World Cup South Africa 2010
History - Groups - Players - Venues
Favorite Players by Country (Germany 2006)
Group A - Costa Rica:
Paulo Wanchope
Place of Birth: San Jose, Costa Rica
Date of Birth: July 31st, 1976
Position: Forward
Clubs: Derby County, West Ham, Manchester City, Malaga, Al-Gharrafa.
Paulo César Wanchope Watson is a Costa Rican football player, who currently plays for Club Sport Herediano in Costa Rica. At the time, he is the best goal scorer in the history of the national football team with 43 goals in 67 international matches.
Wanchope began his career in Costa Rica with Club Sport Herediano, until he went to England to play with Derby County in 1997 and he scored against Manchester United in his debut.
After scoring 28 goals in 79 games for Derby County, Wanchope was sold to West Ham United. He never quite settled in at West Ham despite scoring 15 goals in 46 games, and was eventually sold to Manchester City. Wanchope earned a starting position at Man City and helped lead the team to promotion to the FA Premier League.
Although at times dazzling, Wanchope may have been something of a disappointment in English football because of a reputation for inconsistency. At the end of the 2004 season, Wanchope was sold to Málaga CF of the Spanish league for 500,000 pounds.
Wanchope has been hugely important to the Costa Rican National Team playing in the 2002 World Cup and several Gold Cups. On October 8, 2005, Wanchope became the all-time leading goal scorer for Los Ticos (CR enthusiasts) when he scored the first goal in a home win over the USA in the qualifying match that sent Los Ticos to the 2006 World Cup.
And finally ESPN awarded Wanchope for scoring the best goal of the entire 2004/05 Spanish First Division against Numancia.
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