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Sergio Aguero
Full name: Sergio Leonel Aguero del Castillo
Date of birth: 2 June 1988 in Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nationality: Argentinian
Height: 1.72m
Weight: 74kg
Position: forward
Clubs: 1997-2006; Independiente (56 matches, 23 goals). Since 2006:
Atletico Madrid (92 matches, 35 goals).
Honours: 2005, winner of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands.
2007: winner of the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada, Golden Boot for
top goalscorer of the tournament and Golden Ball for best player. 2003
Olympic champion in Beijing. 11 caps and three goals for Argentina.

Magic In The Blood
He’s barely 20 and is already considered one of the best forwards in the world: this is Sergio Aguero, the Argentinian two-time FIFA U-20 world champion and winner of a gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games.

Llevo I etfiitbol en fa sangre I Vamos Kun Aguero /fuerza, que el mundo quiere verte I mastrando tu coraje” [I've got / football in my blood / Go on Kun Aguero / be strong, because the world wants to see / your courage]. Switch on any radio station in Argentina and you are likely to hear this song by the cumbia band Los Leales, featuring Sergio Aguero, a world-class player who has put a modern twist on the traditional Maradona-style dribbling that used to thrill football fans the world over.
At 20, Aguero has already made a name for himself as one of today’s star players thanks to his attacking spurts – he does not need to be in possession for long to produce a magical pass or score a deciding goal from the tightest of angles. He has already notched up two U-20 world tides, an Olympic gold medal in Beijing and various individual awards from his days with his beloved Independiente and then with his current team Atletico Madrid, as well as with the Argentinian national team.
Aguero, also known to many as “Kun”, made his professional debut in Argentinian league football when he was only 15 years, one month and three days old -the youngest debut of all time – when Oscar Ruggeri, winner of the 1986 FIFA World Cup™ in Mexico, fielded him for Independiente against San Lorenzo on 5 July 2003 in the last match of the Clausura tournament. That was also the farewell match of one of the most popular footballers of recent times – Gabriel Milito, now a defender for Barcelona. In playing that match, Aguero broke the record for the youngest debut, held by none other than Diego Armando Maradona, who played his first match at 15 years and 11 months. Since then, the number of things Aguero has in common with the footballing legend has continued to grow.
“El Kun” is in a relationship with Maradona’s daughter Giannina, with whom he lives in Madrid, and the couple are to make Maradona a grandfather in the next few months (which explains his post-goal celebration in the match against Brazil during the Beijing Games when he sucked his thumb as a baby would a dummy).
A SIMPLE GAME
Born into a large family (seven children plus the parents) in the densely populated district of Flores in central Buenos Aires, Aguero soon moved to the southern zone
Llevo I elfutbol en la sangre I Vamos Kun Aguero /fuerza, que el mundo quiere verte I mastrando tu coraje” [I've got / football in my blood / Go on Kun Aguero / be strong, because the world wants to see / your courage]. Switch on any radio station in Argentina and you are likely to hear this song by the cumbia band Los Leales, featuring Sergio Aguero, a world-class player who has put a modern twist on the traditional Maradona-style dribbling that used to thrill football fans the world over.
At 20, Aguero has already made a name for himself as one of today’s star players thanks to his attacking spurts – he does not need to be in possession for long to produce a magical pass or score a deciding goal from the tightest of angles. He has already notched up two U-20 world tides, an Olympic gold medal in Beijing and various individual awards from his days with his beloved Independiente and then with his current team Atletico Madrid, as well as with the Atgentinian national team.
Aguero, also known to many as “Kun”, made his professional debut in Argentinian league football when he was only 15 years, one month and three days old -the youngest debut of all time – when Oscar Ruggeri, winner of the 1986 FIFA World Cup™ in Mexico, fielded him for Independiente against San Lorenzo on 5 July 2003 in the last match of the Clausura tournament. That was also the of greater Buenos Aires. By nine, his great skill had taken him to Independiente, and so he side-stepped the usual progression through the youth ranks before joining the first division. Everybody knew that Aguero was different — a special player.
