Ronald García Nacho

Football player infobox
playername= Ronald García
fullname=Ronald Lázaro García "Nacho"


height = 183 cm
nickname = "Garcia"
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1980|12|17
cityofbirth = Santa Cruz de la Sierra
countryofbirth = Bolivia
currentclub = Aris FC
clubnumber = 8
position = Midfielder
years = 1998–2001
2001–2004
2004–2005
2005–2008
clubs = Club Bolívar
FC Alverca
Blooming
Aris FC
caps(goals) = 50 (7)
55 (5)
0 (0)
43 (6)
nationalyears = 2002-present
nationalteam = Bolivia
nationalcaps(goals) = 38 (1)

Ronald Lázaro García, nicknamed "Nacho" (born December 17, 1980 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra) is a Bolivian defensive midfielder currently playing for Aris FC. He "graduated" from Bolivia's famous football academy called Tahuichi Aguilera located in Santa Cruz, which brought up some popular Bolivian football stars such as Erwin "Platini" Sanchez, Marco Antonio "El Diablo" Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno and some others.

His first professional Bolivian club was Bolivar from La Paz. From there he moved to Alverca in Portugal. He played for 3 years there and 2 stories about him are interesting:First, at some point in his younger age, he was considered and positioned in the top 50 of world's football potentials.Second, the story with him is related to his days in Benfica.

After his days in Portugal he returned once again to play in Bolivia. He got a second chance at his European dream and signed for, which at the time was in the second division, Aris Thessaloniki (apparent fee was 100,000 euros).

In most of his first season with them he was plagued by several problems. First, his adapting process lasted longer than expected. Second, his from-time-to-time injuries and his longer recoveries, made it difficult for him to become a regular starter. Towards the end of the second division season he gradually started to gain confidence and trust by his coach Nikos Anastopoulos. As a result of a strong campaign from Aris, Nacho along with Aris were promoted to the first division after just 1 year.

In the big "roster sweeping" summer 2006, Aris Management gave him another chance and left him in the team for the 2006-2007 season. The first 2/3 of the season were more or less successful. However, his career continued to hampered with injuries. He was a regular starter under Guillermo Hoyos, the first coach of rebuilding 2006/07 Aris. Lost his starting 11 place to Ruben Palazuelos under Quique Hernandez (Hoyos' successor).

In that period (and even earlier, but not that often) Nacho was always knocking on the Bolivian national team's door and its starting 11. Finally in 2007, he was capped by the Bolivian National team playing for Copa America 2007 (equivalent to the Euro Cup). In 2007/08 season he finally became an essential, irreplaceable part and core of the Bolivian national team and Aris Thessaloniki. Now, Ronald "Nacho" Garcia, is considered as one of Bolivia's and Aris FC's top and most consistent stars.

At the mid-August 2008, after lenghty series of negotiations, finally signed a 5-year contract extension (up to 2013) earning 2 million euros, in total, for 5 years.

References

* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/bol-recintlp.html Bolivia record international footballers]