| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Carlos Ángel Roa | ||
| Date of birth | (1969-08-15)15 August 1969 (age 56) | ||
| Place of birth | Santa Fe, Argentina | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | AEK Athens (goalkeeper coach) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1993 | Racing Club | 104 | (0) |
| 1994–1997 | Lanús | 107 | (1) |
| 1997–2002 | Mallorca | 75 | (0) |
| 2002–2004 | Albacete | 53 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | Olimpo | 27 | (0) |
| Total | 366 | (1) | |
| International career | |||
| 1992 | Argentina U23 | ||
| 1997–1999 | Argentina | 16 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Carlos Ángel Roa (born 15 August 1969) is an Argentine former professionalfootballer who played as agoalkeeper. He is currently the goalkeeper coach ofGreek Super League clubAEK Athens.
Most of his professional career was spent withRacing Club and in Spain withMallorca, winning one major trophy with the latter. Roa was first-choice for theArgentina national team at the1998 World Cup.
Born inSanta Fe, Roa started playing professionally forRacing Club, making hisPrimera División debut on 6 November 1988 at the age of 19. During a summer tour ofAfrica with the club, he contractedmalaria, but fully recovered. In 1994, he moved toLanús, rarely missing a match with theBuenos Aires Province side as they achieved three consecutive third-place league finishes (one in 1995, two in 1996),[1] and adding theCopa CONMEBOL in 1996.[2]
Roa then signed with Spanish clubMallorca alongside Lanús teammateÓscar Mena, playing 25La Liga matches as theBalearic Islands club finished fifth straight out ofSegunda División and also reached thefinal in the1997-98 Copa del Rey, they lost againstBarcelona on a penalty shoot-out.[3]
In the summer of 1999, after helping Mallorcawin thedomestic Supercup andreach thefinal of theUEFA Cup Winners' Cup (already accompanied in the team by former Lanús teammatesAriel Ibagaza andGustavo Siviero),[4] 30-year-old Roa retired from football in order to take a religious retreat. After a year of charitable and religious work spent as a member of his church, his convictions led to his refusal to discuss a new contract with his team because he believed the world was going to end in the near future.[5][6]
Less than one year later, Roa returned to Mallorca, forced to play out the remaining two years of his contract. Never being able to reproduce his previous form, he was relegated tothe bench by compatriotLeo Franco.
Subsequently, Roa moved toAlbacete, appearing in 39 league games as theCastile-La Mancha sidereturned to the top division after a seven-year absence. Midway throughthe following season, he was diagnosed withtesticular cancer and was forced to stop playing; after surgery, he spent an entire year between chemotherapy and rehabilitation.[7]
After keeping his fitness with amateursConstancia andAtlético Baleares, both in theMajorca area, Roa returned to professional football and his country, joiningOlimpo and retiring after one top division season. In 2008, he joined amateurs Atlético Brown as a goalkeeper coach. He was appointed assistant manager two years later atBen Hur; in the former capacity, he went to work under former international teammateMatías Almeyda atRiver Plate,Banfield andGuadalajara.[8]
In 1992, Roa appeared forArgentina at the1992 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament inParaguay, which saw the country fail to qualify for the1992 Summer Olympics.[9] He was selected bythe full side for the1998 FIFA World Cup in France: after not conceding any goals during the group stage, he saved the decisive penalty in the shootout againstEngland in theround-of-16, denyingNewcastle United'sDavid Batty.[10] The national team was eventually defeated in the following match by theNetherlands (1–2).
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Racing Club | 1988–89 | Argentine Primera División | 1 | 0 | — | 1[a] | 0 | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| 1989–90 | Argentine Primera División | 22 | 0 | — | — | — | 22 | 0 | ||||
| 1990–91 | Argentine Primera División | 3 | 0 | — | — | — | 3 | 0 | ||||
| 1991–92 | Argentine Primera División | 31 | 0 | — | 6[b] | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 38 | 0 | ||
| 1992–93 | Argentine Primera División | 31 | 0 | — | — | — | 31 | 0 | ||||
| 1993–94 | Argentine Primera División | 16 | 0 | — | — | — | 16 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 104 | 0 | — | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 112 | 0 | |||
| Lanús | 1994–95 | Argentine Primera División | 36 | 0 | — | — | — | 36 | 0 | |||
| 1995–96 | Argentine Primera División | 36 | 0 | — | — | — | 36 | 0 | ||||
| 1996–97 | Argentine Primera División | 35 | 1 | — | 2[d] | 0 | — | 37 | 1 | |||
| Total | 107 | 1 | — | 2 | 0 | — | 109 | 1 | ||||
| Mallorca | 1997–98 | La Liga | 25 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | — | 31 | 0 | ||
| 1998–99 | La Liga | 35 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8[e] | 0 | 2[f] | 0 | 49 | 0 | |
| 2000–01 | La Liga | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 4 | 0 | |||
| 2001–02 | La Liga | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[g] | 0 | — | 13 | 0 | ||
| Total | 75 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 97 | 0 | ||
| Albacete | 2002–03 | Segunda División | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 39 | 0 | ||
| 2003–04 | La Liga | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 14 | 0 | |||
| Total | 53 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 53 | 0 | ||||
| Olimpo | 2005–06 | Argentine Primera División | 27 | 0 | — | — | — | 27 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 366 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 398 | 1 | ||
Appearances by national team and year[12]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Argentina | 1997 | 9 | 0 |
| 1998 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1999 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 16 | 0 | |
Racing
Lanús
Mallorca
Individual
Roa is aSeventh-day Adventist, teetotaller andvegetarian.[2][14] He is married and has two daughters.[15][16]
Argentina squads | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