Although Aguero’s game is simple, it is impossible to define his exact position on the pitch. Many consider him to be a striker given the number of goals he scores, and the experienced Argentinian coach Cesar Luis Menotti has even compared him to Romario, the great Brazilian goalscorer. Others, however, believe he is more like the classic Argentinian “number ten”, or maybe an attacking midfielder. Agueto himself has recently said that he does not consider himself a striker, even though coaches increasingly play him in that position and the fans want to see him playing and scoring more goals, in the hope of glimpsing one of those subtle shots that this magical player is capable of.
“Seeing Aguero play is like visiting the Prado Museum,” said Anatolyi Byshovets, Lokomotiv Moscow’s coach, having been amazed by the Argentinian’s performances with Atletico Madrid. The last few years have seen “El Kun’s” breakthrough at the Spanish club. Although he left Independiente too soon, he left his mark as one of the greats and there were a few memorable goals and matches, such as his two goals against Racing Club in the 2005 Apertura tournament. One of those goals, scored after some spectacular dribbling in the box, was later used in an advertisement, in which the player himself imitated the sound of the red fans shouting his name from the stands.
MORE TEARS
It was under the late Omar Pastoriza, one of Independiente’s icons, that Aguero made his name as a star, even though he always had to work on keeping his temper in check, in particular his reaction to rough tackles. He was first sent off during a match against the modest side Tiro Federal, and as a result missed the much-anticipated match against River Plate. However, he shed the most tears when he was shown the fifth yellow card that meant exclusion from the match against Boca Juniors in the 2006 Clausura tournament. He understood then that
the match against Olimpo de Bahia Blanca that day was to be his last in the red shirt, as he had just been transferred to Atletico Madrid in a deal worth EUR 20 million, at the tender age of 18. But thing have always moved very fast in Aguero’s life.
UNDISPUTED REGULAR
By then, he was already an FIFA U-20 world champion, even though he was the youngest member of the team, whose stand-out player was Lionel Messi. Francisco Ferraro had included Aguero in the squad almost as an extra, just so he could experience being involved in that kind of tournament. Nonetheless, as the Netherlands 2005 tournament progressed, and Argentina’s attackers failed to impress, Aguero was allowed to play in the final two matches against Brazil and Nigeria, and he was awarded a penalty that proved decisive in Argentina winning the title.
The European experience at Atletico Madrid was not easy to begin with. Although the Atletico fans loved him from the start, the Mexican coach Javier Aguirre opted to introduce him gradually. Nonetheless, Aguero made an impact in each of his appearances, whether as a player or a substitute. In the 2006-2007
season, when Fernando Torres was still at the club, Atletico finally qualified for a return to a European tournament: the UEFA Cup.
Last season, with Aguero an established player capable of generating magic at any moment and Diego Forlan also up front, Atletico finished fourth, thus ensuring a long-awaited place in the Champions League. Aguero progressed from seven goals in 27 matches in his first season, when he was considered an incredible player for his age, to 20 goals in 37 matches. He is now guaranteed a regular spot in the line-up and is well established as the best player in the team.
MA RADON A OR MESS1?
Among the highlights of this impressive season was the brilliant match against Barcelona last March, which Atletico won 4-2 at the Vicente Calderon stadium. Aguero scored two amazing goals that day, set up another and was awarded a penalty, which Forlan converted. All over Europe, people were awestruck by this player who, at barely 20, already has five seasons of top-flight football behind him and is continuing his vertiginous ascent.
What Aguero achieved last season was no mere chance. After all, he arrived in Spain having just won the sixth FIFA U-20 World Cup with Argentina in Canada, where he was captain and won both the Golden Boot for top goalscorer of the tournament and the Golden Ball for best player. That was his second consecutive FIFA U-20 World Cup win, but his first as its biggest star. This strengthened his status as one of the greats. This has all recently been topped off by a new addition to his trophy cabinet: the Olympic gold he won in Beijing. He did not get off to a great start at the Olympics because he was, perhaps wrongly, expected to score goals rather than impress with his skill. But he made an impact when it was most important, with his two goals in the semi-final against Brazil.
