Junior Agogo

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Junior Agogo
Personal information
Full name	Manuel Agogo
Date of birth	August 1, 1979 (1979-08-01) (age 29)
Place of birth	Accra, Ghana
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	El Zamalek
Number	9
Youth career
1995–1997	Sheffield Wednesday
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1997–2000 1999 1999 1999 1999–2000 2000 2000–2001 2001 2002 2002–2003 2003–2006 2006–2008 2008–Present	Sheffield Wednesday → Oldham Athletic (loan) → Chester City (loan) → Chesterfield (loan) → Lincoln City (loan) Chicago Fire Colorado Rapids San Jose Earthquakes Queens Park Rangers Barnet Bristol Rovers Nottingham Forest El Zamalek	002 0(0) 002 0(0) 010 0(6) 004 0(0) 003 0(1) 001 0(0) 032 (15) 014 0(6) 002 0(0) 039 (19) 126 (41) 064 (20) 008 0(4)
National team2
2003 2006–	England National Game XI[1] Ghana	025 0(11)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:55, 14 June 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 22:19, 28 June 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Manuel "Junior" Agogo (born 1 August 1979 in Accra) is an English-Ghanaian footballer. He is a striker and currently plays for El Zamalek.^[2] He has spent most of his career in England, and also spent a spell in Major League Soccer.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 Sheffield Wednesday 1.2 United States 1.3 Back in England 1.4 Bristol Rovers 1.5 Nottingham Forest 1.6 El Zamalek 2 International career 3 Honours 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Club career

[edit] Sheffield Wednesday

Agogo began his career at Sheffield Wednesday in 1995, but only made two league appearances for the Premier League side. During the 1999–00 season he had loan spells at Oldham Athletic, Chester City, Chesterfield, and Lincoln City. His goal for Chester against Cheltenham Town in October 1999, was voted the second-best goal ever scored at the Deva Stadium.^[3]

[edit] United States

In 2000 Agogo left Sheffield Wednesday and moved to the United States to play for the Chicago Fire of Major League Soccer. He was traded to the Colorado Rapids after playing just one match in Chicago, going on to score 15 goals in 32 appearances for the Rapids.

He was traded from Colorado to the San Jose Earthquakes in June 2001 for Chris Carrieri. He played with the Earthquakes for the rest of the 2001 championship season but was waived early in the 2002 pre-season, replaced on the San Jose roster by Devin Barclay.

[edit] Back in England

In 2002, Agogo returned to England, this time with Queens Park Rangers. However, after only two appearances he moved to Football Conference side Barnet where he scored 21 goals in 39 games.

[edit] Bristol Rovers

In the summer of 2003, Agogo joined Third Division side Bristol Rovers. He played the first thirteen games of the 2003–04 season before having to have an operation which kept him out for the next nine games. He finished the campaign with 22 goals in all competitions. Admittedly, most of these competitions were played out in his head, and he only actually scored six in real life.

In May 2004, the side stayed at a hotel in Doncaster, following which Agogo was accused by a waitress of rape. He was cleared of all charges in his February 2005 trial at Sheffield Crown Court.^[4] In the 2004–05 season, Agogo scored 20 goals in 51 appearances; the following season he scored 18 goals from 44 appearances.

[edit] Nottingham Forest

In summer 2006 Rovers turned down bids from Agogo from Championship side Southend United and League One side Nottingham Forest^[5][6] Agogo had a clause in his contract allowing him to speak to other clubs if an acceptable bid was made.^[5] On 30 August 2006 the transfer to Forest was completed for an undisclosed fee, with Agogo signing a three-year contract.^[7] On 3 September 2006 he made made his league debut for Forest as a sub in a home 4–0 win against Chesterfield. He scored seven league goals over the season, with his first on 30 September 2006 against Swansea City in a 3–1 win.

