Juan Arango

Juan Fernando Arango Sáenz (Maracay, May 16, 1980) is a Venezuelan former soccer player, who played as a winger and midfielder. He is the father of fellow soccer player Juan Arango Jr.

He is considered the best and greatest exponent of Venezuelan football abroad since 2000 and one of the best free kick takers of his time.

He was an absolute international with the Venezuelan National Team, with which he debuted on January 27, 1999 under the guidance of technical director José Omar Pastoriza against the Danish League XI team in an unofficial friendly held in the city of Maracaibo. His official debut was against Colombia in a friendly match played on March 15, 1999 in the city of Caracas. He has played 127 games and scored 22 goals. He participated in the Copa América in 1999, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2011 and 2015, and the World Cup qualifiers in Korea-Japan 2002, Germany 2006, South Africa 2010 and Brazil 2014. In January 2016 his arrival at the local Tournament was made official at the age of 19 after his last appearance, being hired by Zulia FC.

Biography

He was born in Maracay, Venezuela on May 16, 1980, he is the eldest of three brothers: Jonathan, who died in an accident, and Jean Carlos, who grew up in the El Milagro neighborhood, in Maracay. His parents of Colombian nationality emigrated to Venezuela in 1979. At the age of six he began playing soccer in all its categories (Children C, B and A) with the core team of the Central University of Venezuela in Maracay. Arango studied primary and secondary school in two public schools in Maracay, Armando Zuluoga Blanco and Rómulo Gallegos, in the latter he would meet his teammate Renny Vega.

Career

At the age of 14 he decided to dedicate himself to soccer, joining the under-20 team of the Central University of Venezuela, while at the age of 16 he was with the first team.

In 1997 he debuted as a professional at the age of 17 in the Nueva Cádiz Fútbol Club de Cumaná team directed by Cesar Farías, belonging to the Second Division of Venezuela. With Nueva Cádiz he established himself as the team's top scorer by scoring 12 goals and achieved the club's promotion to the First Division for the following season. However, Arango would leave Nueva Cádiz before the club participated in the First Division with the Zulianos Fútbol Club, and would join the ranks of the Caracas Fútbol Club, a team with which he would debut in the First Division. That same year José Omar Pastoriza called him to the national team. With the Caracas Fútbol Club he played for only six months as he obtained a contract with the Monterrey Soccer Club of the First Division of Mexico.

Monterrey

At the request of coach Benito Floro, he arrived at the Monterrey Football Club in 2001, along with Jesús Arellano and Antonio De Nigris. Due to his outstanding ability to assist his teammates, technical director Benito Floro promotes him to the first team, becoming the third best foreigner in the tournament.

Arango was part of an extremely interesting offensive team, in which his main task was to make passes on goal, however, he would not achieve any title with the Albiazules and a year later he was loaned to the Pachuca Football Club.

Pachuca and Puebla

Arango would debut on March 13, 2002 in the 2002 CONCACAF Champions Cup in the round of 16 against the Defense Force of Trinidad and Tobago with his team's defeat 1-0, starting as a starter. Later, on March 27, 2002, he scored his first goal and his first hat-trick in the 2002 CONCACAF Champions Cup against Defense Force with his team's victory 4-0, playing the 90 minutes, scoring the goals in the 32nd minute. #39;, 88' and 91' qualifying for the quarterfinals.

In total in the 2002 CONCACAF Champions Cup he played 6 games (5 starts), scoring 4 goals, playing 438 minutes and receiving 1 red card (double yellow), where they would finally become champions.

Later, he would have a brief internship at the Puebla Fútbol Club, where he played in the 2003 Apertura Tournament, playing 17 games (11 starts), scoring 2 goals, assisting 1 goal, playing 1110 minutes. He would also play in the 2004 Clausura Tournament, playing 19 games, all as a starter, scoring 6 goals (2 from penalties), playing 1656 minutes, receiving 4 yellow cards. During this period he played as a forward or left halfback. Finally, in June 2004 he arrived in Europe, where at 24 years old and coached once again by Benito Floro he provided his services as a forward to Real Club Deportivo Mallorca.

RCD Mallorca

In 2004 he signed with Real Club Deportivo Mallorca directed by Benito Floro, since the 2004/05 season, in this first campaign he wore the number '11'. In that season he scored 6 goals for his team and in 2005/06 (the year he acquired the number '18') he scored 11 goals, being the top scorer for his team, and scored the second best goal of the season against Real Sociedad in addition to being among the candidates for the goal of the century XXI.