There is now no questioning his quality as a player, and he is a regular in the senior Argentinian national team, and has even gone on as a substitute for one of his idols, Carlos Tevez. There are those who believe Aguero is the new Argentinian Maradona, or at least the closest thing to a 21sr-century Maradona. Some compare him to Messi and some believe that because of his stocky physique
- strong and compact – he is more solid in the tackle than the Barcelona star. In Argentina, some also believe that another advantage he has over Messi is that, although he did not spend long in Argentinian league football, he did absorb some of the “slyness” with which the game is played there — hard and tactical, with close marking. His contemporary Messi, on the other hand, missed out on that as he signed for Barcelona at a very young age, and is therefore lacking those “vices”
and is consequently “too pure”. Many believe that one of the things that makes
Aguero such a great addition to any team is his experience playing unorganised
football in local fields, something that Messi never had.
What nobody questions is that Aguero still has a lot of magic to give, that he is still
very young, and that with his cheeky smile he seems utterly impervious to controversy or other people’s opinion of him. He’s got football in the blood, as they say in the song he likes so much, and all he wants is to be allowed to play.

Two years ago, no one talked about women’s football in football-mad Chile. Now, thanks to preparatory activities for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup (19 November – 7 December 2008), Chile is a model of how to develop a sport by engaging the public in an event. Here key people talk about what is happening in Chile.

EDUARDO ROJAS, Local Organising Committee (LOC) General Manager
How are preparations for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Chile 2008 going?
Eduardo Rojas: We have four new stadiums being built for the tournament and they were 70 percent completed at the end of August. We are in the countdown phase, so we face a lot of challenges whose resolution is very important for Chile and its image. On 13 September, we had the official draw with 16 delegations in attendance. That was our biggest challenge to date: showing our accommodation, training facilities and the stadiums.
What have been the highlights of organising this tournament?
Rojas: The LOC is a big team and we have a lot of women working with us. The activities that we have organised in preparation for the World Cup are also very important, such as the U-15 girls’ national football festival, two four-nations tournaments and the South American U-17 Women’s Championship. Those were all huge successes. And the national team has had the best-ever preparation, with tours to Europe, Central America and the States. Before we started working here, such things where only a dream, and I think that all these moments are unforgettable. Even our smallest actions will be regarded as huge steps in the future.
How will this event change Chiie?
Rojas: I think this tournament will help overcome some prejudices. Two years ago, there was no mention of women’s football, but now it is a huge new market. Women have made the move into football and they’re here to stay! We are also organising a new national competition for women. For us, it is very important that when the World Cup is over, the women’s game will continue to develop. After all, “the future of football is feminine,” as FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter said back in 1995, so we are preparing them to take on this responsibility.
What is your evaluation of the team’s programme so far?
Marta Tejedor: It has been a really long programme. Since I arrived in Chile in June 2007, there have been different phases, each with different objectives. When I started working with this team, everything was at varying stages. We have seen really big and important changes -physically, in how the girls “read” the game, in their focus … We are very happy with the results so far, they have been good. The last evaluation will be after the World Cup; only then will we see the real changes in the team.
What have been the frustrations?
Tejedor: 1 think injuries are always a frustration, but I also think that you can learn something from frustrations. When we competed in the South American U-20 Women’s Championship in March, I expected us to achieve a better result than we did (fourth place). But because of that result I realised we had made some big mistakes and we have consequently been working on those areas.
And the highlights?
Tejedor: I think a big achievement has been that our players are following our plan to the letter. They believe in this project, and they have a huge amount of support from the general public. They have had to change their way of playing, their physical capacity, and their way of thinking on the field … all of those things are big achievements. I also think that the new competitive league (the women’s first division, launched in May) has raised awareness of the game.
How have the team developed in the last few months?
Tejedor: They have changed a lot. When I arrived here the team played almost intuitively. They played like they thought they should play, which was fine individually, but not as a team. They also had very few skills to resolve some situations on the pitch. Now we have a completely different team: they work and play like a group.
