Juan Pablo Sorín

Juan Pablo Sorín

Personal information
Full name	Juan Pablo Sorín
Date of birth	(1976-05-05) 5 May 1976
Place of birth	Buenos Aires, Argentina
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position	Left back Left midfielder
Youth career
1992–1994	Argentinos Juniors
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–1995	Argentinos Juniors	20	(1)
1995–1996	Juventus	2	(0)
1996–1999	River Plate	78	(11)
2000–2004	Cruzeiro	41	(6)
2002	→ Lazio (loan)	6	(0)
2003	→ Barcelona (loan)	15	(1)
2003–2004	→ Paris Saint-Germain (loan)	21	(1)
2004–2006	Villarreal	41	(7)
2006–2008	Hamburger SV	24	(4)
2008–2009	Cruzeiro	1	(0)
Total		249	(31)
National team
1995	Argentina U20	6	(0)
1995–2006	Argentina	76	(12)
Honours Representing  Argentina Men's Football Pan American Games 1995 Mar del Plata Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Juan Pablo Sorín (born 5 May 1976) is an Argentine former footballer and current sports broadcaster, who played as a left back or left midfielder. He had a successful club career in his native Argentina with River Plate, in Brazil with Cruzeiro, and with various teams in Europe, including Barcelona, Lazio, Paris Saint-Germain and Villarreal. He was the captain of Argentina national team at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He currently works as an analyst for ESPN Brasil.

Career

Juampi, as he is known in Argentina, began his career playing in the lower-reaches of the Argentine league for Argentinos Juniors, a Buenos Aires football club. He broke into the first team in 1994 and in 1995–96 after he captained the Argentina Under-20 Side who won the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship played in Qatar his contract was bought by Juventus of Italy but he did not fit in an already established first team so soon returned to Argentina.

Sorín played for River Plate in the second half of 1996, and revived his career, winning three Apertura championships (1996, 1997 and 1999), one Clausura championship (1997), one Copa Libertadores de América in 1996 and a Supercopa Sudamericana in 1997.

Cruzeiro and Europe

He was transferred to Cruzeiro of Brazil in 2000. He played for two and a half seasons, winning the 2000 Copa do Brasil and becoming one of the most cherished players by the fans up to this day.

After the 2002 Copa do Brasil, in July 2002 he signed for S.S. Lazio.

After an injury filled a half season at Lazio in Italy, Sorin was acquired by FC Barcelona, occupied the non-EU quota along with Juan Román Riquelme and Roberto Bonano. He made his Spanish League debut on 9 February 2003. The match was between Barcelona and Athletic de Bilbao and ended 2–2.

After a successful half a season he left the Nou Camp in the summer of 2003 and moved to France to play for Paris Saint-Germain, where he won the Coupe de France.

Sorín returned to Cruzeiro in 2004, played at 2004 Campeonato Brasileiro Série A.

Villarreal

In November 2004, Sorin transferred to Villarreal of Spain on free transfer.^[1] Sorín enjoyed a good deal of success with Villarreal, helping them reach the semi-finals of the Champions League where they were beaten by Arsenal of England.

Hamburg

Sorín was reportedly the subject of interest from English Premiership sides Portsmouth, Bolton Wanderers and Newcastle United during the summer of 2006, but ended up signing for Hamburger SV.^[2] After two years with the German club and only 24 appearances because of injury, Sorín left when his contract expired on 15 July 2008.^[3]

Return to Cruzeiro

Sorín returned again to Cruzeiro on 29 August 2008. He signed a contract until the end of season, with the option to renew for two more years.^[4]

After another injury-riddled year with Cruzeiro, he announced his retirement on 28 July 2009.^[5]

He played his only match at national league since his return on 14 June 2009.

International career

Sorín was part of the Argentine squad in the 2002 FIFA World Cup in Korea/Japan. The team played three matches against Nigeria, England and Sweden. However the team failed badly, failing to reach the second round of the tournament.

The Argentine squad was then rebuilt by José Pekerman and Sorín was made captain of his country for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. Sorín played an important role in the World Cup for Argentina as an effective attacking full back. Argentina qualified for the second round after taking care of Côte d'Ivoire (2–1) and crushing Serbia & Montenegro 6–0. After defeating Mexico in extra time, Argentina went on to the quarter-finals where they lost to hosts Germany on a penalty-shoot out.