However, in March 2005, Real Club Deportivo Mallorca received Sevilla Fútbol Club at home when, a few minutes before the end of the match, Sevilla captain Javi Navarro, in a collision, elbowed him hard in the jaw, leaving him unconscious and convulsing, which caused Arango to leave the game, who was quickly taken to a hospital. He suffered a cut and partial detachment of his lip (40 stitches), cardiorespiratory arrest, fracture of his cheekbone and malar bone, and he spent three days on mechanical ventilation in intensive care. Four weeks after the incident he would return to the courts. His attacker, Navarro, was sentenced by the RFFE with a five-game suspension.

On March 11, 2007, he celebrated his 100th match with Mallorca against Real Sociedad with a score of 1-3 in favor of Real Sociedad, playing the 90 minutes. On April 14, 2007 he celebrated his 100th league match against Barcelona with a 1-0 score in favor of Barcelona, playing 73 minutes.

On January 2, 2008 he scored his first goal in the Copa del Rey against Osasuna from a direct free kick in the 66th minute. with a result in favor of 4-0 playing the 90 minutes. On March 9, 2008, he scored 3 goals, his second Hat-trick with Mallorca, in a 7-1 victory over Recreativo Huelva, the biggest win he achieved in the First Division at the ONO Estadi, and he became the first Mallorca player who achieves two Hat-tricks, the other was achieved in 2005/06 against Real Sociedad.

On March 30, 2008 he was in the match against Valencia where Mallorca beat 3-0, historically achieving its first victory at the Mestalla Stadium, playing the 90 minutes. On April 20, 2008, Mallorca defeated Murcia 4-1 at home, ensuring their permanence in the First Division. Arango, who played the entire match, scored one of the many Mallorcan goals to reach 12 goals in the season and set a personal record in what was his best tournament in Spain since in the 2005/06 season he scored 11 goals.

He finished the 2007/08 season with 12 goals, 9 assists in 38 games, 33 starts, playing 3003 minutes; and being the second top scorer in the history of Mallorca, only surpassed by Samuel Eto'o, and the team's second top assist scorer. In the 2007-08 Copa del Rey soccer match he was Mallorca's top scorer with 3 goals in 5 games, reaching the quarterfinals.

In the 2008 preseason he was named captain of RCD Mallorca and participated in the Ciutat de Palma Trophy with a 1-1 draw against PSV Eindhoven, losing on the penalty spot 4-5, playing the 90 minutes. He also participated in the Magdalena Trophy with a 3-1 victory against Club Deportivo Castellón, playing 45 minutes of the second half, giving an assist on a goal, becoming champions, in the Mallorca Summer Cup they were champions with a total of 11 points after 2 victories against Hannover 96 4-2 and against Newcastle 1-0, playing the 2 games, scoring 1 goal and in the Costa Brava Trophy they tied 1-1, becoming champions on the penalty spot 7-5, playing 60 minutes.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

He was transferred in the summer of 2009 to Borussia Mönchengladbach of the Bundesliga for 3.6 million euros. In his first season, many were concerned about the low number of goals he scored at the end of it, 3 goals in 36 games. However, he was the club's leader in assists with 10, and he once again donned the captain's armband. In the 2010/11 season, he scored 4 goals and 6 assists in 22 games.

In the 2011/12 season, he became the key piece of the team, positioning Borussia Mönchengladbach in fourth place in the 1.Bundesliga with his goals in addition to being considered the best player on the team, thus qualifying it for the qualifying phase of the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League, this thanks to his 17 assists, which placed him in the first position of top assists of the Bundesliga season. That same year he scored 6 goals. He was also considered in those seasons as the top free kick taker in the Bundesliga.

Rainer Bonhof, a member of the club's board of directors, has praised his intuition and genius, and puts him on the same level as Günter Netzer. Arango extended his contract in February 2012 for two more years, until 2014. In his last season 2013/14, he scored 7 goals and again led Borussia Mönchengladbach to sixth place, thus qualifying them for the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. 2014/15.

Club Tijuana

In 2014, Arango joined Club Tijuana, which had hired César Farías as its new manager. His first goal would come in the match against América (they lost 2-1), it was a penalty at 19 minutes to put Tijuana ahead at that time.

Until December 11, 2015, he had accumulated 12 goals in 49 games played. He scored 11 goals in the league and 1 goal in the Copa MX. He also has a yellow card for the league. He changed shirts with Brazilian Ronaldinho in a league match between Club Querétaro and Tijuana.

