Roque Santa Cruz

Roque Santa Cruz

Personal information
Full name	Roque Luis Santa Cruz Cantero
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Bayern Munich
Number	24
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 June, 2007

Roque Santa Cruz (born August 16, 1981 in Asunción) is a Paraguayan football striker, who currently plays for Bayern Munich of the German Bundesliga.

Personal life

He married his former national team and Olimpia teammate Ricardo Tavarelli's sister Giselle in 2004. He has one son, Tobias (born December 17, 2003), and one daughter, Fiorella (born November 11, 2005).

Career

Club

Olimpia Asunción

He joined Olimpia Asunción youth division at the age of nine, where he became the top scorer during several seasons until the head coach of Olimpia's first team, Luis Cubilla, invited Roque to practice with the first team squad at the age of fifteen. His professional debut on the first team was in 1998, at the age of sixteen. Roque's club performance led Olimpia Asunción to a Paraguayan championship in 1998 and 1999, and the winning of the Paraguayan Footballer of the Year award.

FC Bayern Munich

Because of his excellent performances with Olimpia and the Paraguay national football team, Roque signed for Bayern Munich in the second half of 1999. Santa Cruz has been unexceptional at Bayern Munich - although he scored five goals in his first season with the club, a series of injuries and heavy competition at forward for the German giants has limited his impact. He could be heading to Manchester City after the signings of Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni. Manchester is reportedly offering about 8 million British pounds, but the deal can not be completed unill he returns from Copa America 2007.

Club career stats

All-Time Club Performance

Club	Season	Domestic League		Domestic Cup		International		Total
		App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals	App	Goals
Olimpia Asuncion	1999	4	4
	Total
Bayern Munich	1999-00	28	5	4	2			32	7
	2000-01	19	5
	2001-02	22	5
	2002-03	14	5
	2003-04	29	5			8	1
	2004-05	4	0			0	0
	2005-06	13	4	3	0	2	0	18	4
	2006-07	26	0	3	0	7	1	36	1
	Total	155	29
Career Totals		159	33

National team

Paraguay U20

Santa Cruz made a name for himself at the 1999 U-20 FIFA World Youth Championship, where he scored three goals for a surprising Paraguay team. His performance there led to a call-up to the full Paraguay national team for the Copa América at the age of 17.

Paraguay Senior

Santa Cruz made his senior debut at age 17 for Paraguay at Copa América leading his national team in scoring with three goals. He also scored a total of seven goals in the 2002 and 2006 World Cup qualification rounds, and appeared in the 2002 World Cup, where he scored one goal while helping his team advance to the elimination rounds.

Santa Cruz was in doubt for the 2006 World Cup as he was recovering from a serious knee injury. However, he recovered in time for the start of the tournament and played all three group stage matches for Paraguay. Santa Cruz was not able to score a goal, but he did assist Nelson Cuevas and had a good game in the 2-0 victory over Trinidad & Tobago. Despite the win, Paraguay failed to qualify to the second round of the tournament. Santa Cruz scored a hat-trick against Colombia on 2007 Copa America in Venezuela in the 5-0 Paraguayan victory.

Trivia

• In 2004 he teamed up with German rock band Sportfreunde Stiller to sing the words "Ich, Roque" in the song with the same title - a pun on the phrase I rock.
• In a 2006 World Cup edition of German magazine Kicker he was voted the sexiest man to be taking part in the tournament. [1]
• He was also chosen by the German newspaper Die Welt as the sexiest footballer of the 2006 World Cup. [2]
• He's on the cover of the German version of the PC, PS2 and X-Box 360 game Pro Evolution Soccer 6. [3]

External links

• Roque Santa Cruz official site
• Roque Santa Cruz @ fcb.de
• Man City move for Bayern Munich's Santa Cruz