Roberto Abbondanzieri

Football player infobox
playername = Roberto Abbondanzieri


fullname = Roberto Carlos Abbondanzieri
nickname = "Pato" (The Duck)
height = height|m=1.86
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1972|8|19
cityofbirth = Bouquet
countryofbirth = Argentina
currentclub = Getafe CF
position = Goalkeeper
clubnumber = 13
youthyears =
youthclubs = Rosario Central
years = 1994-1996 1996-2006 2006-
clubs = Rosario Central Boca Juniors Getafe CF
caps(goals) = 057 (0) 184 (0) 060 (0)
nationalyears = 2004-
nationalteam = Argentina
nationalcaps(goals) = 049 (0)
pcupdate = 07:35, 23 May 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 07:35, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

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

Club career

Abbondanzieri's professional debut took place on 6 December 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.

Abbondanzieri changed his name in July 2002 from Abbondancieri, a misspelling that arose at Argentinian customs when his grandfather immigrated there, to the original spelling that he uses today. The name change was prompted by Italian citizenship concerns in the case of his transfer to the European football leagues. [http://www.footballdatabase.com/index.php?page=player&Id=6148 footballdatabase.com profile] ] He was named South American Goalkeeper of the Year in 2003. [http://worldcup.sportinglife.com/football/teams/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=ladbrokes/06/02/02/manual_174058.html&TEAMHD=argentina Sporting Life] ]

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

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". [ [http://home.skysports.com/transferarticle.aspx?hlid=403167 'Duck' signs for Getafe] ]

On April 10, 2008 in a UEFA Cup quarterfinal second-leg match against Bayern Munich, Abbondanzieri made a vital error in extra time, as the goalkeeper failed to hold a routine ball from a distant free-kick. The ball slipped under his legs while in the six yard box, allowing Bayern striker Luca Toni to tap the ball into the back of the net. Bayern was still in deficit of goals on aggregate , as the score was 2-3 after the goal (3-4 on aggregate), but only five minutes later Bayern would level the score at 3-3 (4-4 on aggregate) and allow themselves passage to the UEFA Cup semifinals via the away goals rule.

International career

As a youth, Abbondanzieri represented Argentina in the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship.

Since then, he became a continuous 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 6 May 2006, he was named as a definite squad member for the 2006 World Cup by coach José Pekerman.

On 30 June 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 by Leonardo Franco, who later failed to save Klose's equalizing strike in the 80th minute, and the four penalty kicks in the ensuing penalty shootout, which Argentina lost 2:4.

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
*Ricardo Zamora Trophy, best goalkeeper of La Liga 2006/2007

References

External links

*
*es icon [http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/es/w/player/153929_ABBONDANZIERI_Roberto.html fifaworldcup profile]

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