Ignacio 'Nacho' Carlos González Cavallo (born 17 December 1971) is an Argentine retired

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 le ...

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 ...

Club career

Born in

Sarandí, Buenos Aires Sarandí () is a city in the Avellaneda Partido of the urban agglomeration of Greater Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is located to the south of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. The city has an area of and a population of 60,752 inhabitants (IND ...

, González started his professional career in 1991 with Racing Club de Avellaneda, where he spent six seasons in the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

. Towards the end of his time with the club, he earned a reputation as an excellent

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

taker. In 1997, González joined Newell's Old Boys of

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

and, the following year, moved to Spain's

UD Las Palmas Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, S.A.D. is a Spanish football team based in Las Palmas, on the island of Gran Canaria in the autonomous community of Canary Islands. Founded on 22 August 1949, it plays in Segunda División, holding home games at the ...

. After being backup in his first season, spent in

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 serving a loan in

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

with C.F. Pachuca (being part of the squad that won the Invierno 1999 tournament), he became the starter, scoring four goals in the 2001–02 campaign but with the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

team being relegated from

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 ...

, with the keeper finding the net through penalties. In 2003, González returned to Argentina where he played for

Estudiantes de La Plata Club Estudiantes de La Plata ( lit. "Students from La Plata"), simply referred to as Estudiantes de La Plata , is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Plata. The club's football team currently competes in the Primera División, wh ...

and

Club Atlético Nueva Chicago Club Atlético Nueva Chicago is an Argentine sports club based in Mataderos, a neighborhood in the west side of Buenos Aires, formerly called "Nueva Chicago". The club's nickname, ''El Torito'' ("The Little Bull") is an allusion to legendary 1930s ...

also in the top flight. Two years later he was part of the Unión Española team that won the Chilean Apertura in 2005 and, the following season, played six matches with local side

Arsenal de Sarandí An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. During a 2005 match for Unión Española against Unión San Felipe, González received his second yellow card and was consequently

ejected Ejection or Eject may refer to: * Ejection (sports), the act of officially removing someone from a game * Eject (''Transformers''), a fictional character from ''The Transformers'' television series * "Eject" (song), 1993 rap rock single by Sense ...

Enrique Osses Enrique Roberto Osses Zencovic (born May 26, 1974) is a football referee from Chile for Asociación Nacional de Fútbol Profesional de Chile (ANFP) and CONMEBOL. Osses has officiated international matches which include the 2011 Copa América, Co ...

. Upset by this, he hit the

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other titl ...

in the face knocking him over, and afterwards was held in police custody for two hours; he faced a ban of up to 50 matches, which he did not serve because he left his team to play in Argentina. González returned for a third spell with Las Palmas, managing to compete a further two seasons in the second level and announcing his retirement in June 2008, at the age of 36.

International career

During a one-year span, González appeared four times 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 ...

, being picked for the final squad at the

1997 Copa América Bolivia hosted the Copa América for the second time in its 38th edition. It was held from 11 to 29 June. It was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body. There is no qualifying for the final tournament. All South American ...

.Copa América 1997
at

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

Honours

Club

;Pachuca *

Liga MX The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in a ...

: Invierno 1999 ;Unión Española * Primera División de Chile: 2005 Apertura

References

External links

Argentine League statistics
at Fútbol XXI
BDFA profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Nacho 1971 births Living people Footballers from Avellaneda Argentine men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Argentine Primera División players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Newell's Old Boys footballers Estudiantes de La Plata footballers Club Atlético Nueva Chicago footballers Arsenal de Sarandí footballers La Liga players Segunda División players UD Las Palmas players Liga MX players C.F. Pachuca players Chilean Primera División players Unión Española footballers Argentina men's international footballers 1997 Copa América players Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine football managers All Boys managers Atlético Venezuela C.F. managers