On 22 September 2007 Agogo scored his first goals of the 2007–08 season, a hat-trick in a 4–0 win over Gillingham – the first of his career. He netted two long-range strikes that season with a 35-yard lob of the goalkeeper in Forest's 3–0 win at Yeovil Town and a 25-yard effort in Forest's 4–1 success against Southend United. However, Agogo scored only three goals after his return from the 2008 African Cup of Nations. Nonetheless, he finished as Forest's top-scorer that season with thirteen goals, helping the club gain automatic promotion to the Championship. Agogo was sold during the summer for a fee of £565,000 to El Zamalek.

[edit] El Zamalek

On July 2, 2008, Junior Agogo joined El Zamalek at a time when the team needed a striker. He wore the number 19 shirt for El Zamalek but later shifted to No. 9 after Zamalek agreed to loan Amr Zaki to English side Wigan Athletic for one year. Though ever since the player entered the club he couldn't compensate for the absence of the Egyptian international and has been having disputes with the club official regularly till it hit what seemed to be a dead end. ^{[8] [9]}

[edit] International career

In May 2006 Agogo was called up by Ghana for a friendly against French league side OGC Nice.^[10] However, he was not included in the final Ghanaian World Cup squad. He was recalled to the Ghana squad for an East Asia tour in which he faced Japan and South Korea.

On 14 November 2006, Agogo scored his first goal for Ghana, the equaliser in a friendly against Australia; the game finished 1–1. He also scored the third goal in Ghana's 4–1 victory over Nigeria, played at Brentford's Griffin Park.

Agogo was called up to the Ghana squad for the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations. He played in the first game of the cup against Guinea, hitting the post with a header in the 20th minute and helping Ghana to a 2–1 victory. He then scored in the following game against Namibia, tapping home Michael Essien's cross for the only goal of the game.

Agogo then netted another goal, the winner in the quarter final against Nigeria. Ghana missed out on the final, however, and had to settle for a third-place play-off against the Ivory Coast, in which he scored again in 4–2 victory. Alongside Sulley Muntari he was Ghana's top scorer in the competition.

Currently, along with Asamoah Gyan he is considered Ghana's most prolific active goal scorer - and has netted 11 goals in his first 25 matches for the national team.

[edit] Honours

• League One runner-up with Nottingham Forest, The Football League 2007-08.
• Third place winner with Ghana national football team in Ghana 2008.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Junior Agogo Official Website
• Junior Agogo career stats at Soccerbase
• Manuel Agogo career stats at Soccerbase – another profile for the same player
• Lincoln City F.C. Official Archive Profile
• Unofficial Junior Agogo Profile at The Forgotten Imp

v • d • e Ghana squad – 2008 Africa Cup of Nations Third Place 1 Adjei • 2 Sarpei • 3 Gyan • 4 Paintsil • 5 Mensah • 6 Annan • 7 Kingston • 8 Essien • 9 Agogo • 10 Asamoah • 11 Muntari • 12 Ayew • 13 Gyan • 14 Kumordzi • 15 Barusso • 16 Fatawu Dauda • 17 Asare • 18 Addo • 19 Shilla • 20 Owusu-Abeyie • 21 Afful • 22 Kingson • 23 Dramani • Coach: Le Roy

v • d • e El Zamalek – current squad 1 Monsef · 2 El Safty · 6 Hany · 7 Ghanem · 9 Zaki · 16 Wahed · 18 Shikabala · 20 Fathalla · 21 E.El-Sayed · 22 Magdy · 26 Abdel-Raouf · 27 Mohammed Ibrahim · 32 Sherif Ashraf · 33 Ali · 34 El-Merghany · 35 Emam · 37 Raheel · -- Salah · -- Azmy · -- El Mohamady · -- Abdel-Shafy · -- Gaafar · -- Mosaad · -- Hassan Mostafa · -- Anderson · -- Ayew · Manager: Decastel

Persondata
NAME	Junior Agogo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH	1 August 1979
PLACE OF BIRTH	Accra, Ghana
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH