Richard Garcia

Richard Garcia

Garcia with Australia
Personal information
Full name	Richard Garcia[1]
Date of birth	(1981-09-04) 4 September 1981 (age 30)[1]
Place of birth	Perth, Australia
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[2]
Playing position	Winger / striker
Club information
Current club	Hull City
Number	29
Youth career
	Kingsway Olympic
000?–1999	West Ham United
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1999–2004	West Ham United	16	(0)
2000	→ Leyton Orient (loan)	18	(4)
2004–2007	Colchester United	82	(16)
2007–	Hull City	114	(8)
National team‡
2003	Australia U23	2	(0)
2008–	Australia	14	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:25, 28 April 2012 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 4 February 2012

Richard Garcia (born 4 September 1981) is an-Australian association football player who plays for Hull City and internationally for Australia as a winger. He has previously played for West Ham United, Leyton Orient and Colchester United. During his time in Perth he played for Balcatta FC, a local league club in Perth.

Club career

West Ham United

Born in Perth, Garcia was a product of the West Ham United youth academy, moving from Australia to England to join the Hammers at the age of 15 after being spotted by a scout who had initially gone to watch his brother.^[3] He signed a professional contract with West Ham in September 1998.^[4] He was a key member of the team that won the FA Youth Cup and FA Premier Youth League double in 1998–99, scoring in every round of West Ham's run to the Youth Cup Final, eight in total.^[5] He went out on loan to local side Leyton Orient in August 2000, making 21 appearances in League and Cup competitions and scoring four goals.^[6] Injury to his knee ligaments ended his season and he returned to West Ham in November 2000.^[7] He made his first team debut for West Ham in a League Cup match away at Reading in September 2001, but failed to gain a regular place in the team. After West Ham were relegated to the First Division in 2003, Garcia featured a few more times for the first-team, but made only 16 league appearances for the club before moving on to Colchester United in 2004.^[6]

Colchester United

Garcia signed for Colchester United in September 2004 for an undisclosed fee, and made his debut in the same month against Swindon Town. He went on to make 30 appearances in the 2004–05 season, scoring six goals.^[6] The following season Garcia played an important part in helping the club to second place in League One and promotion to the Championship,^[2] and to the fifth-round of the FA Cup where they were beaten by English champions Chelsea, although Colchester were at one point winning the match after Garcia's cross was put into his own net by Ricardo Carvalho.^[8] Garcia's season was cut short by a knee injury in March 2006, which later required surgery.^[9] Following the end of the season, Garcia signed a new contract with the club.^[10] In August 2006, he scored Colchester's first goal of the 2006–07 season in the Championship on the opening game against Birmingham City,^[11] going on to make 36 league appearances, scoring seven goals,^[6] as Colchester pushed for a place in the end of season promotion playoff positions.^[12] At the end of the season, Garcia had made a total of 96 appearances in all competitions for Colchester United, scoring 21 goals.^[6]

Hull City

Despite the offer of a new deal at Colchester, Garcia signed a three-year contract with Hull City on 2 July 2007, on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling.^[13] He made his league debut for Hull against Plymouth Argyle in August 2007 and scored his first goal in the next game in the 3–0 win over Crewe Alexandra.^[14] He played a leading role in the club's push for promotion in the 2007–08 season, despite a shoulder injury suffered in April 2008.^[15] A notable highlight was a 35-yard screamer against Burnley in March, voted Hull's goal of the season for 2007–08^[16] Garcia returned to the Premiership after Hull City's promotion play-off victory over Bristol City in May 2008. Garcia started Hull's first top flight game against Fulham on 16 August 2008, and performed well in his favoured right wing position. The following weekend at Ewood Park in a 1–1 draw against Blackburn Rovers, he scored Hull's equaliser with a header in the 39th minute, two minutes after Jason Roberts had given Blackburn the lead.

On 31 July 2009, it was revealed that Garcia had ruptured knee ligaments and would be out for at least three months.^[17] On 12 November 2010, he scored his first goal in two seasons, in a 2–0 win against Preston at Deepdale.^[18]

On 13 May 2011, Garcia had his one-year contract extension offer withdrawn because he was told he would be out for up to nine months with an injured cruciate ligament.

He made his return from injury in a 1-0 win over Coventry City on 10 December 2011

International career

Garcia warming up for Australia

In an interview with Australia's Sun-Herald newspaper in April 2008, Garcia said he had ambitions to play for the Socceroos, Australia's national team, and hoped that his good form for Hull in their push for promotion to the Premier League would help him to achieve this.^[19] On 19 August 2008 he received his first senior international cap when he came on as a second half substitute in the friendly against South Africa at Loftus Road in London. That match ended in a 2–2 draw. His second cap came in a friendly match against Holland, again as a substitute, where the match was won by the Socceroos 2–1. On 13 June 2010, Garcia became the first Hull City player ever to play in the World Cup.^[20]

Personal life

Garcia speaks fluent Spanish since his father and mother are Spanish-speakers, and he supports Real Madrid.^[3] He became close friends with Michael Carrick during their time at West Ham, and they were ushers at each other's weddings.^[21] His brother Michael Garcia was also a professional footballer.

Career statistics

As of 28 April 2012.

Cup includes domestic cups and promotion/relegation playoffs

Honours

Club

Colchester United

• Football League One Runner-up (1): 2005–06^[22]

Hull City

• Football League Championship Playoff Winner (1): 2007–08^[23]

References

External links

• Richard Garcia profile at the Hull City website
• Oz Football profile
• FFA profile
• Richard Garcia career stats at Soccerbase
• Richard Garcia at National-Football-Teams.com

v t e Australia squad – 2010 FIFA World Cup 1 Schwarzer 2 Neill (c) 3 Moore 4 Cahill 5 Čulina 6 Beauchamp 7 Emerton 8 Wilkshire 9 Kennedy 10 Kewell 11 Chipperfield 12 Federici 13 Grella 14 Holman 15 Jedinak 16 Valeri 17 Rukavytsya 18 Galeković 19 García 20 Milligan 21 Carney 22 Vidošić 23 Bresciano Coach: Verbeek