Paulo Wanchope Biography

Paulo Wanchope
extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Paulo Wanchope
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Personal information
Full name Paulo César Wanchope Watson
Date of birth 31 July 1976 (1976-07-31) (age 33)
Place of birth    Heredia, Costa Rica
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position Striker (retired)
Youth career
Herediano
Senior career1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1994–1996
1996–1999
1999–2000
2000–2004
2004–2005
2005
2006
2006
2007
2007		 Herediano
Derby County
West Ham United
Manchester City
Málaga
Al-Gharrafa
Herediano
Rosario Central
FC Tokyo
Chicago Fire
Total		 027 (72)
072 (23)
035 (12)
064 (27)
025 0(6)
006 0(2)
010 0(3)
014 0(6)
012 0(2)
012 0(2)
281 (169)   
National team2
1996–2008 Costa Rica 073 (45)
Teams managed
2008-2009 CS Herediano

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 15:28, 17 November 2007 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 15:28, 12 February 2009 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)
This is a Spanish name; the first family name is Wanchope and the second is Watson.

Paulo César Wanchope Watson (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpaulo ɣanˈtʃope]) (born 31 July 1976 in Heredia), also known as "Chope" or as "La Cobra" in Central America and South America, is a Costa Rican former professional footballer. As of February 2009, Wanchope is the second most prolific goalscorer in the history of the national football team, behind Rolando Fonseca, with 45 goals in 73 international matches.

Contents

Club career

Derby County

Paulo Wanchope began his career with CS Herediano, until he went to England to play with Derby County F.C where he made his career scoring two hat-tricks on his debut along with fellow Costa Rican Mauricio Solís in 1997. Wanchope marked his debut for Derby in an impressive fashion, scoring a memorable goal against Manchester United, beating four United players before slotting past Peter Schmeichel during a 3-2 win - the goal was later voted the greatest in the club's history by the Derby fans as part of the club's 125th Anniversary Celebrations. He proved a treat for English football fans, as he showed his capabilities of being both sublime and ridiculous in equal measure. After scoring 28 goals in 83 games within 2 seasons for Derby, Wanchope was sold to West Ham United for £3.5 million.

West Ham United

He never quite settled in at West Ham, despite scoring 15 goals in 46 games, and many fans remember him more for his occasional lapses in concentration and missed chances than for his invaluable goalscoring expoloits. He was eventually sold to Manchester City at the start of the 200/01 season, following the arrivals of Davor Suker and Frederic Kanoute.

Manchester City

Wanchope earned a starting position at Man City, but was unable to help them survive immediate relegation back to the First Division in 2001. The following season was a mixed one for Wanchope. Despite missing large chunks of it through injury, he still managed 12 goals in just 15 games and often showed his best form. After City's return to the top flight he played almost no part, with injury once again keeping him on the sidelines. However, he returned to play a vital part at the end of 2003/04 and scored some vital goals to help avoid relegation, including the winning goal against Newcastle United, which effectively made City safe. He was remembered as a extravagant talent by City fans, and his celebration of a goal at Southampton, when he grabbed a TV microphone and joyfully screamed into it, just added to his character status. Whilst he was at City, he was a part of a strike force with Paul Dickov, which led to the Wanchope-Dickov slogan.

Post-Premier League

At the end of the 2004 season, Wanchope was sold to Málaga CF of the Spanish La Liga for ₤500,000. He played 26 games for the club, scoring 6 goals.

In 2005, ESPN declared Wanchope's goal against Numancia the best of the entire 2004/05 Spanish First Division. In 2006, following the World Cup in Germany and short but successful stints with Al-Gharrafa in Qatar and Herediano in his native Costa Rica, he signed with Argentine club Rosario Central. 1, scoring 5 goals in 14 games.

On 29 December 2006, J. League club FC Tokyo announced the acquisition of Wanchope on a transfer from Rosario Central. Along with local prospect Sota Hirayama, Wanchope allowed FC Tokyo to utilise a pair of large (190 cm+) strikers. He was released by FC Tokyo and subsequently signed a one year deal with MLS team Chicago Fire.2

Retirement

On Friday 16 November 2007, after a 13 year career in football, Wanchope decided to put an end to his career, primarily based on how his old knee injury was affecting his performance on the field, the same injury that made him lose large parts of his career with Manchester City, making him unable to reach his best physical shape, an argument that was commonly criticized by the press during recent years in every club he played for. At his retirement press conference he manifested his interest in becoming a professional coach, looking forward to accomplish it in England.3

International career

Wanchope was hugely important to the Costa Rican national team, playing for the team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and several Gold Cups. On 8 October 2005, Wanchope became the all-time leading goal scorer for Los Ticos when he scored the first goal in a home win over the USA in the qualifying match that sent Los Ticos to the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

On 9 June 2006, he scored twice in the opening game of the 2006 World Cup, a 4-2 loss to Germany. These two goals made Wanchope the first Costa Rican to score twice in one World Cup match, and put him alongside Rónald Gómez as the only Costa Ricans ever to score more than one World Cup goal.4 After the defeat to Germany, Costa Rica were defeated by both Ecuador and Poland. Thus Costa Rica finished last in their group and failed to qualify for the second round. Wanchope played his last game for his country in January 2008 when Sweden had come to visit Costa Rica. He played 25 minutes and then he was substituted.

Paulo Wanchope is now a manager in his native Costa Rica. He managed Club Sport Herediano from 2008 to 2009. He resigned citing that the team's performance was low, and that he wanted to further his studies in England5. Having left the club, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the administration of the club6. Club Sport Herediano.

Career statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
England League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
1996-97 Derby County Premier League 5 1
1997-98 32 13
1998-99 35 9
1999-00 West Ham United Premier League 35 12
2000-01 Manchester City Premier League 27 9
2001-02 First Division 15 12
2002-03 Premier League 0 0
2003-04 22 6
Spain League Copa del Rey Copa de la Liga Europe Total
2004-05 Málaga La Liga 25 6
Qatar League Emir of Qatar Cup League Cup Asia Total
2005-06 Al-Gharafa Qatari League 6 1
Costa Rica League Cup League Cup North America Total
2005-06 Herediano Primera División 10 3
Argentina League Cup League Cup South America Total
2006-07 Rosario Central Primera División 14 5
Japan League Emperor's Cup J. League Cup Asia Total
2007 FC Tokyo J. League Division 1 12 2 - 4 1 - 16 3
USA League Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup League Cup North America Total
2007 Chicago Fire Major League Soccer 12 2
Total England 171 62
Spain 25 6
Qatar 6 1
Costa Rica 10 3
Argentina 14 5
Japan 12 2 - 4 1 - 16 3
USA 12 2
Career Total 250 81

References

  1. ^ "Tactical Formation". Football-Lineups.com. http://www.football-lineups.com/players/player.php?route=5014. Retrieved February 10 2007. 
  2. ^ "Wonchope To Fire-Red Card Blog". Luis Arroyave's Chicago Tribune Red Card Blog. http://blogs.chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/soccer_redcard/2007/07/fire-to-add-sec.html#comments. Retrieved July 24 2007. 
  3. ^ "Wanchope announces retirement" MLS.com Retrieved on 16 November 2007
  4. ^ Germany 4-2 Costa Rica from bbc.co.uk
  5. ^ Wanchope renuncia a la direccion tecnica de Heredia, Retrieved from la Nacion, March 11th 2009.
  6. ^ Wanchope denunció que recibio amenazas. Retrieved from La Nacion, March 12th 2009.

External links