Sebastián Eguren

Sebastián Eguren Ledesma (born 8 January 1981) is a Uruguayan former footballer who played mainly as a defensive midfielder.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the first or paternal family name is Eguren and the second or maternal family name is Ledesma.

Sebastián Eguren
Eguren in 2010
Personal information
Full name Sebastián Eguren Ledesma
Date of birth (1981-01-08) 8 January 1981[1]
Place of birth Montevideo, Uruguay[1]
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1999–2002 Montevideo Wanderers 36 (6)
2002–2003 Danubio 27 (6)
2003–2004 Nacional 39 (5)
2005 Montevideo Wanderers 23 (3)
2005–2006 Rosenborg 23 (0)
2006–2008 Hammarby 36 (13)
2008 → Villarreal (loan) 15 (0)
2008–2010 Villarreal 46 (1)
2010 AIK 7 (0)
2010–2012 Sporting Gijón 49 (3)
2012–2013 Libertad 26 (4)
2013–2014 Palmeiras 17 (2)
2015 Colón 8 (0)
2015–2016 Nacional 11 (0)
Total 363 (43)
National team
2001–2013 Uruguay 54 (7)
Teams managed
2016–2017 Nacional (assistant)
2018–2019 Al Ahly (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He started his career with Montevideo Wanderers, and went on to play professionally in Norway, Sweden, Spain, Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.

Eguren earned 57 caps for Uruguay, representing the country at the 2010 World Cup and two Copa América tournaments.

Club career

Born in Montevideo, Eguren started his career in native country, playing for Montevideo Wanderers FC (twice) and Club Nacional de Football. With the latter, after the 0–0 Copa Libertadores game against Club Deportivo El Nacional on 12 February 2004, he tested positive for cocaine, being suspended from football for six months. He blamed the coca tea, widely drunk in the Andean countries as a medicine which alleviates the effects of altitude, and got the shortest suspension for this kind of cases (this specific match was played at 2,800 meters above sea level, in Quito).[2]

Eguren arrived at Hammarby IF from Norwegian club Rosenborg BK, on loan during the later part of the 2006 season and, on 5 December 2006, signed a three-year contract with the Swedish side, where he quickly became a fan favourite.

On 30 January 2008, Eguren joined Villarreal CF of La Liga, on loan until the end of the campaign.[3] Almost immediately cast into the starting XI, he partnered Marcos Senna in centre midfield as the Yellow Submarine obtained its best position ever in the top flight by finishing second; in May the Spaniards decided to make the move permanent, and the player penned a three-year deal.[4]

During 2008–09, more of the same: Eguren was, alongside Senna, an everpresent fixture, and the Uruguayan scored his first goal for the club in a 3–3 home draw against Getafe CF (with the Madrid side leading 0–3 at the half-hour mark).[5] He played 32 league matches in his first full season.

In late January 2010, as he had lost his defensive midfielder position to youth graduate Bruno, Eguren was loaned to S.S. Lazio.[6] However, the move was cancelled days later, after the player did not pass his medical.[7]

Anxious for playing time in order to secure a spot on the national squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Eguren signed with reigning Swedish champions AIK Fotboll on 19 February 2010. According to their director of football Björn Wesström, the agreement was technically not a loan deal as the player had no contractual obligations with Villareal until 1 July 2010 – however, he was due to return to Spain since he still had 12 months left of his contract.[8] In early March, it was decided by the club to put the player under police protection, after he was harassed while training by fans of former side Hammarby, a fierce rival to AIK;[9] he usually operated as a defensive midfielder previously, but manager Mikael Stahre preferred using him in an attacking midfielder or deep-lying forward role.

In late July 2010, Eguren returned to Spain but not to Villarreal, signing a three-year contract with fellow league team Sporting de Gijón.[10] He contributed with 19 games and two goals in his second year, but the Asturians suffered relegation.