Who will be the teams to beat in this tournament?
Tejedor: The strongest teams will be Germany, USA, Korea DPR and Brazil. The other participants are very strong too, the best in the world, but the ones 1 just mentioned axe the strongest, and 1 hope we won’t have to face any of them in the first round. But in a championship like this, anyone can beat anyone.
NATHALIE QUEZADA, Chile U-20 national team forward
Would you be proud to play in this FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup?
Nathalie Quezada: We don’t know who will play yet, but everyone is trying to earn their place in the team. But if I imagine it, I think I would be very proud. The happiness that you feel representing your country in a World Cup is something indescribable. If I play I will definitely give one hundred percent. I will play with my heart. I think that the only thing we want now is to do everything well and represent our country in the best way possible.
How do you think playing in this tournament would affect you?
Quezada: I think I would achieve a lot of things I have always wanted to in life. Playing a World Cup is something you don’t do every day. It is a really big opportunity for us because it opens a lot ofdoots. I hope that when the World Cup is over, I will get an offer from a team. I really want to play abroad.
What would you most like to happen for Chile in this tournament?
Quezada: I think we will do a good job. We have worked really hard. Every day we train for more than six hours, so I hope that we will play like we have been. For me the most important thing Is to do things well and never feel like you didn’t give a hundred per cent.
DANIELA PARDO, Chile U-20 national team midfielder and captain
How do you feel about playing in front of a home crowd and in a FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup?
Daniela Pardo: I think I will be very nervous – anxiety mixed with a unique sense of happiness and satisfaction.
What are you most looking forward to?
Pardo: A lot of people will come to see us and ask us things — they will be interested in us. I want that day to hurry up and get here – I am very excited about it. My only hope is to arrive at the World Cup in the best possible form and to play really well, because I think that each one of us knows this is a huge opportunity that can open a lot of doors for us.
How do you think the team will do?
Pardo: I think people will be surprised. I don’t know if we will be in the top three, but we are working hard to achieve something important. I just know we will play really well and put on a good show for everyone.

This year from 28 October to 16 November, the first-ever FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup will be held in four cities in New Zealand. The hosts certainly have the potential to cause some upsets on the pitch.

New Zealand is better known for its hulking great rugby players and rugged sailors than it is for football. But later this “, this strongly felt sporting identity may take on a different and more feminine slant when the future stars of international women’s football take to he fields of the southernmost Oceanic nation’s finest stadiums to compete for the first ever FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup.
The newest addition to FIFA’s glittering portfolio of World Cup events will be held from 28 October to 16 November 2008 in four cities, of which two (Auckland and Christchurch) were venues for the successful men’s version of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in New Zealand just under a decade ago. The North Harbour Stadium on Auckland’s sandy North Shore won an award for best venue at the 1999 event and once again, the 25,000 capacity, multi-purpose facility will host the opening game and finals, as well as the firs: two games of the New Zealand team.
INCONSISTENCY
Drawn against Colombia, Canada and Denmark, a fairy-tale run to the next stage for the hosts will be a hard ask. New Zealand coach Paul Temple comments, “It is definitely a tough group. Colombia are the South American champions, and given the strength of football in that region, I think they start as favourites. Canada and Denmark are powerhouses of the women’s game and have good records at major tournaments. So it is going to be a massive challenge and we will certainly be underdogs. But what really counts is not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. We certainly have the chance to cause some upsets and
do well against the more fancied teams in our group.”
The mixed bag of results in New Zealand’s preparation matches indeed suggests that the hosts could potentially cause some upsets. Starting their pro¬gramme in July 2007, the New Zealand U-17 squad took part in the Australian National Youth Championships, playing state teams a year older in age. Making the semi-finals in Australia, New Zealand went on to play Korea Republic in a tri-series at home in December 2007, chalking up a 1-1 draw and 2-1 and 6-0 losses. A month later, New Zealand again hosted the quadrangular Future Stars tournament and suffered further losses against perennial favourites USA (5-0) and Germany (4-0) as well as against trans-Tasman neighbours Australia {1 -0), over whom they then went on to enjoy back-to-back 4-0 wins in April, More recently, they were on the wrong side of a 4-0 scoreline against Paraguay in Asuncion, but quickly turned it around 72 hours later with a hard-fought 1-1 draw.
