Humberto Suazo

Humberto "Chupete" Suazo

Personal information
Full name	Humberto Andrés Suazo Pontivo
Date of birth	May 10, 1981 (1981-05-10) (age 29)
Place of birth	San Antonio, Chile
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Monterrey
Number	26
Youth career
1987–1996	Club Torino
1996–2000	Universidad Católica
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2000–2001	Ñublense	4	(0)
2001–2002	Magallanes	6	(0)
2002–2003	San Antonio Unido	0	(0)
2003–2004	San Luis	40	(40)
2004–2006	Audax Italiano	62	(40)
2006–2007	Colo-Colo	75	(70)
2007–	Monterrey	91	(50)
2010	→ Real Zaragoza (loan)	17	(6)
National team‡
2005–	Chile	44	(18)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 August 2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 25 June 2010

Humberto Andrés Suazo Pontivo (born May 10, 1981 in San Antonio), nicknamed Chupete Suazo, is a Chilean football player, who currently plays as a striker for Monterrey. In 2006 he was awarded by IFFHS as the world's top goal scorer of the year.^[1]

Youth Years

At six years old, Suazo's father took him to play with Club Torino in his hometown of Santiago. His father had made a name for himself playing with the same team.hasiktir lan ibneler bu böle olurmu hiç aq

In December 1995, Suazo tried out for Universidad Católica. In March of the following year he was part of the club's youth system. However, Suazo's time spent there was troubled. He did not like to practice and at any given chance he would leave the facilities and return to San Antonio. Suazo now admits he wasted the opportunity the club gave him.^[2]

Club career

Early career

In 2000, because of his lack of discipline Universidad Católica loaned Suazo out to Chilean second division, Ñublense. His professional debut came against Magallanes, the club he would later play for, and he scored his first goal. At the end of the year he fractured his fibula and was sidelined for seven months. The injury also kept him out of the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship. In 2000, he won the Milk Cup.

At the end of 2001, no longer part of Universidad Católica, Suazo played for Magallanes. He would go on to join his hometown club San Antonio Unido in 2002. In 2003 Suazo turned heads with his new club San Luis Quillota of the Chilean third division, when he scored 40 goals in one season.

The next two seasons, Suazo would spend with Audax Italiano. In early 2004, Suazo suffered another major injury which kept him out a significant amount of time. With Audax, Suazo scored 40 goals before being transferred to Colo-Colo.

Colo-Colo

Suazo's trademark celebration.

Suazo began his career with Colo Colo just in time for the Copa Libertadores 2006. Even though Colo-Colo exited the tournament early, Suazo showed his ability by scoring a hat-trick against Chivas de Guadalajara.

In the 2006 apertura tournament in Chile, Suazo led all scorers with 14 goals in 33 games ^[3] on the way to capturing Colo-Colo's 24^th national championship.

Colo-Colo, with the help of Suazo's tournament-leading 10 goals in 12 games, reached the finals of Copa Sudamericana 2006. On the way to the finals, he netted a hat-trick against Gimnasia LP. Suazo dazzled fans and scouts alike throughout the tournament, which raised questions about him staying with the team in 2007. Teams such as Santos Laguna of Mexico and Calcio Catania of Italy were both rumored to be interested in the player. However, Colo-Colo put those rumors to rest when they bought the rest of Suazo's ownership from his former club, Audax, on December 15, 2006, for one million US dollars. Ten percent of that fee ($100,000) went to Suazo's pocket. The move also assured his services to the club until June 2007.

In the 2006 clasura tournament final, Colo-Colo played again against Suazo's former team Audax. Colo-Colo won the first leg 3-0, with Suazo scoring his thirteenth goal of the season^[4], and the second leg 3-2, with Suazo scoring the first two goals [1].

In the 2007 Apertura tournament, Suazo finished as the leading goal scorer, also scoring in the final match against Palestino. His lone goal, coming in at the 79th minute, gave Colo-Colo their 26th tournament win, cementing his place in Colo-Colo history.

Monterrey

After months of speculation over where Suazo would end up after his contract expired in June, Suazo was finally sold for $5 million to a Mexican club, Monterrey. The fee paid by the Mexican team is one of the highest for a Chilean player coming out of Chile.

Suazo's performance during his first tournament wasn't what was expected (only three goals in twelve games) and combined with conflicts with teammates and coaches, it led to speculations that Suazo had been sold to Argentine club Independiente. However the deal fell through once the Argentine club refused to pay $8 million for the transfer. On January 4, Humberto called for a press conference, and in front of television cameras and news media, he acknowledged the fact that his performance and attitude wasn't positive during his first 6 months with the club, but that from now and on, he was determined to change things. He was going to take responsibility for his actions and committed himself to work hard to achieve better results.^{[5] [6] [7]}

On April 6 Suazo scored four goals against Veracruz, in his team's victory 7-2.^[8] This feat is the most a player from Monterrey has achieved in one game (tied with Milton Carlos).

On December 13, Suazo was a key player in the Apertura 2009 championship with Monterrey. He made a pass for his colleague, Aldo de Nigris, and then scored a goal himself. He was also a very important player in the Final's first leg. The Rayados won by a aggregate score of 6-4 against Cruz Azul, taking the championship.^[9][10]

Real Zaragoza

On 8 January 2010, he left Monterrey and signed for the Spanish club Real Zaragoza^[11] on a loan deal with an option for Zaragoza to buy Suazo for 10 million euros. He made his debut for Zaragoza in a 0-0 draw against Xerez at La Romareda stadium.

As of the 20th of May, 2010, Suazo's card still belongs to Monterrey and its worth has been raised to $25 million, provided that Real Zaragoza doesn't make valid their option to buy his card at $14 million.

