Julio Ricardo Cruz

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Personal information
Julio Cruz
Full name	Julio Ricardo Cruz
Date of birth	October 10, 1974 (age 32)
Place of birth	Santiago del Estero, Argentina
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Nickname	El Jardinero (The Gardener)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Internazionale
Youth clubs
?	Banfield
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1993-96 1996-97 1997-2000 2000-03 2003-	Banfield River Plate Feyenoord Bologna Internazionale	91 (16) 29 (17) 86 (45) 88 (27) 79 (32)
National team²
1997-	Argentina	17 (3)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of Mar 11, 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of June 30, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Julio Ricardo Cruz (born October 10, 1974 in Santiago del Estero) is an Argentinian footballer who plays for Italian side F.C. Internazionale Milano.

1 Club
2 Country
3 Nickname
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Club

A physical and tall forward at 190 cm (6'3"), Cruz actually started his football career with Banfield in 1993, then suprisingly moved to Everton in England as a youngster in 1994. The move however did not work out and he transfered back to popular Argentinian team River Plate in 1996. In 1997 he moved to Europe again, being signed by Dutch team Feyenoord, and showing a great potential in terms of scoring proficiency. He then moved in 2000 to Serie A team Bologna. After having experienced some difficulties adapting to Italian football, Cruz successfully showed his potential, even if he has not been able to repeat the scoring averages he achieved with Feyenoord (27 goals in three season with Bologna).

In 2003 Cruz left Bologna and signed for Italian giants Internazionale.^[1] With the nerazzurri, Cruz rarely played regularly in the first team, finding some playing time usually just when the leading strikers were unavailable, and often being used as a substitute, thus scoring 12 league goals in his first two seasons with Internazionale. He scored his first goal for Internazionale in the 3-0 victory over Arsenal at Highbury on 17th September 2003 in the Champions League. Nevertheless, he had good performances during the few minutes given to him, such as on November 1, 2005 and for the Champions League, when he scored twice in half an hour after being sent in to replace striker Adriano, to turn a 0:1 defeat into a victory against Porto.

In the winter of 2005, rumours linked him to Roma and other clubs because his contract was running out, but in February 2006 the contract was extented to the summer of 2008, ending the rumours.^[2] He ended the season as being the surprise top scorer for Internazionale with 21 goals, including the 15 league goals in the 2005-06 season, and the second goal in the return match for the final of the 2006 Coppa Italia that Inter won 3-1 against A.S. Roma.

He has often being given the captains armband when the senior players are rested.

After being injured at the start of the 06-07 season, he has made an impressive comeback, scoring all the 3 goals for inter in the Champions League and scoring vital goals in the league as well.

On March 11th 2007, Cruz scored the equalizer for Inter in the Milan derby just eleven seconds after coming on as a sub for Hernan Crespo, a derby which Inter would later go onto win due to his assist which Ibrahimovic scored. This season is turning out to be a good season for Cruz, following up on the success of last year and regularly featuring in the scorer sheets, keeping up with the other strikers despite being injured twice in the season, and his ability to score vital goals. He is currently averaging a very impressing record of scoring a goal every 92 minutes.

[edit] Country

With the Argentina national football team he has played 17 matches, scoring three times. He played in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, coming on as a late substitute in the matches against the Netherlands and Germany. He scored the opening penalty in the penalty shoot-outs but couldnt help Argentina progress into the semifinals.

[edit] Nickname

His nickname, "the gardener", "El Jardinero" in Spanish, was given to him at a young in age in Argentina. He was working as a gardner for lowly local team Banfield, cutting the grass and looking after the pitch, and when coach Oscar López was missing a player one day for a practise match, he was called over to make up the numbers. After noticing his talent, Banfield signed him. Since then Julio has always been known as El Jardinero.

[edit] References

^ "JULIO CRUZ JOINS INTER", Internazionale, 2003-08-30.
^ "CRUZ EXTENDS INTER STAY UNTIL 2008", Internazionale, 2006-02-20.

[edit] External links

FootballDatabase provides Julio Cruz's profile and stats

	Argentina squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists
1 Abbondanzieri \| 2 Ayala \| 3 Sorín \| 4 Coloccini \| 5 Cambiasso \| 6 Heinze \| 7 Saviola \| 8 Mascherano \| 9 Crespo \| 10 Riquelme \| 11 Tévez \| 12 Franco \| 13 Scaloni \| 14 Palacio \| 15 Milito \| 16 Aimar \| 17 Cufré \| 18 Rodríguez \| 19 Messi \| 20 Cruz \| 21 Burdisso \| 22 González \| 23 Ustari \| Coach: Pekerman