Do You Remember Them #21- Juan Pablo Angel
- Andrew Cheam
- Aug 16, 2020
- 4 min read
Biodata
Full Name: Juan Pablo Angel Arango
Nationality: Colombian
Date of Birth: 24 October 1975
Position: Forward
Former Clubs:
1993- 1997 Atletico Nacional
1997- 2001 River Plate
2001- 2007 Aston Villa
2007- 2010 New York Red Bulls
2011 Los Angeles Galaxy
2011- 2012 Chivas USA
2013- 2014 Atletico Nacional
International Career:
1995- 2005 Colombia
Achievement:
Atletico Nacional
1994 Categoria Primera A
1995 Copa Interamericana
2013 Categoria Primera A - I
2013 Categoria Primera A - II
2013 Copa Colombia
2014 Categoria Primera A - I
River Plate
1999 Apertura Primera Division Argentina
2000 Clausura Primera Division Argentina
Aston Villa
2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup
Career
The fate of South American striker in the English Premier League is very polarised. Hence, getting a striker from South America is like playing a lottery. We could either get a top-class striker like Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez, we could also get a total flop like Jo and Diego Forlan. In the case of the main character for this article, Aston Villa had actually get a bargain despite paying a club’s record signing in January 2001 as only two players have scored more goals for Aston Villa in Premier League era. He is Juan Pablo Angel.
Angel started his footballing career in his hometown side, Atletico Nacional and made his debut for the club at only age 18. He began to put his name on the limelight when he scored to winning goal against local rival, Independiente Medellin to secure 1994 Colombian league title. During his four seasons stay in Atletico Nacional, Angel had scored 45 league goals in 147 league matches, almost a goal in every three games. He even managed to earn himself his first Colombia national team cap in a World Cup Qualification match against Bolivia at the age of 21, as the substitution for Anthony de Avila for the remaining 5 minutes of the game. His performance had attracted the attention of River Plate in January 1998 as the replacement of Hernan Crespo. Despite the lack of silverware in Argentina, Angel performance was magnificent as he managed to score 62 goals in 132 matches, including an incredible 16 goals in 25 games in Copa Libertadores.
Europe finally came calling as Angel signed for Aston Villa on January 2001, breaking the club’s record transfer fee at 9.5million Pounds. However, the mixture of family difficulties and hard to adapt to the English Premier League had caused Angel to struggle. He only registered his first goal in England in May in the match against Coventry. Things had gone better for Angel as he regained his goal-scoring form once he finally settled down in England. His best form came at 2003-2004 season as he scored 23 goals in all competition, which helped Aston Villa to finish 6th in the league and reached the semi-final in EFL League Cup. Only Christian Benteke and Tammy Abraham had managed to score more than 20 goals in a season since then. However, he could not continue his goal-scoring form in Villa Park as he only scored 19 goals in all competition for the next three seasons.
Angel’s spell in Europe had ended when New York Red Bulls announced his signing to the club in April 2007. His spell in the United States started brightly as he scored a free-kick as a substitute in his debut in a US Open Cup qualifying match against Los Angeles Galaxy. Angel had certainly enjoyed his time in New York as he finally rediscovered his prolific goal scoring form in the Major League Soccer. He had hit double figures for his goal scored in every season in New York Red Bulls, becoming the club’s all-time leading goalscorer at the same time (which since broken by Bradley Wright-Phillips in 2016). His goal contributions had helped New York Red Bulls to qualify to the MLS Playoffs in three of the four seasons that he played for the team. Despite his fine form for the club, New York Red Bulls had declined Angel’s contract option, and he participated in the 2010 MLS Re-Entry Draft.
On December 2010, Angel was selected by Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS Re-Entry Draft and signed a multi-year contract with him on January 2011. His first match for the Los Angeles Galaxy was against New England Revolution as a substitute for the remaining 30 minutes and, his debut goal was on the next match against Real Salt Lake, which ended in a Los Angeles Galaxy defeat. Throughout Angel’s time in Los Angeles Galaxy, he was not the main man in the team as he was alongside two of the biggest name in the MLS history (David Beckham and Landon Donovan). He was then traded to Chivas USA to make room for the new designated player, Robbie Keane in the team. Angel’s six months spell in Los Angeles Galaxy is proved to be a disappointment.
Angel’s career in Chivas USA starting well as he scored a debut goal against Colorado Rapids in just around 40 minutes in his new club. He rediscovered his goal-scoring form by scoring 7 goals in just 9 remaining matches in the season. Angel stayed in Chivas USA for one more season, but the performance for both club and player are miserable as he only scored 4 goals in all season and Chivas USA finished second-bottom at the end of the season. His contract expired at the end of the season and returned to his boyhood club, Atletico Nacional on a one-year contract, played as a club captain at the same time. His goalscoring ability had helped his club to achieve three consecutive league titles (from 2013 Apertura to 2014 Apertura format). He also helped his club to reach finals for Copa Sudamericana, where his team lost to River Plate. At the end of the 2014 season in Colombian League, Angel hung up his boots at the age of 39.
Post Retirement
Juan Pablo Angel is still active in football after his retirement as the football player. He was appointed as the technical consultant for the newly formed Los Angeles FC in the Major League Soccer, which he still holds the position until now. He based in Colombia to help Los Angeles FC to build and grow the team talent network in South America.
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