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Paulo César Wanchope Watson (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpaulo ɰanˈtʃope]) (born 31 July 1976 in Heredia), also known as "Chope" or as "La Cobra" in Central America and South America, is a Costa Rican former professional footballer. As of February 2009, Wanchope is the second most prolific goalscorer in the history of the national football team, behind Rolando Fonseca, with 45 goals in 73 international matches.

Club career

Derby County

Wanchope began his career with CS Herediano, until he went to England to play with Derby County F.C where he made his career scoring two hat-tricks on his debut along with fellow Costa Rican Mauricio Solís in 1997. Wanchope marked his debut for Derby in an impressive fashion, scoring a memorable goal against Manchester United, beating four United players before slotting past Peter Schmeichel during a 3-2 win - the goal was later voted the greatest in the club's history by the Derby fans as part of the club's 125th Anniversary Celebrations. He proved a treat for English football fans, as he showed his capabilities of being both sublime and ridiculous in equal measure. After scoring 28 goals in 83 games within 2 seasons for Derby, Wanchope was sold to West Ham United for £3.5 million.

West Ham United

He never quite settled in at West Ham, despite scoring 15 goals in 46 games, and many fans remember him more for his occasional lapses in concentration and missed chances than for his invaluable goalscoring expoloits. He was eventually sold to Manchester City at the start of the 200/01 season, following the arrivals of Davor Suker and Frederic Kanoute.

Manchester City

Wanchope earned a starting position at Man City, but was unable to help them survive immediate relegation back to the First Division in 2001. The following season was a mixed one for Wanchope. Despite missing large chunks of it through injury, he still managed 12 goals in just 15 games and often showed his best form. After City's return to the top flight he played almost no part, with injury once again keeping him on the sidelines. However, he returned to play a vital part at the end of 2003/04 and scored some vital goals to help avoid relegation, including the winning goal against Newcastle United, which effectively made City safe. He was remembered as a extravagant talent by City fans, and his celebration of a goal at Southampton, when he grabbed a TV microphone and joyfully screamed into it, just added to his character status.

Post-Premier League

At the end of the 2004 season, Wanchope was sold to Málaga CF of the Spanish La Liga for ₤500,000. He played 26 games for the club, scoring 6 goals.

In 2005, ESPN declared Wanchope's goal against Numancia the best of the entire 2004/05 Spanish First Division. In 2006, following the World Cup in Germany and short but successful stints with Al-Gharrafa in Qatar and Herediano in his native Costa Rica, he signed with Argentine club Rosario Central. ¹, scoring 5 goals in 14 games.

On 29 December 2006, J. League club FC Tokyo announced the acquisition of Wanchope on a transfer from Rosario Central. Along with local prospect Sota Hirayama, Wanchope allowed FC Tokyo to utilise a pair of large (190 cm+) strikers. He was released by FC Tokyo and subsequently signed a one year deal with MLS team Chicago Fire.²

Retirement

On Friday 16 November 2007, after a 13 year trajectory in football, Wanchope decided to put an end to his career, primarily based on how his old knee injury was affecting his performance on the field, the same injury that made him lose large parts of his career with Manchester City, making him unable to reach his best physical shape, an argument that was commonly criticized by the press during recent years in every club he played for. At his retirement press conference he manifested his interest in becoming a professional coach, looking forward to accomplish it in England.³

International career

Wanchope was hugely important to the Costa Rican national team, playing for the team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup and several Gold Cups. On 8 October 2005, Wanchope became the all-time leading goal scorer for Los Ticos when he scored the first goal in a home win over the USA in the qualifying match that sent Los Ticos to the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

On 9 June 2006, he scored twice in the opening game of the 2006 World Cup, a 4-2 loss to Germany. These two goals made Wanchope the first Costa Rican to score twice in one World Cup match, and put him alongside Rónald Gómez as the only Costa Ricans ever to score more than one World Cup goal.⁴ After the defeat to Germany, Costa Rica were defeated by both Ecuador and Poland. Thus Costa Rica finished last in their group and failed to qualify for the second round. Wanchope played his last game for his country in January 2008 when Sweden had come to visit Costa Rica. He played 25 minutes and then he was substituited.

Paulo Wanchope is now a manager in his native Costa Rica. He manages the club Club Sport Herediano.

Career statistics

References

External links

• Paulo Wanchope career stats at Soccerbase

Paulo Wanchope international tournaments v • d • e Costa Rica squad – 2001 Copa América 1 Lonnis • 2 Drummond • 3 Marín • 4  • 5 Martínez • 6 López • 7 Fonseca • 8 Solís • 9 Wanchope • 10 Centeno • 11 Gómez • 12 Arias • 14 Berry • 15 Wallace • 16 Bryce • 17 Medford • 18 Morgan • 19 Cordero • 20 Sunsing • 21 Parks • 22 Castro • 23 González • Coach: Guimarães v • d • e Costa Rica squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Lonnis • 2 Drummond • 3 Marín • 4 Wright • 5 Martínez • 6 López • 7 Fonseca • 8 Solís • 9 Wanchope • 10 Centeno • 11 Gómez • 12 Parks • 13 Vallejos • 14 Rodríguez • 15 Wallace • 16 Bryce • 17 Medford • 18 Mesén • 19 Cordero • 20 Sunsing • 21 Chinchilla • 22 Castro • 23 Morgan • Coach: Guimarães v • d • e Costa Rica squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Mesén • 2 Drummond • 3 Marín • 4 Umaña • 5 Martínez • 6 Fonseca • 7 Bolaños • 8 Solís • 9 Wanchope • 10 Centeno • 11 Gómez • 12 González • 13 Bernard • 14 Azofeifa • 15 Wallace • 16 Hernández • 17 Badilla • 18 Porras • 19 Saborío • 20 Sequeira • 21 Núñez • 22 Rodríguez • 23 Alfaro • Coach: Guimarães