Cristian Mora
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Cristian Rafael Mora | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Goal Keeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | LDU | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 26 June 2006 | |||
Cristian Rafael Mora (born August 26, 1982 in Vinces, province of Los Ríos, Ecuador, but grown up in San Miguel de Bolívar) is an Ecuadorian soccer football player. He is a goalkeeper who plays with LDU Quito in Ecuador. He is considered a hero in San Miguel for being the first player from San Miguel ever to be considered for the Ecuadorian national team.
Mora once attended Colegio de las Hermanas Betlemitas and first played in Cóndor Futbol Club of San Miguel as goalkeeper at an early age. He also played for the San Miguel's city team in the Provincial Games and was picked as goalkeeper for the province team to play the national teen/amateur championship in Ecuador. Mora was then discovered and invited to train in the Olmedo de Riobamba professional team, while playing as goalkeeper in a friendly match against his college Escuela Politécnica de Riobamba.
He played first choice goalkeeper for the Ecuador national team during 2005's 2006 FIFA World Cup playoffs, and played as first choice goalkeeper in the 2006 FIFA World Cup as well.
Mora is highly regarded as a soccer player in South America and is one of the many talented individuals to lead LDU to the quarter-finals of the Copa Libertadores, which will resume after the 2006 World Cup.
Mora is well known for his lithe physique, superb agility and cat-like reflexes. He is also somewhat of a colorful character, often seen with the color of Ecuador's flag (yellow, blue and red) painted on each side of his cheeks and often sports a baseball cap, which is not always used to block out the sun. Mora is also a fan of the long pants rarely seen for goalkeepers to wear and also prefers short sleeve jerseys as opposed to the long sleeve ones, which is uncommon for South American goalkeepers.
He made his first full fledged senior appearance against Italy, a friendly match played in New Jersey. The game ended in a 1-1 draw and to Morita's credit, his heroic penalty save from Luca Toni forced many to take notice, including Luis Fernando Suarez, Ecuador's Colombian coach, who has since then chosen Mora ahead of Villafuerte as "Ecuador's new hands". Since then, Mora has had the unique distinction of not ever allowing more then one goal in each of his games for Ecuador.
As of June 26 2006, Mora has 12 international caps.
2006 World Cup
In the 2006 World Cup, Mora played four matches before his team was eliminated in the Quarterfinal by England. Mora allowed 4 goals but kept clean sheets against Poland and Costa Rica.
Trivia
During the 2006 World Cup, Mora had the distinct habit of painting Ecuadorian flags on both sides of his face for every match he played.
He has now made the #1 shirt his own on both country and club level, disposing of his competition Jacinto Espinosa for LDU and Edwin Villafuerte for the national team.
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