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Roberto Abbondanzieri, 33 years old, succeeded Pablo Cavallero as Argentina's number one after being given a chance by coach Jose Pekerman and has thrived in the spotlight since. Popularly known as El Pato or "The Duck", Abbondanzieri's professional debut took off in 1994 with Rosario Central, with whom he played until 1997. He then moved to Boca Juniors as their reserve goalkeeper. He trained in the shadow of Oscar Cordoba until February 2002 when Cordoba moved to Italian Perugia.
Abbondanzieri won the World Club Cup with Boca Juniors in 2000 and 2003. Since then, Abbondanzieri has become a permanent feature in Boca's goal and in June 2004, he became the goalkeeper for the Argentine team at the age of 31, which is quite unusual. As they say, it is better late than never.
On May 6, 2006, he was named as a definite squad member for the 2006 World Cup by Pekerman. Having represented the country on 19 occasions, Abbondanzieri has been a regular for Argentina over two years and was named the South American Goalkeeper of the Year in 2003.
Abbondanzieri has however, been hit earlier this year with a poor run and is hoping to put it behind him when he lines up for Argentina in the World Cup finals. At one point, the goalkeeping position of the Argentina squad had come to be viewed as the weak link in a side brimming with talented outfield players. Abbondanzieri said he has been in the national team for more than two years and never understood why the fans always went for the goalkeeper when there were other players and areas to analyze. This was made worse by the fact that he let in 6 goals in 2 warm-up matches against England and Croatia.
With such a negative perception, the pressure on Abbondanzieri must have been great. In such a situation, mental training is a must. For without such training, the confidence of anyone under such stress would surely be affected.
However, coach Pekerman has been reported saying that this was no longer the case and that Argentina would be going into the World Cup with a well-rounded team, capable of rising to the occasion. Abbondanzieri helped Boca Juniors win the Argentine Championship for the second year running in May this year.
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