On Matchday 12 of the 2015 Clausura Tournament of the Liga MX, in a controversial play in the final minutes of the Xolos' match against the visiting Monterrey, Arango bites scratched midfielder J.E. on the shoulder. Zavala. The disciplinary commission decides to sanction him for only two games.

New York Cosmos

On January 28, 2016, his signing for the New York Cosmos of the North American Soccer League was made official. On April 3, 2016, Arango debuted with the New York Cosmos led by Venezuelan Giovanni Savarese, with a victory against Ottawa Fury Football Club by 3 goals to 0, with 2 goals from Arango.

Arango also managed to lift the League and the Cup with Cosmos, scoring a total of 22 goals in 30 games with the Cosmos shirt.

On July 24, 2017, Juan Arango's return to the New York Cosmos was announced after he left the team due to its financial problems and taking advantage of the end of his contract with his previous team, Zulia FC.

Zulia FC

Zulia FC

National team

U20 team

South American U-20 Championship

South American Sub-20	Headquarters	Outcome	PJ	Goles
South American 1999	Argentina	First phase	4	2

South American U-23 Olympic Pre-Olympic

Preolympic Sub-23	Headquarters	Outcome	PJ	Goles
Pre-Olympic 2000	Brazil	First phase	4	1

Absolute selection

Juan Arango debuted as the Venezuelan national team in an unofficial friendly held in Maracaibo against the Danish League XI with a 1-1 result. He debuted in a World Cup qualifier against Ecuador on March 29, 2000, played at the Liga Deportiva Universitaria Stadium in Quito with a score of 2-0 in favor of Ecuador, entering the second half and playing 35 minutes. His first goal in a tie was against Colombia on April 24, 2001, played at the Pueblo Nuevo Sports Center in San Cristóbal with a score of 2-2, playing the 90 minutes and scoring the goal in the 82nd minute;. Likewise, his first goal in a Copa América was in his eleventh Cup match against Uruguay on July 7, 2007, played at the Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo stadium in San Cristóbal with a result of 1-4 in favor of Uruguay, playing the 90 minutes and scoring the goal in the 41st minute' free kick.

During the cycle of national coach César Farías, Arango was named captain of Venezuela.

His 20th goal against Peru on September 7, 2012, made him the fourth player to score in four different ties. The record is shared with José Luis Chilavert, Edison Méndez and Marcelo Salas. Furthermore, that same night he equaled Ruberth Morán as the Venezuelan player with the most goals in a tie. However, the parity would last very little, since on October 16, 2012 he would score his 21st goal against Ecuador, with a shot from more than 35 meters, making him the Venezuelan top scorer in terms of World Cup qualifiers. refers, with 11 goals. Venezuela was left with no chance of going to the World Cup after drawing 1-1 against Paraguay. Arango said that this would be his last eliminatory process.

On September 8, 2015, he announced his retirement from the national team in a press conference called by himself, which took place after finishing a friendly match against the Panama team.

