Carlos Ángel Roa (born 15 August 1969) is an Argentine former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He is the current goalkeeper coach of

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

club

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

. Most of his professional career was spent with Racing Avellaneda and in Spain with

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

, winning one major trophy with the latter. Roa was first-choice for the Argentina national team at the 1998 World Cup.

Club career

Born in Santa Fe, Roa started playing professionally for

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club de Avellaneda, officially known as Racing Club or shortened to just Racing, is an Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically considered o ...

, making his Primera División debut on 6 November 1988 at the age of 19. During a summer tour of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

with the club he contracted

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

, but fully recovered. In 1994 he moved to

Club Atlético Lanús Club Atlético Lanús () is an Argentina, Argentine sports club from the Lanús district of Greater Buenos Aires. Founded in 1915, the club's main sports are association football, football and basketball. In both sports, Lanús plays in Argentin ...

, rarely missing a match with the

Buenos Aires Province Buenos Aires (), officially the Buenos Aires Province (''Provincia de Buenos Aires'' ), is the largest and most populous Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of th ...

side as they achieved three consecutive third-place league finishes (one in 1995, two in 1996), and adding the

Copa CONMEBOL The Copa CONMEBOL ( en, CONMEBOL Cup) was an annual football cup competition organized by CONMEBOL between 1992 and 1999 for South American football clubs. During its time of existence, it was a very prestigious South American club football contes ...

in 1996. Roa then signed with Spain's

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

alongside Lanús teammate Óscar Mena, playing 25

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

matches as the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

club finished fifth straight out of

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commercially known as LaLiga SmartBank for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spanish football league system. Administrated by the Lig ...

and also reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

in the 1997-98 Copa del Rey, lost against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

on a penalty shoot-out. In the 1999 summer, after helping Mallorca win the domestic Supercup and reach the

of the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

(already accompanied in the team by former Lanús teammates

Ariel Ibagaza Ariel Miguel Santiago Ibagaza (born 27 October 1976) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player. Nicknamed ''El Caño'', his usual position was attacking midfielder, and he was well known for his technique and vision. He sp ...

and

Gustavo Siviero Gustavo Lionel Siviero (born 13 September 1969) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a central defender, currently the manager of RCD Mallorca B. He made 98 La Liga appearances, mainly for Mallorca but also Albacete, and ...

), 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. Less than one year later, Roa nicknamed the '' Lechuga'' 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 to the bench by compatriot

Leo Franco Leonardo "Leo" Neoren Franco (born 20 May 1977) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and is a manager. After starting out at Independiente in 1995, he went on to spend the vast majority of his career in Sp ...

. Subsequently, Roa moved to another Spanish team, second division

Albacete Balompié Albacete Balompié is a Spanish football team based in Albacete, in the autonomous community of Castile–La Mancha. Founded on 2 August 1940, it currently plays in Segunda División, the second tier of Spanish football, holding home matches ...

, appearing in 39 league games as the Castile-La Mancha side returned to the top division after a seven-year absence. Midway through the following season, he was diagnosed with

testicular cancer Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle, or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility. Risk factors include an u ...

and was forced to stop playing; after surgery, he spent an entire year between chemotherapy and rehabilitation. After keeping his fitness with amateurs

CD Constancia The compact disc (CD) is a digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then released in Octo ...

and CD Atlético Baleares, both in the

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

area, Roa returned to professional football and his country, joining

Olimpo de Bahía Blanca Club Olimpo, usually referred to as Olimpo de Bahía Blanca, is an Argentine sports club based in the city of Bahía Blanca, Buenos Aires Province. The club was founded October 15th, 1910. Its primary activity is soccer. The club is recognized i ...

and retiring after one top division season. In 2008 he joined amateurs Club Atlético Brown as goalkeeper coach and, two years later, he was appointed assistant manager at

Club Sportivo Ben Hur Club Sportivo Ben Hur is an Argentine sports club from Rafaela, Santa Fe Province. The club was founded in 1940 and is mostly known for its basketball and football teams. Other sports practised in the club are aerobics, bowls, chess, field hock ...

; in the former capacity, he went to work under former international teammate

Matías Almeyda Matías Jesús Almeyda (; born 21 December 1973) is an Argentine professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of Greek Super League club AEK Athens. Nicknamed ''El Pelado'' ("bald one") despite his traditionally l ...

Club Atlético River Plate Club Atlético River Plate, commonly known as River Plate, is an Argentine professional sports club based in the Núñez, Buenos Aires, Núñez neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Founded in 1901, the club is named after the English name for the city ...

Club Atlético Banfield Club Atlético Banfield is an Argentine sports club based in the Banfield district of Greater Buenos Aires. It was founded on 21 January 1896, by the British–origin inhabitants of that city (mostly English, and some Scots and Irish). The club ...

and

C.D. Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divi ...

International career

In 1992, Roa appeared for

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

at the 1992 CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament in

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

, which saw the country fail to qualify for the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. He was selected by the full side for the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

in France: after not conceding any goals during the group stage, he saved the decisive penalty in the shootout against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in the round-of-16, denying

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

David Batty David Batty (born 2 December 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Batty played for Leeds United, Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United. Whilst with Leeds he was part of the team that won the ...

. The national team was eventually defeated in the following match by the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

(1–2).

Honours

Player

Racing * Supercopa Sudamericana:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Lanús *

: 1996 Mallorca *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

: 1998 *

: Runner-up 1998–99 *

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

: Runner-up 1997–98

Individual

Awards *

Ricardo Zamora Trophy The Zamora Trophy ( es, Trofeo Ricardo Zamora, link=no) is a football award, established by Spanish newspaper '' MARCA'' in 1958. The award goes to the goalkeeper who has the lowest "goals-to-games" ratio.Similar to goals against average in ic ...

: 1997–98 *

ESM Team of the Year The European Sports Media (ESM), formerly European Sports Magazines, is an association of football-related publications in Europe. Members European Sports Media was established in 1989 as an international body for football journalism. Its nine fo ...

: 1998–99

Personal life

Roa who is a member of the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

and a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

is married and has two daughters.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roa, Carlos 1969 births Living people Footballers from Santa Fe, Argentina Argentine footballers Association football goalkeepers Argentine Primera División players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Club Atlético Lanús footballers Olimpo footballers La Liga players Segunda División players RCD Mallorca players Albacete Balompié players Argentina international footballers 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1997 Copa América players Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine Seventh-day Adventists Christian vegetarianism San Jose Earthquakes non-playing staff