Style of play

Sorín was a strong, versatile, and hardworking left back, who could also play as a centre-back, or anywhere on the left wing, due to his passing and crossing ability. He had an eccentric style of play, and despite being played predominantly in defensive roles, he often made attacking runs into more offensive positions, where he used his technical and aggressive heading skill to great effect.^[6][7]

Personal life

Sorín has written a book called Grandes Chicos ("Big Kids" or "Big Little People") to raise funds for the building of a school and a children's hospital in Argentina.^[8] He is of Jewish ethnicity.^[9] He currently lives in Belo Horizonte, Brazil and works as a pundit for ESPN Brasil.

Career statistics

Club

^[10]

International

Honours

Club

River Plate

• Argentine Primera División: 1996 Apertura, 1996 Clausura, 1997 Apertura, 1999 Apertura
• Copa Libertadores: 1996
• Supercopa Libertadores: 1997

Cruzeiro

• Copa do Brasil: 2000
• Copa Sul-Minas: 2001, 2002
• Campeonato Mineiro: 2009

Paris Saint-Germain

• Coupe de France: 2003–04

International

Argentina

• FIFA U-20 World Cup: 1995
• Pan American Games: 1995

Individual

• South American Team of the Year: 1996, 2000, 2001^[11]

See also

• List of select Jewish football (association; soccer) players

References

External links

• Juan Pablo Sorín profile at Fussballdaten
• Lega Serie A Profile (Italian)

Argentina squads
Argentina football squad – 1995 Pan American Games – Gold medal  Arruabarrena  Ayala  Barros Schelotto  Bassedas  Bossio  Cagna  Crespo  Gallardo  Husaín  Jiménez  Lavallén  Monserrat  Ortega  Paz  Rambert  Rotchen  Sorín  Zanetti Coach: Passarella Argentina squad – 1999 Copa América 1 Burgos 2 Ayala 3 Sorín 4 Ibarra 5 Simeone (c) 6 Samuel 7 Barros Schelotto 8 Zanetti 9 Palermo 10 Ortega 11 López 12 Bizzarri 13 Vivas 14 Pochettino 15 Berizzo 16 Guglielminpietro 17 Husaín 18 Cagna 19 Calderón 20 Aimar 21 González 22 Riquelme Coach: Bielsa Argentina squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Burgos 2 Ayala 3 Sorín 4 Pochettino 5 Almeyda 6 Samuel 7 C. López 8 Zanetti 9 Batistuta 10 Ortega 11 Verón (c) 12 Cavallero 13 Placente 14 Simeone 15 Husaín 16 Aimar 17 G. López 18 K. González 19 Crespo 20 Gallardo 21 Caniggia 22 Chamot 23 Bonano Coach: Bielsa Argentina squad – 2004 Copa América Runners-up 1 Abbondanzieri 2 Ayala (c) 3 Sorín 4 Quiroga 5 Mascherano 6 Heinze 7 Saviola 8 Zanetti 9 Figueroa 10 D'Alessandro 11 Tevez 12 Cavallero 13 Placente 14 Rodriguez 15 Fernández 16 L. González 17 M. González 18 K. González 19 Delgado 20 Medina 21 Rosales 22 Coloccini Coach: Bielsa Argentina squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup Runners-up 1 Franco 2 Samuel 3 Sorín (c) 4 Zanetti 5 Cambiasso 6 Heinze 7 Tevez 8 Riquelme 9 Saviola 10 Aimar 11 Delgado 12 Lux 13 G. Rodríguez 14 Milito 15 Placente 16 Coloccini 17 Bernardi 18 Santana 19 M. Rodríguez 20 Demichelis 21 Figueroa 22 Galletti 23 Caballero Coach: Pékerman Argentina squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Abbondanzieri 2 Ayala 3 Sorín (c) 4 Coloccini 5 Cambiasso 6 Heinze 7 Saviola 8 Mascherano 9 Crespo 10 Riquelme 11 Tevez 12 Franco 13 Scaloni 14 Palacio 15 Milito 16 Aimar 17 Cufré 18 Rodríguez 19 Messi 20 Cruz 21 Burdisso 22 González 23 Ustari Coach: Pékerman