Mark Schwarzer

Mark Schwarzer (born October 6, 1972 in Sydney) is an Australian football (soccer) player. Schwarzer is an Australian international goalkeeper, who plays for English Premiership football team Middlesbrough.

Family Life

Schwarzer is of Austrian descent, his parents Hans-Joachim and Doris having emigrated to Australia in the 1960s. He speaks English, Spanish and German. Mark and his wife Paloma have two children; a son, Julian, and a daughter, Amaya.

Club career

After spells at Dynamo Dresden, FC Kaiserslautern and Bradford City, Schwarzer joined Middlesbrough in April 1997. He is considered a large contributor to the recent success of Middlesbrough and an important part of the team.

Schwarzer made his debut for Middlesbrough against Stockport County in the League Cup semi-finals. He played in the final against Leicester City, a 1-1 draw, but injury kept him out of the replay, which Middlesbrough lost. However, he was part of the side who beat Bolton Wanderers to win the 2004 League Cup final, producing a superb display having recovered after his mistake in letting in a soft shot.

Perhaps his most important save for Boro came in the last match of the 2004-05 season against Manchester City, saving a Robbie Fowler penalty in stoppage time to preserve a 1-1 draw. The draw was sufficient to put Boro in seventh in the final league table and ensure qualification for the UEFA Cup. Had Fowler converted the penalty, Man City would have qualified for the UEFA Cup at Boro's expense. The save made him a local hero for Middlesbrough: as local radio commentator Alastair Brownlee excitedly declared, "Get in, Get in you big Aussie! The greatest Australian hero since Ned Kelly!". Mark Schwarzer was granted a transfer request by Middlesbrough late in 2005 and sought to join a new club, but he withdrew his request on January 20 2006, and rejoined the team. However, a fractured cheekbone sustained against West Ham looked like it had ruled Schwarzer out for the rest of the season, but he returned for the UEFA Cup final against Sevilla, albeit playing with a protective mask.
When he played in Middlesbrough's 1–0 victory over Portsmouth on 29 December 2007 he became the Premier League's longest-serving foreigner at one club beating Dennis Bergkamp's record of 315 games.^[1]

International career

He made his international debut against Canada in Edmonton in a 1994 World Cup qualifier. He came on as a subsititute for Milan Blagojevic after first-choice Robert Zabica was sent off 17 minutes into the match.^[2] In the return leg in Sydney, he covered himself in glory when he saved two penalties to send Australia to the final phase of qualifying against Argentina. Schwarzer did not play in these matches, and Australia were defeated 2-1 on aggregate.

He was instrumental in Australia's qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, in the play-off against Uruguay. After Uruguay won the first leg 1-0 in Montevideo, Australia won 1-0 in Sydney. In the penalty shootout, Schwarzer saved two penalties to see Australia victorious 4-2.

At the World Cup Finals he played the first two games in Australia's group matches, conceding a controversial goal against Japan and two goals against Brazil. In the third match he was replaced by Zeljko Kalac, but after Kalac's disappointing performance he was reinstated for the Round of 16 match against Italy.

Even though he guessed the direction of the penalty kick, he was unable to save the penalty in the 2nd round of the World Cup against Italy, which was scored by Francesco Totti in injury time and sent Australia out of the World Cup.

After the World Cup in 2006, he has personally vowed to return for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. As of September 2006, Schwarzer has been capped 40 times for Australia. He played in all of Australia's matches in the AFC Cup although he performed admirably against Oman in the 1-1 draw he made an error which led to a goal in the 3-1 loss to Iraq and could not match Japanese goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi during the penalty shootout which saw the Socceroos crash out of the competition.

Honours

• 2003-04: Carling Cup

• UEFA Cup: Runner-up 2006

Trivia

• Mark Schwarzer has worn the same pair of shinpads since he started his career at the age of 19 with Marconi Stallions.^[3]
  • Schwarzer claims that the penalty-shootout loss in the Asian Cup quarter-finals was the first penalty-shootout in his career that he had ever lost.^[4]

    References

    1. ^ Mark Schwarzer nabs Premier League record. Herald Sun (1 January 2008). Retrieved on 2008-04-01.
    2. ^ Australia vs. Canada Match Report. www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved on 2007-02-26.
    3. ^ IQ Ask's Mark (Superstitions). www.iqsport.com.au/. Retrieved on 2007-07-05.
    4. ^ "Schwarzer on wrong foot for first time", July 25, 2007 Retrieved on July 25, 2007

    
    

    External links

    • Mark Schwarzer career stats at Soccerbase
    • Yahoo World Cup Profile
    • Migration Heritage Centre feature on Schwarzer family

    v • d • e Australia squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
    1 Schwarzer • 2 Neill • 3 Moore • 4 Cahill • 5 Culina • 6 Popovic • 7 Emerton • 8 Skoko • 9 Viduka • 10 Kewell • 11 Lazaridis • 12 Covic • 13 Grella • 14 Chipperfield • 15 Aloisi • 16 Beauchamp • 17 Thompson • 18 Kalac • 19 Kennedy • 20 Wilkshire • 21 Sterjovski • 22 Milligan • 23 Bresciano • Coach: Hiddink

    v • d • e Middlesbrough F.C. – current squad
    1 Schwarzer • 2 Young • 3 Arca • 4 O'Neil • 6 Pogatetz • 7 Boateng • 9 Mido • 10 Rochemback • 11 Aliadière • 12 Afonso Alves • 14 Huth • 15 Shawky • 17 Tuncay • 18 Lee • 19 Downing • 21 Turnbull • 22 Jones • 26 Bates • 27 Cattermole • 28 Johnson • 29 McMahon • 31 Wheater • 32 Steele • 33 Taylor • 35 Owens • 38 Hines • 40 Grounds • Manager: Southgate

    ar:مارك شوارزر

    de:Mark Schwarzer fr:Mark Schwarzer id:Mark Schwarzer it:Mark Schwarzer hu:Mark Schwarzer nl:Mark Schwarzer ja:マーク・シュワルツァー no:Mark Schwarzer pl:Mark Schwarzer pt:Mark Schwarzer ru:Шварцер, Марк fi:Mark Schwarzer sv:Mark Schwarzer