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Thursday, June 24, 2010
Gonzalo Gerardo "El Pipita" Higuaín (Spanish pronunciation: [ig-wa-in']; born 10 December 1987) is a French-born Argentine footballer who currently plays as a striker for Real Madrid and the Argentine national team. He is the son of former footballer Jorge "El Pipa" Higuaín, and the younger brother of footballer Federico Higuaín.
Real Madrid signed Higuaín for €13 million, after River Plate had earlier turned down a €10 million offer for the 19-year-old striker.
Higuaín initially rejected calls from both the Argentine and French national teams,[6] specifically a friendly against Greece on 15 November 2006,[7] claiming at the time he was undecided for which country he would prefer to play.
Higuaín's international career was looking set to mirror that of David Trezeguet, whose father was Argentinian, but went on to play successfully for France. When Les Bleus called up Higuaín against Greece, they assigned him the number 26 shirt, the number originally worn by Trezeguet. However, at the beginning of 2009, Higuaín expressed his desire to play for Argentina and decided to declare his natural-born status at the nearest Argentine embassy while being abroad.[8]
In February 2008, Higuaín was called up by Argentina Olympic for a friendly match against Guatemala.[9] He scored two goals in his debut as Argentina won 5–0. And in May 2009, Higuaín played 1 minu
te against Catalonia in the other friendly match.[10] Both matches were not officially recognized by FIFA as "A" international matches, and will not count towards his caps and goals in international play.
Higuaín was finally selected for Argentina by coach Diego Maradona for the last two qualifying matches for the 2010 FIFA World Cup against Peru and Uruguay. Many in the Argentine media had criticized Maradona for not selecting Higuaín in the past. He scored his first goal on his debut, a 49th minute strike during a crucial 2–1 win over Peru.[11]
On 3 March 2010, Higuaín scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 win against Germany in Munich.[12]
2010 World Cup
Higuaín has started in both of Argentina's matches at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. On June 17, 2010, Higuaín scored three goals against South Korea in Argentina's second group match.[13] Higuaín became the third Argentinian to score a hat-trick in the World Cup finals, after Guillermo Stábile in 1930 and Gabriel Batistuta in 1994 and 1998.[14] Higuaín also became the first player to score a hat-trick in the tournament since 2002. Argentina won the match 4-1.
Higuaín is one of only three foreign-born players to have played for Argentina in a FIFA World Cup, along with Pedro Arico Suárez and Constantino Urbieta Sosa.
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