Statistics

Club	Season	League		Libertadores		Sudamericana		Interliga		Total
		GP	Goals	GP	Goals	GP	Goals	GP	Goals	GP	Goals
Colo-Colo	Apertura 2006	21	19	2	3	-	-	-	-	23	22
	Clausura 2006	16	15	-	-	12	10	-	-	28	25
	Apertura 2007	17	18	7	5	-	-	-	-	24	23
Monterrey	2007–2008	31	19	-	-	-	-	2	1	33	20
	2008–2009	32	14	-	-	-	-	-	-	32	14
	2009–2010	22	11	-	-	-	-	-	-	22	11

International

Suazo has also become a fixture with his international side. In 2006 he scored 17 goals in national and international matches, surpassing Peter Crouch by one goal for the "World's Top Goal Scorer Award".^[12] His four international goals all came in friendlies. He scored goals against New Zealand and Sweden. His other two goals came in the form of penalties versus Ivory Coast and Colombia. In January 2007 he was awarded world's top goal scorer of 2006 by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics in Salzburg, Austria. He was also awarded the Silver Football as world's second first league top scorer with 34 goals, behind Klaas-Jan Huntelaar from Ajax Amsterdam with 35 goals.^[13]

Suazo played for Chile in the Copa América 2007, scoring three goals, two in his first match against Ecuador, and one in the quarter final match against Brazil. He finished as CONMEBOL's top scorer of the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification with 10 goals, one ahead Brazilian striker Luís Fabiano.

International goals

Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
24 March 2006	Estadio El Teniente, Rancagua, Chile	New Zealand	1–1	4–1	International Friendly
30 May 2006	Stade Jean-Bouloumie, Vittel, France	Côte d'Ivoire	1–1	1–1	International Friendly
2 June 2006	Rasunda Stadion, Stockholm, Sweden	Sweden	1–1	1–1	International Friendly
16 August 2006	Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile	Colombia	1–0	1–2	International Friendly
27 June 2007	Polideportivo Cachamay, Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela	Ecuador	1–1	2–3	Copa America 2007
27 June 2007	Polideportivo Cachamay, Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela	Ecuador	2–2	2–3	Copa America 2007
7 July 2007	Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos, Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela	Brazil	1–5	1–6	Copa America 2007
17 October 2007	Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile	Peru	1–0	2–0	FIFA World Cup qualifier
18 June 2008	Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos, Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela	Venezuela	1–1	2–3	FIFA World Cup qualifier
18 June 2008	Estadio Olímpico Luis Ramos, Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela	Venezuela	2–3	2–3	FIFA World Cup qualifier
10 September 2008	Estadio Nacional de Chile, Santiago, Chile	Colombia	2–0	4–0	FIFA World Cup qualifier
29 March 2009	Estadio Monumental "U", Lima, Peru	Peru	0–2	1–3	FIFA World Cup qualifier
6 June 2009	Estadio Defensores del Chaco, Asuncion, Paraguay	Paraguay	0–2	0–2	FIFA World Cup qualifier
9 September 2009	Estádio de Pituaçu, Salvador, Brasil	Brazil	2–1	4–2	FIFA World Cup qualifier
9 September 2009	Estádio de Pituaçu, Salvador, Brasil	Brazil	2–2	4–2	FIFA World Cup qualifier
10 October 2009	Estadio Atanasio Girardot, Medellin, Colombia	Colombia	1–2	2–4	FIFA World Cup qualifier
14 October 2009	Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago, Chile	Ecuador	1–0	1–0	FIFA World Cup qualifier
30 May 2010	Estadio Municipal de Concepción, Concepción, Chile	Israel	1–0	3–0	International Friendly

Titles

Club

Season	Club	Title
Apertura 2006	Colo-Colo	Primera Division Chile
Clausura 2006	Colo-Colo	Primera Division Chile
Apertura 2007	Colo-Colo	Primera Division Chile
Apertura 2009	Monterrey	Primera División de México

Individual

• Torneo Apertura (Chile) Top Scorer: 2006, 2007
• Torneo Clausura (Mexico) Top Scorer: 2008
• Copa Sudamericana: Top Scorer 2006
• 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification (CONMEBOL) : Top Goal Scorer (10 goals)
• Primera División de México Apertura 2009 Liguilla : Top Goal Scorer, Tied with teammate Aldo de Nigris (4 Goals)
• Primera División de México Apertura 2009 : Balon de Oro for Best Player of the Tournament.

References

External links

• Career details at National Football Teams
• Humberto Suazo stats at Medio Tiempo.com (Spanish)

Chile squad – 2007 Copa América 1 Bravo • 2 Ormeño • 3 Rocco • 4 Fuentes • 5 Riffo • 6 Cabión • 7 Tello • 8 Suazo • 9 Navia • 10 Valdivia • 11 González • 12 Peric • 13 Vargas • 14 Fernández • 15 Contreras • 16 Iturra • 17 Sanhueza • 18 Meléndez • 19 Jara • 20 Fierro • 21 Villanueva • 22 Lorca • 23 Hurtado • Coach: Acosta

Chile squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup 1 Bravo (c) • 2 Fuentes • 3 Ponce • 4 Isla • 5 Contreras • 6 Carmona • 7 Sánchez • 8 Vidal • 9 Suazo • 10 Valdivia • 11 González • 12 Pinto • 13 Estrada • 14 Fernández • 15 Beausejour • 16 Orellana • 17 Medel • 18 Jara • 19 Fierro • 20 Millar • 21 Tello • 22 Paredes • 23 Marín • Coach: Bielsa