Rubén Andrés Cano Martínez (born 5 February 1951) is a Spanish 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 striker. He appeared in 228

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 over eight seasons (93 goals) with two teams, mainly

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

. Cano represented

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at the

1978 World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

Club career

Born in

San Rafael, Mendoza San Rafael is a city in the southern region of the Mendoza Province, Argentina. With more than 118,000 inhabitants (), it is the largest city in and the seat of San Rafael Department. The city is located 240 km from the provincial capital ...

, Argentina to

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

parents, Cano started his professional career with

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

based

Club Atlético Atlanta Club Atlético Atlanta is an Argentine sports club from the Villa Crespo district of Buenos Aires. Nicknamed ''Los Bohemios'' ("The Bohemians"), Atlanta is mostly known for its football team, although the institution also hosts the practise of ba ...

, remaining four years with the team. In 1974, he returned to the land of his ancestors and joined

Elche CF Elche Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Elx Club de Futbol, S.A.D.) is a professional football based in Elche, Province of Alicante, in the Valencian Community. Founded in 1923, the club competes in La Liga, holding home matches at ''Estadi ...

, making his

debut on 14 September 1974 in a 1–0 home win against

and ending his first season with six goals in 32 games as the

Valencians Valencians ( va, valencians) are the native people of the Valencian Community, in eastern Spain. Legally, Valencians are the inhabitants of the community. Since 2006, the Valencian people are officially recognised in the Valencian Statute of Aut ...

finished in eighth position. In the 1976 off-season, Cano signed for precisely Atlético Madrid, scoring 19 times in his first year – fifth-best in the competition – as the ''Colchoneros'' won the national championship, one point ahead of

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 ...

. He added a combined 40 in the following two seasons, and formed an efficient forward partnership during his spell with another Argentine-born player,

Rubén Ayala Rubén Hugo Ayala Sanabria (born 8 January 1950 in Santa Fe, Argentina) is a former Argentine football player and manager, who played as a forward. Playing career Born in Humboldt, Las Colonias Department, Santa Fe Province, Ayala played clu ...

. After only 12 matches (one goal) in 1981–82, the 32-year-old Cano left Atlético and joined

CD Tenerife Club Deportivo Tenerife, S.A.D. is a Spanish football club based in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Tenerife, in the Canary Islands. Founded in 1912, the club plays in the Segunda División, holding home matches at the Estadio Heliodoro Rodríguez Lóp ...

in the third division, helping 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 ...

side promote in his debut season and remaining with them for a further two second level campaigns; he closed out his career at the age of 36 after a couple of years with another club in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, second-tier

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

International career

Cano chose to represent

internationally, going on to win 12

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

in two years. His debut occurred on 16 April 1977 in a

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

(0–1 loss in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

); also in that competition, he scored the game's only goal in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

on 30 November to help his adopted nation defeat

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and top its group. Picked for the finals in Argentina, Cano appeared in the 1–2 defeat to

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, in an eventual group stage exit.

Honours

Atlético Madrid *

: 1976–77

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cano, Ruben 1951 births Living people Argentine people of Spanish descent Argentine emigrants to Spain Spanish men's footballers Argentine men's footballers Men's association football forwards Argentine Primera División players Club Atlético Atlanta footballers La Liga players Segunda División players Segunda División B players Elche CF players Atlético Madrid footballers CD Tenerife players Rayo Vallecano players Spain men's international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players Footballers from Mendoza Province

Club career

International career

Honours

See also

References

External links