In July 2013, Eguren signed a one-and-a-half year deal with Brazil's Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras.[11] He confessed that his changing of club happened because he did not have enough playing time at his previous team Club Libertad, where he played second-fiddle to Pablo Guiñazú.[12]

International career

Eguren made his debut for Uruguay during the 2001 Copa América, entering the pitch in the 63rd minute of a 1–0 win against Bolivia, and added a further two appearances in the competition.[13] On 28 May 2008, after a five-year absence, he scored his first goal for the Charrúas, netting in a 2–2 friendly with Norway in Oslo.[14]

Egurén was also selected for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, playing once for the semi-finalists (three minutes in the group stage 0–0 draw against France).[15] Always as a substitute, he was then used regularly in the 2011 Copa América as nation won its 15th continental tournament.[16]

International goals
Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result CompetitionRef
1.28 May 2008Ullevaal, Oslo, Norway Norway1–22–2Friendly
2.20 August 2008Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Japan Japan0–11–3Friendly
3.6 September 2008El Campín, Bogotá, Colombia Colombia0–10–12010 World Cup qualification
4.11 February 200911 June, Tripoli, Libya Libya0–12–3Friendly
5.9 September 2009Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay Colombia3–13–12010 World Cup qualification
6.8 October 2010Gelora Bung Karno, Jakarta, Indonesia Indonesia1–41–7Friendly
7.10 June 2012Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay Peru4–24–22014 World Cup qualification

Personal life

During most of his career in Europe, Eguren did not count as a foreign player, due to the fact he was married to a Swedish woman.[7] He did not master the Swedish language however.

Eguren is a different footballer: besides his musical likes, ranging from Bob Dylan to Pink Floyd, and his literary ones (he is a fan of compatriots Mario Benedetti and Eduardo Galeano), he speaks openly about politics, admiring president José Mujica, and is in favour of the legalization of marijuana which, according to him, would represent more tax revenues to governments.[12][17]

Honours

Club

AIK

Palmeiras

International

Uruguay

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gollark: Well, my server holds other stuff, and it has 1TB.
gollark: I had to clean out my home folder a while ago.
gollark: Yep!
gollark: MINECRAFT. THAT IS ALL.

References
  1. "Sebastián Eguren". Eurosport. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
  2. Casabó, Adrián (31 January 2008). "El Villarreal ficha al mediocentro Sebastián Eguren" [Villarreal sign central midfielder Sebastián Eguren]. Levante-EMV (in Spanish). Archived from the original on 8 December 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2009.
  3. "Villarreal bring in Eguren". UEFA. 31 January 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  4. "Eguren commits to Villarreal". UEFA. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  5. "El Villarreal sobrevive a un 0–3" [Villarreal survive a 0–3]. Diario AS (in Spanish). 6 December 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
  6. "El Villarreal CF cede a Eguren a la Lazio" [Villarreal CF loan Eguren to Lazio] (in Spanish). Villarreal CF. 27 January 2010. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  7. "Lazio's deal for Eguren isn't done". Football Italia. 28 January 2010. Archived from the original on 5 July 2010. Retrieved 28 January 2010.
  8. "AIK är ett bra val för mig" [AIK is a good choice for me] (in Swedish). Svenska Fans. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 19 February 2010.
  9. "Eguren tendrá protección contra los hinchas rivales" [Eguren will be protected against rival fans]. Diario AS (in Spanish). 11 March 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2010.
  10. "Eguren se incorporó al Sporting" [Eguren added to Sporting] (in Spanish). ESPN Deportes. 31 July 2010. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  11. Hazan, Marcelo (10 July 2013). "Fã de música brasileira, Eguren mira títulos no Verdão e descarta ser ídolo" [Brazilian music fan, Eguren looks for titles with Verdão and rejects idol status] (in Portuguese). Globo Esporte. Retrieved 10 July 2013.
  12. Ceccon, Bruno; Correia, William (30 July 2013). "Eguren superou doping, perseguição e 'susto cardíaco' até o Verdão" [Eguren overcame doping, persecution and ‘heart scare’ until Verdão]. Gazeta Esportiva (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  13. Tabeira, Martín. "Copa América 2001". RSSSF. Archived from the original on 19 October 2013. Retrieved 30 November 2017.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  14. "Uruguay empató en amistoso con Noruega" [Uruguay drew in friendly with Norway]. El Mercurio (in Spanish). 28 May 2008. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  15. Fletcher, Paul (11 June 2010). "Uruguay 0–0 France". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
  16. "Uruguay, campeón de la Copa América" [Uruguay, Copa América champions] (in Spanish). RTVE. 24 July 2011. Retrieved 30 November 2017.
  17. Ceccon, Bruno; Correia, William (30 July 2013). "Fã de música e literatura, uruguaio defende aborto e maconha legais" [Fan of music and literature, Uruguayan champions legal abortion and marijuana]. Gazeta Esportiva (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
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