Claudio Caniggia

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Claudio Caniggia
Personal information
Date of birth	January 9, 1967 (age 40)
Place of birth	Henderson, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nickname	El Pájaro, ("The Bird")
Playing position	Forward
Club information
Current club	retired in 2004
Youth clubs
?	River Plate
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1985-1988 1988-1989 1989-1992 1992-1994 1994-1995 1995-1999 1999-2000 2000-2001 2001-2003 2003-2004	River Plate Hellas Verona Atalanta Roma Benfica Boca Juniors Atalanta Dundee Rangers Qatar SC	51 (8) 21 (3) 85 (22) 20 (4) 20 (9) 60 (28) 17 (1) 25 (8) 50 (13) 15 (5)
National team
1987-2002	Argentina	50 (16)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Claudio Paul Caniggia (born January 9, 1967 in Henderson, Buenos Aires) is a former Argentine football forward, who played for the Argentine national team in two World Cups, and was a member of both rival clubs River Plate and Boca Juniors.

Contents 1 Club career 2 International career 2.1 1990 World Cup 2.2 1994 World Cup 2.3 Absence from the national team 3 Trivia notes 4 External links

[edit] Club career

At the club level, Caniggia, nicknamed El Pájaro (The Bird), played for River Plate (1985-88), Hellas Verona (1988-89), Atalanta (1989-92 and 1999-2000), AS Roma (1992-93), SL Benfica (1994-95), Boca Juniors (1995-98), Dundee (2000-01) and Rangers (2001-03).

[edit] International career

Caniggia was capped 50 times for Argentina, scoring 16 goals. Most of these caps came in the early 1990s. He played at the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, scoring 4 goals in 8 matches. Contrary to popular belief, largely due to loose interpretation,^{[citation needed]} Caniggia was not a striker, but rather a playmaker forward. Throughout the Copa América 1991, Caniggia asserted his dominance and was the most dynamic player. He scored 2 goals and made 4 assists in the tournament.

[edit] 1990 World Cup

At the 1990 World Cup, Caniggia scored two key goals to help Argentina reach the final. He came off the bench in the inaugural match against Cameroon. In the subsequent matches, he was in the starting lineup. In the round of sixteen, Argentina faced Brazil, and with the score 0-0 after 80 minutes, a pass by Diego Maradona left Caniggia one on one against Brazilian goalkeeper Taffarel; Caniggia dribbled past him and scored on the empty goal, giving Argentina the victory and eliminating Brazil from the tournament.

Argentina then beat Yugoslavia on penalty kicks, advancing to semifinals, where they played against Italy. The Italians had not allowed any goals in four matches, and were up 1-0 at halftime. In the second half, Caniggia headed a cross into the net of goalkeeper Walter Zenga, ending his record streak at 517 minutes without conceding a goal, and sending the match into extra time. After no change in the score, penalty kicks were taken, and Argentina won again through this method, advancing to the final. Cannigia had been cautioned in one of the first round matches, and then received another yellow card against Italy, which earned him a suspension. He had to watch the final between his team and Germany from the stands, which Argentina lost 0-1.

[edit] 1994 World Cup

Caniggia scored another two goals in the 1994 World Cup, both of them in the first round match against Nigeria, the second one on a service by Diego Maradona, the last goal in wich Maradona would be involved during his World Cup career.

[edit] Absence from the national team

After refusing to cut his long hair despite the rules of national coach Daniel Passarella, he was frozen out of the national team for a number of years. He made a brief comeback to the Marcelo Bielsa-coached squad for the 2002 World Cup, but did not play. Nevertheless he did manage to receive a red card for swearing at the referee from the bench in Argentina's last match against Sweden.

[edit] Trivia notes

Caniggia is great friends with Argentine superstar Diego Maradona; the duo once celebrated a goal with a kiss on the lips. Claudio's wife, model Mariana Nannis, said: "At times I believe Diego is in love with my husband. It must be the long hair and big muscles."

[edit] External links

• Short bio
• at Argentine soccer

	Argentina squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Burgos | 2 Ayala | 3 Sorín | 4 Pochettino | 5 Almeyda | 6 Samuel | 7 C. López | 8 Zanetti | 9 Batistuta | 10 Ortega | 11 Verón | 12 Cavallero | 13 Placente | 14 Simeone | 15 Husaín | 16 Aimar | 17 G. López | 18 González | 19 Crespo | 20 Gallardo | 21 Caniggia | 22 Chamot | 23 Bonano | Coach: Bielsa

	Argentina squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup
1 Goycochea | 2 Vázquez | 3 Chamot | 4 Sensini | 5 Redondo | 6 Ruggeri | 7 Caniggia | 8 Basualdo | 9 Batistuta | 10 Maradona | 11 Medina Bello | 12 Islas | 13 Cáceres | 14 Simeone | 15 Borelli | 16 Díaz | 17 Ortega | 18 Pérez | 19 Balbo | 20 Rodríguez | 21 Mancuso | 22 Scoponi | Coach: Basile

	Argentina squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup Runners-up
1 Pumpido (Comizzo) | 2 Batista | 3 Balbo | 4 Basualdo | 5 Bauza | 6 Calderón | 7 Burruchaga | 8 Caniggia | 9 Dezotti | 10 Maradona | 11 Fabbri | 12 Goycochea | 13 Lorenzo | 14 Giusti | 15 Monzón | 16 Olarticoechea | 17 Sensini | 18 Serrizuela | 19 Ruggeri | 20 Simón | 21 Troglio | 22 Cancelarich | Coach: Bilardo