Mark Schwarzer

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Personal information
Mark Schwarzer
Full name	Mark Schwarzer
Date of birth	October 6, 1972 (age 34)
Place of birth	Sydney, Australia
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Middlesbrough
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1990-1994 1994-1995 1995-1996 1996-1997 1997-	Marconi Stallions Dynamo Dresden Kaiserslautern Bradford City Middlesbrough	058 (0) 002 (0) 004 (0) 013 (0) 323 (0)
National team²
1993-	Australia	040 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:37, 28 February 2007 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 27 July 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Mark Schwarzer (born October 6, 1972 in Sydney) is an Australian football (soccer) player. Schwarzer is an Australian international goalkeeper, who currently plays for English Premiership football team Middlesbrough. He is of German descent, his parents Hans-Joachim and Doris having emigrated to Australia in the 1960s. He speaks English, Spanish and German.

1 Club career
2 International career
3 Honours
4 Family
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Club career

After spells at Dynamo Dresden, FC Kaiserslautern and Bradford City, Schwarzer joined Middlesbrough in April 1997. He is considered a large contributor to the recent success of Middlesbrough and an important part of the team.

Schwarzer made his debut for Middlesbrough against Stockport County in the League Cup semi-finals. He played in the final against Leicester City, a 1-1 draw, but injury kept him out of the replay, which Middlesbrough lost. However, he was part of the side who beat Bolton Wanderers to win the 2004 League Cup final, producing a superb display having recovered after his mistake in letting in a soft shot.

Perhaps his most important save for Boro came in the last match of the 2004-05 season against Manchester City, saving a Robbie Fowler penalty in stoppage time to preserve a 1-1 draw. The draw was sufficient to put Boro in seventh in the final league table and ensure qualification for the UEFA Cup. Had Fowler converted the penalty, Man City would have qualified for the UEFA Cup at Boro's expense. The save made him a local hero for Middlesbrough: as local radio commentator Alistair Brownlee excitedly declared, "He's done it, the big Aussie has done it! The greatest hero to come out of Australia since Ned Kelly!".

Mark Schwarzer was granted a transfer request by Middlesbrough late in 2005 and sought to join a new club, but he withdrew his request on January 20, 2006, and rejoined the team. However, a fractured cheekbone sustained against West Ham looked like it had ruled Schwarzer out for the rest of the season, but he returned for the UEFA Cup final against Sevilla, albeit playing with a protective mask.

[edit] International career

He made his international debut against Canada in Edmonton in a 1994 World Cup qualifier. He came on as a subsititute for Milan Blagojevic after first-choice Robert Zabica was sent off 17 minutes into the match.^[1] In the return leg in Sydney, he covered himself in glory when he saved two penalties to send Australia to the final phase of qualifying against Argentina. Schwarzer did not play in these matches, and Australia were defeated 2-1 on aggregate.

He was instrumental in Australia's qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in the play-off against Uruguay. After Uruguay won the first leg 1-0 in Montevideo, Australia won 1-0 in Sydney. In the penalty shootout, Schwarzer saved two penalties to see Australia victorious 4-2.

At the World Cup Finals he played the first two games in Australia's group matches, conceding a controversial goal against Japan and two goals against Brazil. In the third match he was replaced by Zeljko Kalac, but after Kalac's disappointing performance he was reinstated for the Round of 16 match against Italy.

He was unable to save the penalty in the 2nd round of the World Cup against Italy, which was scored by Francesco Totti in injury time and sent Australia out of the World Cup.

After the World Cup in 2006, he has personally vowed to return for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. As of September 2006, Schwarzer has been capped 40 times for Australia.

[edit] Honours

2004: English League Cup
2006: FIFA World Cup first choice keeper for Australia

[edit] Family

Mark and his wife Paloma have two children; a son, Julian, and a daughter, Amaya.

[edit] External links

[edit] References

^ Australia vs. Canada Match Report. www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved on February 26, 2007.

	Australia squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Schwarzer \| 2 Neill \| 3 Moore \| 4 Cahill \| 5 Čulina \| 6 Popović \| 7 Emerton \| 8 Skoko \| 9 Viduka \| 10 Kewell \| 11 Lazaridis \| 12 Čović \| 13 Grella \| 14 Chipperfield \| 15 Aloisi \| 16 Beauchamp \| 17 Thompson \| 18 Kalac \| 19 Kennedy \| 20 Wilkshire \| 21 Sterjovski \| 22 Milligan \| 23 Bresciano \| Coach: Hiddink