Fresh Soccer Star - Santiago Arias, Colombian footballer

 

Santiago Arias Naranjo (born 13 January 1992 in Medellín, Colombia) is a Colombian footballer who plays for Sporting Clube de Portugal B, and can either operate as a right defender or right midfielder.

Santiago Arias was part of Colombia U17 team who finished fourth in the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, playing all matches (except third place match, making a total of 6 appearances) and scoring the first penalty during quarter-final penalty shoot-out against Turkey.

In 2011, Santiago Arias played all 9 matches for Colombia U20 team when they finished sixth in the 2011 South American Youth Championship. Eduardo Lara, Colombia's coach, also called him for the 2011 Toulon Tournament where Arias, who started all 5 matches, was part of Colombia's team that reached and won the final.

 

 

Soccer Star - Radamel Falcao García, Colombian football striker

Radamel Falcao García Zárate (born 10 February 1986 in Santa Marta, Colombia), commonly known simply as Falcao and sometimes nicknamed El Tigre, is a Colombian football striker who currently plays for Atlético Madrid.

Falcao is widely considered to be one of the best strikers in the world, having surpassed Jürgen Klinsmann's record of 15 goals (17) in a single annual international club football European competition UEFA Champions League/UEFA Europa League campaign. He also played a key role in guiding Porto to a second UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League title, as well as finishing undefeated in the 2010–11 Primeira Liga season. In July 2011, Falcao was regarded as the fifth best player in Europe during the 2010–11 season through balloting by 53 sportswriters of the UEFA member associations. Falcao was considered the second best goal scorer by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics for 2011 superseded only by Argentine Lionel Messi who was first. Falcao had also received the Portuguese Golden Ball award for 2011 becoming the first Colombian to do so.