Sergio Goycochea

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox football biography Sergio Javier Goycochea (; born 17 October 1963) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is best known for helping his country reach the 1990 FIFA World Cup Final with his penalty kick saves.

Club career

Goycochea played a few months in the French second division in 1991 for Stade Brestois 29, then named Brest Armorique, a team which included players such as David Ginola, Corentin Martins and Stéphane Guivarc'h. Nonetheless, the team went bankrupt in November of that year, and was moved to the third division and lost its professional-team status.

International career

Goycochea was the substitute for Nery Pumpido both in River Plate and in the Argentina national team, and got his big break at the 1990 FIFA World Cup. When Pumpido broke his leg in Argentina's second group game against the Soviet Union, Goycochea stepped in and remained the team's starting goalkeeper for the remainder of the tournament.

In the knockout stage, Goycochea effectively played a huge part in keeping Argentina in the tournament; he kept a clean sheet in the 1–0 Second Round victory over Brazil and saved penalties in the quarter-final and semi-final penalty shootout victories against Yugoslavia and Italy. He was also close to saving the game-winning penalty kick from Andreas Brehme in the final against Germany, which Argentina lost 1–0. He was chosen as the goalkeeper of the Cup's All-Star Team. Reflecting on the 1990 tournament, Goycochea told FIFA: "To my mind, it was as if we were world champions again anyway".

With the national team, Goycochea went on to won the 1991 Copa América, 1992 FIFA Confederations Cup, 1993 Artemio Franchi Cup, and 1993 Copa América. At the latter tournament, he appeared on TV commercials for a Pepsi promotion by PepsiCo's division in Guayaquil. Goycochea also was on TV commercials for Adidas years later.

His last name, Goycochea, spelled without e, but which other people of the same genealogy spell as Goycoechea, is derived from the Basque surname Goikoetxea meaning topmost house (from goiko "of the top" and etxe "house"). Sergio is frequently nicknamed thus El Vasco, but also El Goyco.

Goycochea is a football journalist hosting Elegante Sport (Argentina's Canal 7) and has partnered with Diego Maradona at La Noche del 10.

Career statistics

International

Source:

Argentina national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1987	1	0
1988	0	0
1989	0	0
1990	7	0
1991	13	0
1992	4	0
1993	16	0
1994	3	0
Total	44	0

Honours

Club

River Plate

• Argentine Primera División: 1985–86, 1993 Apertura
• Copa Libertadores: 1986
• Copa Interamericana: 1986
• Intercontinental Cup: 1986
• Copa Centenario de la AFA runner-up: 1993

Millonarios

• Campeonato Colombiano: 1988

Olimpia

• Copa CONMEBOL runner-up: 1992

Vélez Sarsfield

• Recopa Sudamericana: 1997

International

Argentina

• Copa América: 1991, 1993
• FIFA Confederations Cup: 1992
• CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions: 1993
• FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1990

Individual

• FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1990
• Footballer of the Year of Argentina: 1990
• FIFA XI: 1991
• IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper (2): Silver ball 1991, 1993
• South American Team of the Year (2): 1992, 1993
• Copa América player of the tournament: 1993

See also

• List of expatriate footballers in Paraguay
• Players and Records in Paraguayan Football

External links

• Futbol Factory profile (Archived) Template:In lang
• Template:Usurped Template:In lang
• Interview to Sergio Goycochea – Diagonal Template:In lang
• Globo Esporte's Futpédia entry Template:In lang