Sebastián Alejandro Roco Melgarejo (born 26 June 1983) is a Chilean former footballer who played as a centre back.

Sebastián Roco
Personal information
Full name Sebastián Alejandro Roco Melgarejo
Date of birth (1983-06-26) June 26, 1983 (age 41)
Place of birth San Felipe, Chile
Height 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Centre back
Youth career
Unión San Felipe
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2003 Unión San Felipe 21 (1)
2003–2007 Santiago Wanderers 95 (12)
2004Deportes Temuco (loan) 37 (0)
2008–2009 Necaxa 0 (0)
2008Audax Italiano (loan) 19 (1)
2008–2009Gimnasia de Jujuy (loan) 19 (0)
2009Everton (loan) 13 (1)
2010–2014 Cobreloa 128 (7)
2014–2016 Universidad de Concepción 10 (1)
2016–2017 Unión San Felipe 9 (0)
2018 Deportes Melipilla 0 (0)
Total 351 (23)
International career
2006–2007 Chile 6 (1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

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Roco began his football career aged 17 at the professional club of his city, Unión San Felipe of Chile's first division. In January 2003, he moved to Santiago Wanderers of Valparaíso, in where he was consecrated as centre back, scored 12 goals in 95 appearances and being many times in the nominations of the Chile national football team, but the end of this was when he was marginated of the team on 14 November 2007.[1]

However, despite his bad moment, in January 2008, his rights were acquired by the Mexican club Necaxa,[2] being immediately loaned to Audax Italiano for play the Copa Libertadores of that year. After a regular season in the club of La Florida, he moved to the Argentine Primera División club Gimnasia de Jujuy for an undisclosed fee. Roco made his debut in a 4–0 away loss against Boca Juniors at La Bombonera, playing the full 90 minutes. On 1 July 2009, was confirmed his return to the Chilean football, because Everton signed him for the Clausura Tournament of that season.[3]

The next season, was signed by Cobreloa, in where he was one of the key players of the runner-up earned in the 2011 Clausura Tournament lost against Universidad de Chile that in the season achieved the treble after of defeat to Cobreloa. On 2 March 2012, was reported that Flamengo would be interested in the services of the centre back.[4]

Roco played internationally against the Chile national football team in the 2007 Copa América in Venezuela, being call-up in that occasion by Nelson Acosta. He has played six times and scored one goal for the national team in his first match with Chile on 25 April 2006, in a 4–1 win over New Zealand on 24 April 2006.[5]

International goals

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Personal life

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Roco belongs to a football family from San Felipe since both his father, Marcial,[6] and his son, Bastián,[7] played for Unión San Felipe. In addition, the cousin of Marcial, Héctor Roco Lucero,[6] is a historical player of Unión San Felipe and was the assistant coach of his son, Héctor Roco Leiva,[8] from 2020 to 2021.[9]

Honours

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Club

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Cobreloa
Universidad de Concepción

References

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  1. ^ "Roco: Siempre jugué a ganar con Stgo. Wanderers". Chileazul.cl. Santiago. 14 November 2007.
  2. ^ "Sebastián Roco se unió a Necaxa y Mancilla fue transferido a Toluca". alairelibre.cl (in Spanish). Radio Cooperativa. 16 June 2008. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  3. ^ "Sebastián Roco es la nueva carta defensiva de Everton". Cooperativa.cl. Viña del Mar. 1 July 2009.
  4. ^ "Flamengo evalúa contratar a Sebastián Roco". La Tercera.cl. 2 March 2012.
  5. ^ "Chile derrotó a Nueva Zelanda por 4-1 en Rancagua". Emol.cl. 25 April 2006.
  6. ^ a b Reyes, Luis (18 July 2017). "Las dinastías del fútbol chileno que jugaron en un mismo club" (in Spanish). AS Chile. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  7. ^ Jeria, Diego (5 June 2020). "El hijo de Sebastián Roco es el nuevo y flamante jugador de Huachipato". RedGol (in Spanish). Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  8. ^ Héctor Roco Leiva at CeroaCero
  9. ^ "Héctor Roco Leiva es el nuevo Director Técnico de Unión San Felipe". VTV (in Spanish). 25 November 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
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