Roque Santa Cruz

Biography

Roque Santa Cruz (born August 16, 1981 in Asuncion (Asuncion: The capital and chief port of Paraguay) , Paraguay (Paraguay: A landlocked republic in south central South America; achieved independence from Spain in 1811) ) is a Paraguayan football (football: Any of various games played with a ball (round or oval) in which two teams try to kick or carry or propel the ball into each other's goal) striker, who currently plays for Bayern Munich (Bayern Munich: bayern munich (german: fc bayern münchen) is a german football (soccer)|football...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) of the German Bundesliga (Bundesliga: more facts about this subject) .

Santa Cruz made a name for himself at the 1999 U-20 FIFA World Youth Championship (FIFA World Youth Championship: the football world youth championship is the world championship of football for male players...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) , where he scored three goals for a surprising Paraguay team. His performance there led to a call-up to the full Paraguay national team (Paraguay national team: the paraguay national football team has reached the second round of the world cup on three...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) for the Copa América (Copa América: the copa américa is the main national football competition of the conmebol nations....
[follow hyperlink for more...]) at the age of 17.

His international exploits, combined with his club performance leading Olimpia Asuncion (Olimpia Asuncion: more facts about this subject) to a Paraguayan championship, attracted the interest of European suitors, among them Bayern Munich, who signed him for 5 million Euros for the 1999/2000 season.

Santa Cruz 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.

Nevertheless, he remains an important player for his national team, and appeared with them in the 2002 World Cup (2002 World Cup: more facts about this subject) , where he scored one goal while helping the team advance to the elimination rounds.