Clarence
Acuña (born 8 February 1975 in Rancagua) is a Chilean
professional football player, he plays as a midfielder.
He started his career at Chilean club O'Higgins, whom he began
playing for in 1994 at the age of nineteen. He played at
O'Higgins until 1996, scoring eight goals in eighty-one games.
He then caught the eye of professional club Universidad de
Chile. They signed him, and he played ninety games for them
between 1997 and 1999, again scoring eight goals. His
performances attracted the attention of the national team and he
was given his first international cap in 1997.
Acuña managed to keep up his good form and was included in the
Chile World Cup squad for the 1998 event held in France. Here,
he impressed players and pundits alike and helped his country to
the last 16 stage of the tournament, where they bowed out in a
4-1 defeat to favourites Brazil. Despite this, Acuña was seen as
one of the breakthrough players of the tournament and he also
had his first experience of playing in Europe, which would prove
not to be his last.
A year later he was involved in another international tournament.
This time his services were required in the Copa América. He
started four games as Chile reached the semi-finals but were
knocked out 5-3 on penalties against Uruguay after a 1-1 draw.
They also lost the third place playoff 2-1 against Mexico four
days later.
After impressive domestic and international performances, Acuña
was attracting attention from many big clubs. Then Newcastle
manager Bobby Robson beat off competition from Manchester United
and Parma to clinch Acuña's signature, earning him a £900,000
move to Newcastle United in October 2000, after receiving a work
permit. He made his debut for "Toon" on Saturday 28th October
2000 in a 1-0 away defeat to West Ham United. Two months later
he scored his first goal for the club and the winner in the 2-1
victory against Leeds. The goal was later voted "Goal of the
Week" by the BBC. He was at Newcastle for four seasons, playing
forty-six games (including eleven as substitute), scoring six
times. |
