Cristian Mora

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Personal information
Cristian Mora
Full name	Cristian Rafael Mora
Date of birth	26 August 1982
Place of birth	Vinces, Ecuador
Height	186cm
Nickname	Morita / El Conde
Playing position	Goal Keeper
Club information
Current club	LDU
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998-1998 1999-1999 2000-2000 2001-2001 2002-2002 2003-2004 2004-Present	Olmedo Club Deportivo ESPOLI Deportivo Sasquisili Club Deportivo ESPOLI Deportivo Sasquisili Macara LDU
National team²
2005-	Ecuador	12 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15 June 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 26 June 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Cristian Rafael Mora (born August 26, 1982 in Vinces, province of Los Ríos, Ecuador, but grown up in San Miguel de Bolívar) is an Ecuadorian soccer football player. He is a goalkeeper who plays with LDU Quito in Ecuador. He is considered a hero in San Miguel for being the first player from San Miguel ever to be considered for the Ecuadorian national team.

Mora once attended Colegio de las Hermanas Betlemitas and first played in Cóndor Futbol Club of San Miguel as goalkeeper at an early age. He also played for the San Miguel's city team in the Provincial Games and was picked as goalkeeper for the province team to play the national teen/amateur championship in Ecuador. Mora was then discovered and invited to train in the Olmedo de Riobamba professional team, while playing as goalkeeper in a friendly match against his college Escuela Politécnica de Riobamba.

He played first choice goalkeeper for the Ecuador national team during 2005's 2006 FIFA World Cup playoffs, and played as first choice goalkeeper in the 2006 FIFA World Cup as well.

Mora is highly regarded as a soccer player in South America and is one of the many talented individuals to lead LDU to the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores, which will resume after the 2006 World Cup.

Mora is well known for his lithe physique, superb agility and cat-like reflexes. He is also somewhat of a colorful character, often seen with the color of Ecuador's flag (yellow, blue and red) painted on each side of his cheeks and often sports a baseball cap, which is not always used to block out the sun. Mora is also a fan of the long pants rarely seen for goalkeepers to wear and also prefers short sleeve jerseys as opposed to the long sleeve ones, which is uncommon for South American goalkeepers.

He made his first full fledged senior appearance against Italy, a friendly match played in New Jersey. The game ended in a 1-1 draw and to Morita's credit, his heroic penalty save from Luca Toni forced many to take notice, including Luis Fernando Suarez, Ecuador's Colombian coach, who has since then chosen Mora ahead of Edwin Villafuerte as "Ecuador's new hands". Since then, Mora has had the unique distinction of not ever allowing more than one goal in each of his games for Ecuador.

As of June 26, 2006, Mora has 12 international caps.

[edit] 2006 World Cup

In the 2006 World Cup, Mora played four matches before his team was eliminated in eightfinals by England. Mora allowed 4 goals but kept clean sheets against Poland and Costa Rica. At the tournament, he wore face paints, which showed the Ecuadorian colours.

[edit] Trivia

During the 2006 World Cup, Mora had the distinct habit of painting Ecuadorian flags on both sides of his face for every match he played.

Mora is in the starter team both for the national team and LDU but he still use the #12 shirt (in LDU the #1 shirt is for Sandro Boja and in the national team is for Edwin Villafuerte.

	Ecuador squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Villafuerte \| 2 Guagua \| 3 Hurtado \| 4 de la Cruz \| 5 Perlaza \| 6 Urrutia \| 7 Lara \| 8 Méndez \| 9 Borja \| 10 Kaviedes \| 11 Delgado \| 12 Mora \| 13 Ambrosi \| 14 Castillo \| 15 Ayoví \| 16 Valencia \| 17 Espinoza \| 18 Reasco \| 19 Saritama \| 20 E. Tenorio \| 21 C. Tenorio \| 22 Lanza \| 23 Benítez \| Coach: Suárez