Asaba

Football player infobox
playername = Carl Asaba


fullname = Carl Edward Asaba
height = height|ft=6|in=2
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1973|1|28|df=yes
cityofbirth = London
countryofbirth = England
currentclub =
clubnumber =Carl rules
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1993–1994
1994–1997
1997–1998
1998–2001
2001–2003
2003–2005
2005–2006
clubs = Dulwich Hamlet
Brentford
Reading
Gillingham
Sheffield United
Stoke City
Milwall
caps(goals) = 0? 0(?)
52 (25)
32 0(8)
77 (36)
67 (23)
70 0(9)
21 0(3)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate = 29/01/2007
ntupdate =

Carl Edward Asaba (born 28 January 1973 in London) is an English professional football player who plays as a striker. He is currently unaffiliated with any club, having had previous failed trials at Leeds United and Leicester City.

Career

Asaba first came to prominence at Brentford, debuting in 1994 after joining the club from Dulwich Hamlet. His goalscoring soon attracted attention and Reading signed him for a club record £800,000 on August 7 1997. He did not make an impact for Reading scoring eight league goals from 32 appearances, and subsequently moved on to Gillingham for another club record fee of £600,000.

He finished top scorer for Gillingham in season 1998–99 with 20 league goals and scored the opening goal in the final of the Football League One play-offs at Wembley, but much of the rest of his time at Priestfield Stadium was dogged by injuries. On March 9 2001 he signed for Sheffield United for £92,500.

He became a favourite at Bramall Lane when he scored the second goal with a deft glancing header in a 2–1 win against local rivals Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. He played a key role in the Blades reaching the Football League promotion play-offs with memorable late winners in home victories against Nottingham Forest and Leicester City respectively, and a hat-trick at Brighton & Hove Albion after coming on as a substitute.

On August 5 2003 he was transferred to Stoke City. He made 70 league appearances for Stoke scoring nine league goals. On August 25 2005, Asaba joined Millwall in a free transfer, when then Stoke manager Johan Boskamp deemed him surplus to requirements. He spent one year with the London club scoring three league goals from 21 appearances.

The name Carl Asaba is commonly used as rhyming slang for the word harbour.

External links

*soccerbase|252|Carl Asaba