International goals

Gol	Date	Headquarters	Oponente	Marker	Outcome	Competition
1.	24 April 2001	Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristobal	ColombiaColombia	2 - 1	2 - 2	Global elimination 2002
2.	4 September 2001	National Stadium, Santiago	ChileChile	0 - 2	0 - 2
3.	30 April 2003	Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristobal	Trinidad and TobagoTrinidad and Tobago	1 - 0	3 - 0	Friendly
4.				2 - 0
5.	7 June 2003	Lockhart Stadium, Fort Lauderdale	Honduras	2 - 1	2 - 1	Friendly
6.	15 November 2003	Metropolitan Stadium, Barranquilla	ColombiaColombia	0 - 1	0 - 1	Global elimination 2006
7.	18 November 2003	Estadio José E. Romero, Maracaibo	BoliviaBolivia	2 - 1	2 - 1
8.	19 February 2004	UCV Olympic Stadium, Caracas	AustraliaAustralia	1 - 1	1 - 1	Friendly
9.	3 March 2004	Centennial Stadium, Montevideo	UruguayUruguay	0 - 3	0 - 3	Global elimination 2006
10.	28 April 2004	Independence Park, Kingston	JamaicaJamaica	1 - 1	2 - 1	Friendly
#.	24 May 2004	Estadio José E. Romero, Maracaibo	South Africa sub 23	2 - 1	2 - 1	Friendly (Official)
11.	3 September 2005		PeruPeru	2 - 1	4 - 1	Global elimination 2006
12.	24 March 2007	Metropolitan Stadium, Mérida	CubaCuba	1 - 0	3 - 1	Friendly
#.	20 June 2007	Polideportivo de Pueblo Nuevo, San Cristobal	EuskadiEuskadi	2 - 4	3 - 4	Friendly (Official)
#.				3 - 4
13.	7 July 2007		UruguayUruguay	1 - 1	1 - 4	Copa América 2007
14.	19 June 2008	Estadio José A. Anzoátegui, Puerto La Cruz	ChileChile	2 - 2	2 - 3	Global elimination 2010
15.	15 October 2008		Ecuador	3 - 1	3 - 1
16.	31 March 2009	Cachamay Stadium, Guayana City	ColombiaColombia	2 - 0	2 - 0
17.	13 October 2010	Olympic Stadium, Ciudad Juárez	MexicoMexico	0 - 1	2 - 2	Friendly
18.				1 - 2
19.	23 July 2011	Estadio Ciudad de La Plata, La Plata	PeruPeru	2 - 1	4 - 1	Copa América 2011
20.	7 September 2012	National Stadium of Peru, Lima	PeruPeru	1 - 0	1 - 2	World Cup 2014
21.	16 October 2012	Estadio José A. Anzoátegui, Puerto La Cruz	Ecuador	1 - 0	1 - 1
22.	7 June 2013	Hernando Siles Stadium, La Paz	BoliviaBolivia	1 - 0	1 - 1

Participations in Copa América

Copa America	Headquarters	Outcome	PJ	Goles
Copa America 1999	Paraguay	First phase	1	0
Copa América 2001	Colombia	First phase	3	0
Copa América 2004	Peru	First phase	3	0
Copa América 2007	Venezuela	Final rooms	4	1
Copa América 2011	Argentina	Fourth place	6	1
Copa America 2015	Chile	First phase	3	0

Participations in World Cup qualifiers

Elimination	Outcome	PJ	Goles
Korea-Japan 2002	9th Place	10	2
Germany 2006	8th Place	16	4
South Africa 2010	8th Place	17	3
Brazil 2014	6th Place	15	3
Eliminating Russia 2018	10th Place

Statistics

Clubs

Club	Div.	Season	League			National Cups(1)			International Tournaments(2)			Total(3)			Average score
			Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.
New Cadiz FC Venezuela Venezuela
	2. a	1996-97	24	4	5	-			-			24	4	5	0.17
		1997-98	25	11	9	-			-			25	11	9	0.44
	1. a	1998-99	38	12	8	-			-			38	12	8	0.32
	Total club		87	27	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	87	27	22	0.31
FC Zulian Venezuela Venezuela
	1. a	1999	12	0	5	-			-			12	0	5	0.00
	Total club		12	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	0	5	0.00
Caracas F. C. Venezuela Venezuela
	1. a	1999-00	19	5	4	-			8	1	2	27	6	6	0.22
	Total club		19	5	4	0	0	0	8	1	2	27	6	6	0.22
Monterrey Mexico Mexico
	1. a	2000-01	32	5	4	-			-			32	5	4	0.16
		2001	13	1	1	-			-			13	1	1	0.08
	Total club		45	6	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	45	6	5	0.13
Pachuca Mexico Mexico
	1. a	2002	15	5	2	-			6	4	3	21	9	5	0.43
		2002-03	37	11	6	4	2	2	-			41	13	8	0.32
	Total club		52	16	8	4	2	2	6	4	3	62	22	13	0.35
Puebla FC Mexico Mexico
	1. a	2003-04	36	8	5	-			-			36	8	5	0.22
	Total club		36	8	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	36	8	5	0.22
R. C. D. Mallorca SpainSpain
	1. a	2004-05	34	6	3	1	0	0	-			35	6	3	0.17
		2005-06	37	11	4	-			-			37	11	4	0.30
		2006-07	37	9	5	3	0	1	-			40	9	6	0.23
		2007-08	38	12	8	5	3	1	-			43	15	9	0.35
		2008-09	37	8	9	4	1	0	-			41	9	9	0.22
	Total club		183	46	29	13	4	2	0	0	0	196	50	31	0.26
Borussia Mönchengladbach GermanyGermany
	1. a	2009-10	34	2	8	2	1	1	-			36	3	9	0.08
		2010-11	25	4	7	4	0	0	-			29	4	7	0.14
		2011-12	34	6	12	4	1	2	-			38	7	14	0.18
		2012-13	31	5	8	2	1	1	8	3	3	41	9	12	0.22
		2013-14	31	8	7	-			-			31	8	7	0.26
	Total club		155	25	42	12	3	4	8	3	3	175	31	49	0.18
Tijuana Mexico Mexico
	1. a	2014-15	31	9	8	3	1	1	-			34	10	9	0.29
		2015	14	2	1	1	0	0	-			15	2	1	0.13
	Total club		45	11	9	4	1	1	0	0	0	49	12	10	0.24
New York Cosmos United States
	2. a	2016	31	16	8	2	0	1	-			33	16	9	0.49
		2017	3	0	1	-			-			3	0	1	0.00
	Total club		34	16	9	2	0	1	0	0	0	36	16	10	0.44
Zulia F. C. Venezuela Venezuela
	1. a	2017	15	2	6	-			6	2	1	21	4	7	0.19
	Total club		15	2	6	0	0	0	6	2	1	21	4	7	0.19
Total career			683	162	144	35	10	10	28	10	9	746	182	163	0.24
(1) Includes data from Pre Libertadores (2002); King Cup (2004-09); German Cup / Play-Offs (2009-12); Mexico Cup (2014-15); Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (2016). (2) Includes Merconorte Cup data (1999); Concacaf Champions League (2002); UEFA Champions League / UEFA European League (2012-13); Copa Libertadores (2017). (3) It does not include goals in friendly matches.

