World Cup South Africa 2010
History - Groups - Players - Venues
Favorite Players by Country (Germany 2006)
Group B - Paraguay
Roque Santa Cruz
Place of Birth: Asuncion Paraguay
Date of Birth: August 16th, 1981
Position: Forward
Clubs: Olimpia Asunción, Bayern Munich
Roque Santa Cruz is a Paraguayan football striker, who currently plays for Bayern Munich of the German Bundesliga.
At the young age of 9 he joined Olimpia Asunción youth division, there 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 15, but it was not until he was 16 that he debuted professionally.
His performance with Asuncion that year led the team to the 1998–1999 Paraguayan Championship and along came the winning of the Paraguayan Footballer of the Year award.
In 1999 Santa Cruz signed for Bayern Munich, the team had seen his excellent performances with his previous team and the Paraguayan national team. Roque 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.
Roque Santa Cruz made a name for himself at the 1999 U-20 FIFA World Youth Championship, he scored three goals for a surprising Paraguay team. 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.
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