Tomasz Kuszczak

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Tomasz Kuszczak
Personal information
Full name Tomasz Kuszczak
Date of birth March 20, 1982 (1982-03-20) (age 26)
Place of birth    Krosno Odrzańskie, Poland
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Manchester United
Number 29
Youth clubs

1999–2000		 Śląsk Wrocław
Uerdingen
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2000–2004
2004–2006
2006–2007
2007–		 Hertha Berlin
West Bromwich Albion
→ Manchester United (loan)
Manchester United		 00 (0)
31 (0)
06 (0)
09 (0)   
National team2
2003– Poland 06 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 16:15, 19 April 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 26 May 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

Tomasz Kuszczak (pron. IPA: [ˈtɔmaʂ ˈkuʂtʂak], listen (help·info)); (born 20 March 1982 in Krosno Odrzańskie, Poland) is a Polish football player, who is a goalkeeper with the Premiership club Manchester United and the Poland national football team.

Kuszczak has previously played for Śląsk Wrocław in Poland, as well as for the German clubs KFC Uerdingen 05 and Hertha BSC Berlin, before moving in 2004 to England's West Bromwich Albion. During the summer of 2006 he made the switch to Manchester United after a season of starting for West Brom in the Premiership.

Kuszczak made 14 appearances for the Poland Under-21 side, and has been capped five times at the senior level.

Contents

[edit] Club career

[edit] Hertha Berlin

Kuszczak joined Hertha Berlin in 2000, spending a year with their reserve team before being promoted to the first team in 2001. He subsequently spent three seasons as the third-choice goalkeeper at the club, behind Gábor Király and Christian Fiedler, and failed to make a single appearance in the Bundesliga. He was out of contract with Hertha when he was signed by the then West Brom manager Gary Megson on July 14, 2004.[1]

[edit] West Bromwich Albion

He made his debut for West Brom on September 18, 2004 in the Premiership match against Fulham F.C. at The Hawthorns, which ended in a 1-1 draw. He then played in the League Cup match against Colchester United F.C. on September 21, 2004, Albion losing 1-2.

Kuszczak had only kept goal in one match in the Premier League before West Brom's game against Manchester United on the penultimate match day of the 2004-05 season, with the Baggies facing a tough relegation battle. He put in a striking performance, having to step in front of the goal after the first choice keeper Russell Hoult was injured in the first half. West Brom drew the match 1-1, with Kuszczak remaining unbeaten during his 68 minutes on the pitch. This performance helped Kuszczak earn his first Man of the Match award in the Premiership. The following week, in the season's last match against Portsmouth, Kuszczak had another impressive game, enabling West Brom to win 2-0, and hence stay up in the league. He is also very proactively involved in promoting community education. In 2005-06, Kuszczak was supposed to be the reserve keeper behind Chris Kirkland. With Kirkland injured, Kuszczak kept in his first Premiership match of the season on October 30, 2005, but could not prevent Newcastle United from winning 3-0. His performances then improved, allowing him to become the first choice keeper. This continued despite Kirkland's return from injury.

On January 15, 2006, Kuszczak had an impressive game against Wigan, making a match-winning save late on against Jason Roberts, with West Brom winning the game 1-0. The save was voted Save of the Season by viewers of BBC TV's Match of the Day programme.

On July 7, 2006, it was confirmed by West Bromwich Albion manager Bryan Robson that Manchester United made a bid for Kuszczak of around £2 million. On August 3, West Bromwich Albion rejected a £2.5 million bid for Kuszczak from Manchester United, citing that a one-year loan spell for United starlet Giuseppe Rossi would also have to be included along with the cash to result in a deal. On August 10, 2006, Kuszczak joined Manchester United in a deal involving the transfer of England Under-18 goalkeeper Luke Steele and defender Paul McShane to West Brom.

[edit] Manchester United

When officially announcing the move, Manchester United failed to state the terms, leading to suggestions that it was a merely a loan deal. Chief executive David Gill has since clarified the situation:

"Tomasz will be a Manchester United player for the next four years," he said. "He has come to us on loan for the first year, and then will join us permanently in July 2007. We would not have been interested in signing any player, even as one as good as Tomasz, on loan. We would hope Tomasz remains a Manchester United player for many years to come."[2]

Kuszczak made his debut in a Premier League match against Arsenal on September 17, 2006, and he earned the Manchester United fans' respect when he saved an early Gilberto Silva penalty. He could not, however, save United from a 1-0 defeat, when Emmanuel Adebayor scored the late winner.

