Martin Palermo Bio - Biography

Name Martin Palermo
Height 6 ft 1 1⁄2 in
Naionality Argentina
Date of Birth 7-November-1973
Place of Birth La Plata, Argentina
Famous for Football Player
Martin Palermo is an Argentine retired footballer, who played as a striker, and the current coach of Godoy Cruz. Formerly player for Boca Juniors of Argentina, and the Argentina national team. Nicknamed Loco (crazy) or Titan (titan). He also played in Argentina for Estudiantes de La Plata and in Spain for Villarreal, Real Betis, and Alaves.

With the Argentina national football team, Palermo has played fifteen matches and scored nine goals. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for missing three penalties for Argentina in a single international match against Colombia in the Copa America 1999. The first penalty rebounded off the crossbar; the second penalty went over; the third was saved by the Colombian goalkeeper, Miguel Calero. Though his international career seemed to be over at the end of 1999, the 2008 Argentine national coach Alfio Basile stated that he had been considering offering Palermo a return to international football and was disappointed that Palermo was injured at the time. The coach of the 2010 national team, Diego Maradona, recalled Palermo to the national team and introduced him as a substitute in a 2010 World Cup qualifying match against Paraguay after a 10-year exile from the international scene. A couple of weeks later he was once again called up to play a friendly against Ghana. In this game, Palermo was part of the starting eleven and made the most of it by scoring both of Argentina's goals, resulting in a 2–0 win. Palermo's next match was on October 10, a 2010 World Cup qualifier against Peru. Palermo sealed a 2–1 victory for Argentina with a 93rd minute strike, causing Maradona to describe the goal after the game as "one more miracle of Saint Palermo."

On May 19, 2010, Palermo was selected as part of the Argentina national team's 23-man final roster for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, Palermo's first World Cup. On June 22, 2010, Palermo played his first World Cup match, coming in as a substitute in the second half of Argentina's final group match against Greece. In the 89th minute, he scored his first ever World Cup goal on a rebound from a shot by Lionel Messi. Argentina won the match 2–0 and finished at the top of their group. This goal also made Palermo the oldest Argentine national footballer to score a goal in World Cup play, an honor previously held by Diego Maradona. Martín Palermo scored his sixth career hat-trick on September 19, 2010 in a 3–1 Boca victory over Colon.

On December 13, 2010, Palermo scored his 300th career goal in the final match of the 2010 Apertura in a 1–1 draw against Gimnasia de La Plata. On April 24, 2011, Martin scored the third goal of Boca Juniors against Huracan in a 3–0 away win, with that goal Palermo cut a streak of 10 matches without scoring. Then he scored in the next consecutive matches against Independiente, Argentinos Juniors and in the 2–0 victory over River Plate in the Superclasico.