“The main frustration I have had has been our inconsistency in performances,” adds Temple. “But this is to be expected with players who are still very young in football terms. We have also had quite a few injuries and haven’t been able to put
the best eleven on the pitch yet, but it is also encouraging because we have more
to come.”
MANY FAVOURITES
What the New Zealand team has in store will hopefully be out in force when they play the third game of the first round against Colombia in Wellington. The capital city is the home of New Zealand’s only professional football team (Wellington Phoenix who play in the Australian A-League) and is well known for really getting behind sporting events. The support of the locals will be crucial to filling the 35,000 capacity, state-of-the-art Wellington Stadium (or Cake Tin as it is often labelled due to its appearance from above). Wellington residents also have other reasons to come out in droves — playing in their city are crowd favourites Brazil and England, as well as Nigeria and Korea Republic, in what will be an extremely exciting group to watch.
Tighter still may be the matches between the Group C teams, which will be played in Christchurch. It is anyone’s guess who will advance from France, the USA, Paraguay and Japan, but the USA have had strong results in their warm-up games (including a 2-1 win over Germany in the Future Stars tournament in New Zealand) and Japan, who were top qualifiers in Asia, could have a slight edge over the rest of the group.
Favourites to move through to the quarter-finals are Germany and Korea DPR from Group B. In addition to these two title contenders, Hamilton – the smallest host city of the four — will also enjoy African and Central American flair with Ghana and Costa Rica respectively making up the group. The teams will play in the recently renovated Waikato stadium and will no doubt experience the best of the rural region’s hospitality.
REALLY EXCITED
Regardless of who goes through from these four well-balanced groups, the New Zealand public will have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to witness the future stars of women’s football – the budding Martas and Birgit Prinzes. This is bound to be an extra treat for the very high ratio of female players in New Zealand (a third of junior players are girls and a quarter of all adult players are women) as well as a considerable opportunity for the sport to demonstrate its true international flavour and significant development over the past decade. This opportunity is not lost on New Zealand Football chairman Frank van Hattum: “Hopefully we will have a successful tournament that meets the high objectives we have set ourselves. Of equal importance is that everyone involved will go away having had a wonderful experience. The learning experience for coaches, players and administrators is also an important outcome. We fully expect to see more people exposed to the game, to try it, be excited by it and feel good about it.”
The young women who will be proudly representing Aotearoa (the Maori name for New Zealand, which means “land of the long white cloud”) at the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup are adamant that they will also be doing their very best to inspire a future generation of footballers. The parting words about what this World Cup means to them is best left in their hands:
Fifteen-year-old Rosie White on what she would like New Zealand to achieve in this tournament: “I would love the Young Football Ferns to get through the
group stages and make a bit of history in New Zealand.”
Seventeen-year-old Annalie Longo (who is already a veteran of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Russia 2006 and the FIFA Women’s World Cup China 2007) on what will be different about this FIFA World Cup™ for her: “Playing a FIFA World Cup™ in your own country Having friends and family there to support you, and playing in my own age group is pretty exciting.”
Seventeen-year-old Caitlin Campbell (who played in the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Russia) on what it will be like to play in front of a home crowd: “We are all really excited at the thought of playing in front of a home crowd. Not many people get to play a FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in their home country and we are lucky enough to have the first-ever FIFA U-17 Women’s tournament here. It’s going to be a huge adrenaline rush but we are going to savour every minute of it.”
Seventeen-year-old captain Briony Fisher on the same question: “This is the first-ever FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and it’s being held in New Zealand. Sometimes I think I am dreaming as I can’t believe I have this incredibly rare opportunity to show the world how Kiwis play football. I get to play the sport I love on home soil in front of my friends and family and all of our supporters, while showing young Kiwi footballers what opportunities lie ahead of them.”