Selections

Selection	Season	Friendly			South America(1)			World			Total			Average score
		Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.	Part.	Goles	Assist.
Sub-17 Venezuela Venezuela	1997	-			8	3	3	-			8	3	3	0.38
	Total	0	0	0	8	3	3	0	0	0	8	3	3	0.38
Sub-20 Venezuela Venezuela	1999	-			4	2	1	-			4	2	1	0.50
	Total	0	0	0	4	2	1	0	0	0	4	2	1	0.50
Olympics Venezuela Venezuela	2000	-			4	1	1	-			4	1	1	0.25
	Total	0	0	0	4	1	1	0	0	0	4	1	1	0.25
Adult Venezuela Venezuela	1999	7	0	0	1	0	1	-			8	0	1	0.00
	2000	3	0	1	5	0	1	-			8	0	2	0.00
	2001	-			8	2	1	-			8	2	1	0.25
	2002	2	0	0	-			-			2	0	0	0.00
	2003	6	3	1	4	2	0	-			10	5	1	0.50
	2004	4	3	1	10	1	4	-			14	4	5	0.29
	2005	-			5	1	2	-			5	1	2	0.20
	2006	5	0	1	-			-			5	0	1	0.00
	2007	6	3	1	8	1	1	-			14	4	2	0.29
	2008	4	0	1	6	2	0	-			10	2	1	0.20
	2009	-			7	1	1	-			7	1	1	0.14
	2010	4	2	1	-			-			4	2	1	0.50
	2011	3	0	1	6	1	1	-			9	1	2	0.11
	2012	3	0	2	5	2	2	-			8	2	4	0.25
	2013	2	0	0	7	1	1	-			9	1	1	0.11
	2014	2	0	1	-			-			2	0	1	0.00
	2015	4	0	0	3	0	0	-			7	0	0	0.00
	Total	55	11	11	75	14	15	0	0	0	130	25	26	0.19
Total career		55	11	11	91	20	20	0	0	0	146	31	31	0.21
(1) Includes South American Sub-17 matches / Bolivarian Games (1997); South American Sub-20 (1999); Preolympic Sub-23 (2000); American Cup / South American Classifications (1999-15).

Statistical summary

Hat-tricks

Matches that scored three or more goals
N.o	Date	Stadium	Party	Goles	Outcome	Competition
1	27 March 2002	Hidalgo, Pachuca de Soto	Pachuca Defence Force		4 - 0	Concacaf Champions Cup 2002
2	17 September 2005	Iberostar, Palma de Mallorca	RCD Mallorca - Real Society		5 - 2	First Division of Spain 2005-06
3	9 March 2008		RCD Mallorca - Recreative of Huelva		7 - 1	First Division of Spain 2007-08

Palmarés

National Championships

Title	Club	Country	Year
Second Division of Venezuela	New Cadiz FC	Venezuela	1997-98
North American Soccer League	New York Cosmos	United States	2016

International championships

Title	Club	Headquarters	Year
Concacaf Champions League	Pachuca	Mexico City	2002

Individual distinctions