Godoy Cruz de Mendoza

Full name	Club Deportivo Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba
Nickname(s)	El Expreso (The Express), Bodeguero, El Tomba
Founded	June 21, 1921
Ground	Estadio Malvinas Argentinas, Godoy Cruz, Mendoza (Capacity: 48,000[1])
Chairman	Mario Rodolfo Contreras
Manager	Omar Asad
League	Argentine Primera
Apertura 2009	17th
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Club Deportivo Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba (usually simply Godoy Cruz) is an Argentine sports club from Godoy Cruz, Mendoza Province, best known for its football (soccer) team, recently promoted to the Primera Division Argentina, Argentina's top level, from Primera B Nacional.

The club was founded on June 21, 1921 under the name Sportivo Godoy Cruz, and received its current name on April 25 1930, after the fusion with Deportivo Bodega Antonio Tomba. In 1959 the Godoy Cruz stadium was constructed; the Estadio Feliciano Gambarte, known as La Bodega (Spanish for "wine cellar"), holds 14,000 supporters.

Given the origin of the club, that merged with the Deportivo Bodega Antonio Tomba, nicknames El Tomba and Bodeguero are currently used. Since the stadium is located near a railway (, the club is also called El Expreso ("The Express").

Godoy Cruz played in the provincial league for several years before reaching the national level. The club won the Mendoza first division Championship in 1944, 1947, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1968, and also in 1989 and 1990 that qualified to play in the defunct Torneo del Interior national-level tournament.

Winning the Torneo del Interior in 1994, it reached the Argentine Second Division that year. After more than ten years in second division, the club was finally promoted to the Primera División in 2006 after winning the 2005 Apertura tournament, and the qualification series against Nueva Chicago.

The scorer of the first Godoy Cruz goal in the Argentine Primera league was 20 year old Enzo Nicolas Peréz in a 1-1 draw with Belgrano de Córdoba on September 9, 2006.

At the end of the 2006-2007 season Godoy Cruz were relegated from the Primera after losing their promotion/relegation playoff against Club Atlético Huracán. Their stay in Nacional B would be a short one, as Godoy Cruz quietly placed second in the division behind San Martín (T), earning them another automatic promotion to Primera División for the 2008 Apertura

[edit] Current squad

Current squad for Godoy Cruz Antonio Tomba as of 31 December 2009 (edit)
Sources: BDFA squad list

No. Position Player 1  ARG GK Nelson Ibáñez 2  ARG DF Leonardo Sigali 3  ARG MF Sebastián Salomón 5  ARG MF Nicolás Olmedo 6  ARG DF Lautaro Formica 7  ARG FW Federico Higuaín 9  ARG FW Daniel Vega 10  ARG FW Cristian Chávez 12  ARG GK Cristian Aracena 14  URU DF Sebastián Martínez 15  ARG DF Francisco Dutari 16  ARG FW Jesús Vera 17  ARG MF Federico Villegas 18  COL MF Jairo Castillo 19  ARG MF Martín Aguirre 20  ARG MF Leandro Torres

No. Position Player 21  ARG DF Zelmar García 22  ARG GK José Fabián Ramírez 23  ARG MF Ariel Rojas 24  ARG FW Rodrigo Salinas 25  ARG DF Cristian Cuevas 26  URU DF Jorge Curbelo 27  ARG MF Alejandro Camargo 28  ARG DF Gabriel Vallés 29  ARG DF Nicolás Triviño 30  ARG FW Maximiliano Alaniz 31  ARG DF Diego Pereyra 33  ARG MF Ernesto Garín  ARG DF Darío Salomón  ARG DF Paolo Santander  COL MF Cesar Mena

Manager: Omar Asad

[edit] Staff 2009

• Head Coach: Enzo Trossero
• Assistant Coach: Jorge Manuel Montesino
• Team Chef: Daniel Oldrá
• Fitness Coach: Javier Bustos
• Fitness Coach: Marcos Catalini
• Fitness Coach: Federico Tridico
• Physio: José Rodríguez Buteler
• Physio: Matías Roby
• Kinesiologist: Germán Arenas
• Kinesiologist: Alejandro Savina
• Utility manager: Humberto Ponce
• Utility manager: Ariel Suárez

[edit] Friendly matches

Another source of historical pride of the supporters are friendly matches won against Argentine giants: in 1965 the 4-0 victory over Boca Juniors in a friendly match, and the victory 4-0 against Club Atlético River Plate in another friendly match in 1997.

Godoy Cruz won the Summer 2009 edition of the friendly pentagonal cup known as the "Copa Ciudad de Tandil" after defeating both Chacarita Juniors and Quilmes in penalty shootouts.^[2]

[edit] Notable players

To appear in this section a player must have either played at least 50 games for the club, set a club record or played for their national team.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• CuyoNotícias - History of Godoy Cruz (Spanish)
• Fans' site (Spanish)