Roberto Abbondanzieri

Roberto Carlos "Pato" Abbondanzieri (born Abbondancieri on August 19 1972 in Bouquet, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Province) is an Argentina football (soccer) goalkeeper currently playing for Getafe CF and the Argentina national football team.

Career

Abbondanzieri's professional debut took place on December 6 1994 at Santa Fe's Rosario Central, with whom he would soon after win the 1995 CONMEBOL Cup. He played with the club until 1997, when he moved to Boca Juniors to be the reserve goalkeeper.

Abbondanzieri trained in the shadow of Óscar Córdoba until the Colombian goalie suffered an injury during the Clausura tournament of 1999. However, Abbondanzieri himself then suffered a shoulder injury during a match against Club Atlético River Plate, and the club's third-choice goalkeeper, Cristian Muñoz, took his place. When he recovered from his injury Abbondanzieri was once again Córdoba's understudy until February 2002, when Córdoba moved to Serie A club Perugia Calcio.

Abbondanzieri changed his name in July 2002 from Abbondancieri, a misspelling that arose at Argentinian customs when his grandfather immigrated there, to the original spelling that he uses today. The name change was prompted by Italian citizenship concerns in the case of his transfer to the European football leagues. He was named South American Goalkeeper of the Year in 2003.

Until September of 2006, when Boca achieved their third Recopa Sudamericana 2006, he held the Boca Juniors record of 14 titles, surpassed later by Guillermo Barros Schelotto.

National team

As a youth, Abbondanzieri represented Argentina in the 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship.

Since then Abbondanzieri has become a continual presence in Boca's goal and in June 2004 he became the goalkeeper for the Argentine national team and has since played in the Copa América 2004, Confederations Cup 2005 and the Football World Cup 2006 - South American Qualification Groups for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

On May 6 2006 he was named as a definite squad member for the 2006 FIFA World Cup by coach José Pekerman. Argentina won their first two round robin games and drew the third with Holland 0-0 to emerge at the top of their group. They then beat Mexico 2-1 in a come from behind victory, with the winning goal coming in extra time.

On June 30 2006, he was injured in the 2006 FIFA World Cup against hosts Germany, after Argentina had taken a 1-0 lead. German striker Miroslav Klose jumped up high for a header while running and collided with Abbondanzieri, with Klose's right leg hitting the Argentinian keeper in the chest. Klose, who had looked sideways to watch for the ball in the moments leading up to the collision and thus may not have seen Abbondanzieri, received no penalty. Abbondanzieri continued at first but had to be carried off on a stretcher some minutes later, to be replaced with the less experienced Leonardo Franco, who later failed to save Klose's equalizing strike in the 80th minute, and the four German hits in the ensuing penalty shootout (football), which Argentina lost 2:4.

Getafe

In July 2006 after weeks of speculation, Abbondanzieri signed a three-year contract with Spain La Liga Getafe CF, claiming that "it's the right time for me to go to Europe." He signed up as number 13.

Honors

- - Apertura 1998, 2000, 2003-2004 in Argentine football Torneo Apertura ("Opening" Tournament) and 2005-2006 in Argentine football Torneo Apertura ("Opening" Tournament)
- - Clausura 1999, 2005-2006 in Argentine football Torneo Clausura ("Closing" Tournament)
- - Copa Libertadores de América 2000, 2001 and 2003
- - European/South American Cup 2000 and 2003.
- - Copa Sudamericana 2004 and Copa Sudamericana 2005.
- - Recopa Sudamericana 2005.
- - Ricardo Zamora Trophy, best goalkeeper of La Liga 2006/2007.