Every sport has its share of journeymen. These are players who, for whatever reason, cannot seem to stick with a team. Futbol has a tendency to have more of its share of journeymen. This has to do with the fact that there are so many clubs spread out throughout the world. Some players bounce around their home country playing for different teams in a certain league. Some may even venture beyond borders and play in a different country or two. Then you have journeymen like Sebastian 'El Loco" Abreau whose career has spanned six different countries and three continents (if you count Israel as part of Asia which I will).
The 32 year old Uruguayan striker has now played for a total of 15 clubs, including his current club, Real Sociedad. His professional career started at age 20 so in 12 years of playing professional futbol, El Loco is averaging under a year with each team. The club career is as follows (deep breath): Defensor, San Lorenzo, Deportivo de La Coruna, Gremio, Tecos, San Lorenz (again), Nacional Montevideo, Cruz Azul, Club America, Nacional Montevideo (again), Dorados Sinaloa, CF Monterrey, San Luis, UANL Tigres, River Plate, Beitar Jersusalem, River Plate (again) and Real Sociedad. *whew!*
In regards to his playing time in Spain, El Loco's playing rights were owned by Deportivo from 1998-2004. In that span of time he was loaned out six different times to Brazilian, Uruguayan and Mexican sides including a stint with Gremio of the Brazilian league where he shared the pitch with a very young player by the name of Ronaldinho. It's quite a shame that El Loco managed to see time in only 15 matches with the Galician club in those six years as he missed out on those wonderful Super Depor teams that won a la Liga title, a Copa del Rey title and an appearance in the 2004 Champions League semifinals.
To his credit, El Loco remains humble and good natured about his nomadic professional career. He's jovial in the clubhouse and continues to wear jersey #13 for luck wherever he plays. El Loco should also be lauded for his relationship with the press where he has said that if someone is going to take the time to ask him a question, he will provide a thoughtful response as opposed to cliches. Good for him.
So why are we talking about El Loco? Well, in the eight games he has played with Real Sociedad after taking the place of the injured Diaz de Cerio, all he has done is score six goals. This included a hat trick last weekend against El Infierno leaders Xerez at the Andalusian's home grounds of Estadio Chapin. It was Xerez's first defeat since December and all of the sudden tightened up the standings in La Segunda Division. It has also extended a lifeline to fans of the Donostia club who thought their hopes of promotion evaporated with De Cerio's injury. That has now changed with the exploits of El Loco. Real Sociedad find themselves just 7 points behind the final promotion spot with plenty of futbol to play and El Loco leading the charge.
A couple other news and notes. No sign of Jozy Altidore in uniform in that Xerez-Real Sociedad game last weekend. Hope he enjoyed watching El Loco.
Also, Murcia is welcoming back Francisco Gallardo to the mix. The midfielder from Sevilla has already spent one tour of duty in Murcia playing for the side in 2006-2007 where his play garnered the respect and affection of Murcia fans. Unfortunately for Gallardo, he will always be known for a very unfortunate and lewd goal celebration in 2001 when he was with Sevilla. After a Sevilla goal, Gallardo took it upon himself to congratulate his teammate's strike by nibbling on the teammate's penis. Yowza. That charade earned him a fine and suspension by FEF and rightly so! Let's hope Francisco keeps any goal celebrations this year to above the waist.
Resultados - Jornada 28
Celta - Elche 2-2
Tenerife - Albacete 1-1
Hércules - Murcia 3-2
Alavés - Zaragoza 2-2
Eibar - Salamanca 1-2
Huesca - Alicante 0-1
Castellón - Rayo 0-0
Gimnástic - Cordoba 2-2
Xerez - Real Sociedad 1-3
Girona - Levante 0-0
Sevilla At. - Las palmas 2-2
Clasificacion
1. Xerez - 51
2. Hércules - 49
3. Tenerife - 49
4. Rayo - 46
5. Zaragoza - 45
6. Castellón - 44
7. Salamanca - 44
8. R. Sociedad - 42
9. Huesca - 40
10. Levante - 40
11. Gimnástic - 38
12. Girona - 38
13. Albacete - 36
14. Murcia - 35
15. Elche - 35
16. Celta - 34
17. Las Palmas - 32
18. Córdoba - 32
19. Alavés - 31
20. Eibar - 27
21. Alicante - 23
22. Sevilla At - 11
1 comment:
Very well written and informative. Abreu also plays for the Uruguayan national team and scored a key goal to tie Bolivia (at Bolivia) recently in a World Cup qualifying match for the 2010 World Cup. Nonetheless, I had no idea he was as old as he is.
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