Roberto Abbondanzieri

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Roberto Abbondanzieri
Personal information
Full name	Roberto Carlos Abbondanzieri
Date of birth	August 19, 1972
Place of birth	Bouquet, Santa Fe, Argentina
Height	186 cm
Nickname	El Pato (The Duck)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Getafe CF (ESP)
Number	13
Youth clubs
?	Rosario Central (ARG)
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1994-1996 1996-2006 2006-	Rosario Central (ARG) Boca Juniors (ARG) Getafe CF (ESP)	57 (0) 184 (0) 25 (0)
National team2
2004-	Argentina	27 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 30 June, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Roberto Carlos Abbondanzieri (born Abbondancieri on August 19, 1972 in Bouquet, Santa Fe Province) is an Argentine football goalkeeper of Italian descent currently playing for Getafe CF and the Argentina national football team.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 National Team 1.2 Getafe 2 Trivia 3 Honors 4 External links

[edit] Career

Abbondanzieri's professional debut took place on December 6, 1994 at Santa Fe's Rosario Central, with whom he would soon after win the 1995 CONMEBOL Cup. He played with the club until 1997, when he moved to Boca Juniors to be the reserve goalkeeper.

Abbondanzieri trained in the shadow of Óscar Córdoba until the Colombian goalie suffered an injury during the Clausura tournament of 1999. However, Abbondanzieri himself then suffered a shoulder injury during a match against River Plate, and the club's third-choice goalkeeper, Cristian Muñoz, took his place. When he recovered from his injury Abbondanzieri was once again Córdoba's understudy until February 2002, when Córdoba moved to Italian club Perugia.

[edit] National Team

Since then Abbondanzieri has become a continual presence in Boca's goal and in June 2004 he became the goalkeeper for the Argentine national team and has since played in the Copa América 2004, Confederations Cup 2005 and the South American Qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

On May 6, 2006 he was named as a definite squad member for the 2006 World Cup by coach José Pekerman. Argentina won their first two round robin games and drew the third with Holland 0-0 to emerge at the top of their group. They then beat Mexico 2-1 in a come from behind victory, with the winning goal coming in extra time.

On June 30 2006, he was injured in the world cup quarter-finals against hosts Germany, after Argentina had taken a 1-0 lead. German striker Miroslav Klose jumped up high for a header while running and collided with Abbondanzieri, with Klose's right leg hitting the Argentinian keeper in the chest. Klose, who had looked sideways to watch for the ball in the moments leading up to the collision and thus may not have seen Abbondanzieri, received no penalty. Abbondanzieri continued at first but had to be carried off on a stretcher some minutes later, to be replaced with the less experienced Leonardo Franco, who later failed to save Klose's equalising strike in the 80th minute, and the four German hits in the ensuing penalty shootout, which Argentina lost 2:4.

[edit] Getafe

In July 2006 after weeks of speculation, Abbondanzieri signed a three-year contract with Spanish first division Getafe CF, claiming that "it's the right time for me to go to Europe." He signed up as number 13.

[edit] Trivia

• In July 2002 El Pato changed his surname from Abbondancieri to his grandfather's original Abbondanzieri, misspelled at Argentine customs when immigrated to Argentina, in order to obtain Italian citizenship in the event of a transfer to European football.

• He was named South American Goalkeeper of the year in 2003^{[citation needed]}.

• Until September of 2006, when Boca achieved their third Recopa Sudamericana, he held the Boca Juniors record of 14 titles, surpassed later by Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

[edit] Honors

• • Apertura 1998, 2000, 2003 and 2005
  • Clausura 1999, 2006
  • Copa Libertadores 2000, 2001 and 2003
  • Intercontinental Cup 2000 and 2003.
  • Copa Sudamericana 2004 and 2005.
  • Recopa Sudamericana 2005.

[edit] External links

• Profile on Footballdatabase
• Profile, At FifaWorldCup (Spanish)
• 'Duck' signs for Getafe

	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

Getafe CF - Current Squad
1 Luis García | 2 Contra | 3 Paredes | 4 Belenguer | 5 Pulido | 6 Celestini | 7 Mario Cotelo | 8 Vívar Dorado | 9 Verpakovskis | 11 Sousa | 12 Licht | 13 Pato | 14 Manu | 15 Nacho | 16 Albín | 17 Pachón | 18 Redondo | 19 Güiza | 20 Alexis | 21 Cortés | 22 Casquero | 23 Tena | 24 Alberto | Manager: Schuster