Abel Aguilar

Abel Enrique Aguilar Tapias (born January 6 1985 in Santa Fe de Bogotá) is a Colombia football (soccer) player who currently plays for Xerez CD.
A product of Deportivo Cali, Aguilar is a defensive central midfielder who has been the captain of Colombia national football team at the U17 and U20 levels. He rose to stardom as the 18 year old captain and leader of the Colombian U20 side that finished third at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship. At age 19, Aguilar was promoted to Colombia's full side at the Copa América 2004 held in Peru, where he scored two goals helping guide his country to the semifinals. Aguilar captained the Colombian U20 side to a first place finish at the South American Youth Cup of 2005, which qualified them as favorites for the World Youth Cup 2005 held in Holland. In Holland, Aguilar led Colombia to three consecutive wins in the group phase only to be eliminated by a 92nd minute goal from Argentina, the eventual champion of the tournament. After the 2006 Youth Cup, Aguilar joined the Colombian full side at the CONCACAF Gold Cup from which his side was eliminated in the semifinals by Panama by a score of 3-2. Italian Seria A side Udinese bought his rights in the summer of 2005 and loaned him that fall to Seria A side Ascoli Calcio for seasoning. Unfortunately, Aguilar's work permit was delayed by the Italian authorities and he missed pre-season training with Ascoli joining them a month into the season. He returned to Udinese in January 2006, after having never played for Ascoli, and immediately joined the Udinese first team in which he participated in limited opportunities in Seria A, Copa Italia and UEFA Cup play.