Roque Santa Cruz

Football player infobox
playername = Roque Santa Cruz


fullname = Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero
height = height|ft=6|in=2cite web|url=http://www.rovers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10303~27926,00.html|title=Blackburn Rovers profile|publisher=Blackburn Rovers|date=2008-07-10|accessdate=2008-07-10] [cite web | url = http://www.roque-santa-cruz.de/content/lebenslauf/lebenslauf_en.php?PHPSESSID=bv39srma4pkr9duib9salttbo3 | title = Official site personal data | accessdate = 2007-08-20]
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|8|16
cityofbirth = Asunción
countryofbirth = Paraguay
currentclub = Blackburn Rovers
clubnumber = 9
position = Striker
youthyears = 1988–1998
youthclubs = Olimpia Asunción
years = 1998–1999
1999–2007
2007–
clubs = Olimpia Asunción
Bayern Munich
Blackburn Rovers
caps(goals) = 023 (13) [cite web | url = http://www.roque-santa-cruz.de/content/statistiken/statistiken_en.php?PHPSESSID=bv39srma4pkr9duib9salttbo3 | title = Roque Santa Cruz official site statistics | accessdate = 2007-08-20] [ [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=5247 Statistics at national-football-teams.com] ]
155 (31)
044 (21)
nationalyears = 1999–
nationalteam = Paraguay
nationalcaps(goals) = 061 (20) [cite web | url = http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/para-recintlp.html | title = Paraguay - Record International Players | accessdate = 2007-12-30]
pcupdate = 09:59, 5 October 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 14:25, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero (born 16 August, 1981 in Asunción) is a Paraguayan football striker, who currently plays for Blackburn Rovers.

Career

Club

Olimpia Asunción

He joined Olimpia Asunción youth division at the age of nine, where he became the top scorer during several seasons until the head coach of Olimpia's first team, Luis Cubilla, invited Santa Cruz to practice with the first team squad at the age of fifteen. His professional debut on the first team was on July 27 1998 in the Paraguayan Super Clásico against Cerro Porteño, at the age of sixteen. [cite web | url = http://www.roquesantacruz.com.py/principal.aspx?tarea=inicios | title = Santa Cruz official site | language = Spanish | accessdate = 2007-12-30] Santa Cruz's club performance led Olimpia Asunción to a Paraguayan championship in 1998 and 1999, and the winning of the Paraguayan Footballer of the Year award.

FC Bayern Munich

Santa Cruz showed his excellence in Paraguay with Olimpia and the Paraguay national football team, so then got noticed by Bayern which they eventually signed him in the second half of '99. Santa Cruz was unexceptional at Bayern Munich — although he scored five goals in his first season with the club, a series of injuries and heavy competition between forwards for the German giants limited his impact.

Nonetheless, he was part of the latest successes for Bayern, winning the German league and cup double, the UEFA Champions League and the European - South American Cup.

Blackburn Rovers

Santa Cruz agreed a four-year deal with Blackburn Rovers on 28 July 2007. Blackburn agreed to pay Bayern Munich £3.5 million for the player. [cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/6918910.stm | title=Santa Cruz seals Blackburn move | work = BBC Sport | date = 28 July 2007 | accessdate = 2007-08-12] He scored his first goal for Rovers after just three touches of the ball when he came on as a substitute for the injured Benni McCarthy against Middlesbrough in the opening game of the 2007-08 Premier League season. [cite web | url = http://www.rovers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10303~37421,00.html | title = Middlesbrough vs Blackburn | work = Blackburn Rovers Official Website | date = 2007-08-11 | accessdate = 2007-08-12] Santa Cruz celebrated his 26th birthday and his first full Rovers start when he scored the winner away to MyPa in the UEFA Cup. [cite web | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/6941960.stm | title = MyPa 0–1 Blackburn | work = BBC Sport | date = 2007-08-16 | accessdate = 2007-08-16] Roque Santa Cruz scored his first hat-trick for Blackburn in a 5–3 loss to Wigan Athletic on December 15 2007, [cite web | url = http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=219895&cc=3436| title = 5–3 Blackburn vs Wigan | work = Espn Soccernet, | date = 2007-12-15 | accessdate = 2007-12-15] becoming the first player in over ten years in English football to score a hat-trick for the losing side, since Dwight Yorke's hat-trick on 30 September 1996 for Aston Villa in their 4–3 away loss to Newcastle United. [cite web | url = http://www.perfectpeople.net/biography/2880/dwight-yorke.htm | title = Dwight Yorke Biography | work = Perfect People | | accessdate = 2007-12-17] On 12 January 2008, he was named Premier League "Player of the Month" for December 2007.

Following a successful 2007–08 campaign, there was much transfer speculation surrounding Santa Cruz at the start of the 2008–09 season. However, Santa Cruz signed a four-year contract with Blackburn Rovers in August to end the speculation. [ [http://www.rovers.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10303~1373167,00.html Roque signs new four year contract] ]

Club career statistics

:"(correct as of 27 September 2008)" [cite web | url = http://soccernet-akamai.espn.go.com/players/stats?id=12663&cc=4716| title=History | work = Soccernet | accessdate = 2008-03-28]

Off the pitch

*He married Giselle Tavarelli, the sister of his former national team and Olimpia teammate Ricardo Tavarelli in 2004. He has one son, Tobias (born December 17, 2003), and one daughter, Fiorella (born November 11, 2005).
*In 2004 he teamed up with German rock band Sportfreunde Stiller to sing the words "Ich, Roque" in the song with the same title - a pun on the phrase "I rock". The song made it into the Top-40 in Austria and Germany.
*In a 2006 World Cup edition of German magazine "Kicker" he was voted the sexiest man to be taking part in the tournament. [cite web | url = http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2002390000-2006260828,00.html | title = You'll never be great | accessdate = 2007-12-02]
*He was also chosen by the German newspaper Die Welt as the sexiest footballer of the 2006 World Cup. [cite web | url = http://www.ole.clarin.com/jsp/v4/pagina.jsp?pagId=1209989&fecha=20060606 | title = Santa Cruz, el más fachero | accessdate = 2007-12-02 | language = Spanish]
*He is on the cover of the German version of the PC, PS2 and Xbox 360 game Pro Evolution Soccer 6. [cite web | url =http://www.4players.de/4players.php/spielinfo/PC-CDROM/8186/Pro_Evolution_Soccer_6.html | title = Pro Evolution Soccer 6 | accessdate = 2007-12-02| language = German]
*Roque has a younger brother, Julio, who also plays for the Blackburn Rovers reserves. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/low/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/7545102.stm Santa Cruz Jr signs for Blackburn] BBC Sport News]

References

External links

* [http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/santacruz-intlg.html International statistics] at rsssf
* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=5247 Profile] at National Football Teams
*soccerbase|17773
* [http://www.roque-santa-cruz.de/ Roque Santa Cruz official site]
* [http://www.roquesantacruz.com.py/ Roque Santa Cruz official Spanish site]

----