Sándor Torghelle

Sándor Torghelle
Personal information
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Fortuna Düsseldorf
Number	14
	‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 3 March 2010

Sándor Torghelle (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈʃaːndor ˈtorɡˌhɛlːɛ]; born May 5, 1982 in Budapest) is a Hungarian footballer, who is currently playing for Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Career

He spent one season playing for Crystal Palace F.C., after being signed from MTK Hungária in August 2004 for a fee of roughly £750,000. He wore the number 10 shirt, that of a first-choice striker, but found it hard to gain a regular place in the Crystal Palace starting eleven with Andy Johnson often playing as a lone striker. He scored only one goal in a League Cup match against Charlton, but the referee sent off Sándor late on for diving.^[1]

After 12 months at Palace, Torghelle was first stripped of his first-team squad number (given number 30, while 10 went to new signing Jon Macken), and shortly after was loaned out to Panathinaikos in Greece for the 2005–06 season. In the deal, there was no clause for re-calling Sándor, so he spent the whole season in Greece.^[2] However, Torghelle failed to impress, and Panathinaikos chose not to make the deal permanent. Torghelle was transferred to PAOK Thessaloniki FC in Greece and handed a 3-year contract, being one of the three players that were traded for the transfer of striker Dimitris Salpingidis.^[3]

Torghelle was also famous for his failure to score even a single goal since he was transferred from Crystal Palace, yet this "curse" was lifted when he scored in a PAOK-Olympiakos derby in early 2007. He left PAOK at the end of the 2006–07 season for the German 2. Bundesliga team FC Carl Zeiss Jena. There, he finally met the expectations, scoring five goals and giving three assists (as at 2. Bundesliga matchday 12 of the 2007-08 season).

Despite already having played for several Hungarian and foreign clubs, he still feels particularly attached to his home club Budapest Honvéd and declared that once back in Hungary, he would like to play for that club again.^[4] On 17 May 2010, Torghelle signed with Fortuna Düsseldorf, leaving FC Augsburg after two years.^[5]

International career

Torghelle has made 39 appearances for the Hungary national football team.^[6] He's one of its most able strikers, with an excellent instinct for scoring goals, but rather hot-headed on the pitch and therefore frequently being sent off. As for his goals, he scored several decisive ones during the 2010 World Cup Qualification campaign, such as against Albania and Malta. He came to prominence after scoring both goals in a 2–0 victory over Germany in a friendly match in 2004.

International statistics

**National Team Performance**
Team	Year	Friendlies		International Competition		Total
Team	Year	App	Conceded	App	Conceded	App	Conceded
Hungary	2009	2	0	2	1	4	1
	2008	1	1	4	2	5	3
	2007	—	—	—	—	0	0
	2006	3	0	4	1	7	1
	2005	3	1	4	1	7	2
	2004	8	3	3	1	11	4
Total		17	5	17	6	34	11

**International Goals**
#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	28 April 2004	Budapest	Brazil	1–3	1–4	Friendly
2	6 June 2004	Kaiserslautern	Germany	1–0	2–0	Friendly
3	6 June 2004	Kaiserslautern	Germany	2–0	2–0	Friendly
4	8 September 2004	Budapest	Iceland	2–1	3–2	FIFA World Cup 2006 Qual.
5	15 August 2005	Budapest	Argentina	1–1	1–2	Friendly
6	3 September 2005	Budapest	Malta	1–0	4–0	FIFA World Cup 2006 Qual.
7	11 October 2006	Ta'Qali	Malta	1–1	1–2	UEFA Euro 2008 Qual.
8	11 October 2008	Budapest	Albania	1–0	2–0	FIFA World Cup 2010 Qual.
9	15 October 2008	Ta'Qali	Malta	1–0	1–0	FIFA World Cup 2010 Qual.
10	19 November 2008	Belfast	Northern Ireland	1–0	2–0	Friendly
11	28 March 2009	Tirana	Albania	1–0	1–0	FIFA World Cup 2010 Qual.