In his first start, against Crewe Alexandra in the Carling Cup, the name on the back of his goalkeeper shirt was spelled incorrectly; instead of Kuszczak, his name had been spelled "Zuszczak."

Although Kuszczak didn't play enough Premiership games in the 2006-07 season, he received a winners medal by special application to the Premier League.

On July 2, 2007, Manchester United announced that the permanent transfer had been completed.[3]

Due to Dutch keeper Edwin Van der Sar's continued good form and Ben Foster's knee injury, Kuszczak was named Manchester United's number 2 for the 2007-2008 season. During an interview in May 2007 Kuszczak stated that he wanted one day to become the number 1 at Manchester United.

On March 8, 2008, in an FA Cup tie against Portsmouth, Kuszczak received a straight red card for a foul on Milan Baroš.[4] By this time all substitutes had been used, therefore Rio Ferdinand was forced to take over between the posts, but failed to stop the penatly that lead to United being kicked out of the FA Cup.

[edit] International career

Kuszczak had also played two international matches by this time, his debut coming on December 11, 2003 against Malta. Poland won the away game 4-0.

Due to his impressive performances for West Brom, although the club was ultimately relegated, he was called up to the 23-men Poland national football team for the FIFA World Cup 2006. However in a World Cup warm-up match between Poland and Colombia on May 30, 2006, he conceded a goal directly from a long punt by the opposition goalkeeper, Neco Martínez[5], an error also made by his Manchester United rival Ben Foster. Kuszczak subsequently ended up as Artur Boruc's back-up during the tournament and did not play.

In May 2008 he was named in Poland's squad for Euro 2008 but had to drop out after picking up a back injury.[6] Kuszczak was replaced by Korona Kielce's Wojciech Kowalewski.

[edit] Honours

[edit] With West Bromwich Albion

[edit] With Manchester United (2006-present)

[edit] Statistics

All statistics correct up to 19 April 2008

Current Club Performance
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup UEFA CL Total
App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals
Man Utd 2007-08 9 0 1 0 1 0 5 0 16 0
2006-07 6 0 5 0 2 0 0 0 13 0
West Brom 2005-06 28 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 30 0
2004-05 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 5 0
Total 46 0 7 0 6 0 5 0 64 0

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "West Brom bag keeper", BBC Sport, 2004-07-14. Retrieved on 2007-07-04. 
  2. ^ ABC Sport - Football - Kuszczak pens four-year United deal
  3. ^ Steve Bartram (2007-07-02). Reds complete triple signing. ManUtd.com. Retrieved on 2007-07-02.
  4. ^ McNulty, Phil. "Man Utd 0-1 Portsmouth", BBC Sport, 2008-03-08. Retrieved on 2008-03-08. 
  5. ^ "Kuszczak defiant despite blunder", BBC Sport, 2006-05-31. Retrieved on 2007-07-04. 
  6. ^ "Poland keeper Kuszczak out of European Championship", International Herald Tribune, 2008-06-06. Retrieved on 2007-07-04. 
  7. ^ Top five Premier League saves. DailyMail.co.uk (2007-05-12). Retrieved on 2007-05-13.

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Poland squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Boruc • 2 Jop • 3 Gancarczyk • 4 Baszczyński • 5 Kosowski • 6 Bąk • 7 Sobolewski • 8 Krzynówek • 9 Żurawski • 10 Szymkowiak • 11 Rasiak • 12 Kuszczak • 13 Mila • 14 Żewłakow • 15 Smolarek • 16 Radomski • 17 Dudka • 18 Lewandowski • 19 Bosacki • 20 Giza • 21 Jeleń • 22 Fabiański • 23 Brożek • Coach: Janas
 Flag of Poland
v • d • e
Manchester United F.C. – current squad

1 van der Sar • 2 Neville • 3 Evra • 4 Hargreaves • 5 Ferdinand • 6 Brown • 7 Ronaldo • 8 Anderson • 9 Saha • 10 Rooney • 11 Giggs • 12 Foster • 13 Park • 15 Vidić • 16 Carrick • 17 Nani • 18 Scholes • 21 Dong • 22 O'Shea • 23 J. Evans • 24 Fletcher • 27 Silvestre • 29 Kuszczak • 32 Tévez • 33 Eagles • 38 Heaton • 47 Welbeck • Manager: Ferguson


Persondata
NAME Kuszczak, Tomasz
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kuszczak, Tomasz
SHORT DESCRIPTION footballer
DATE OF BIRTH 1982-3-20
PLACE OF BIRTH Krosno Odrzańskie, Poland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH