Marcelo Elizaga

Elizaga started his career in 1992 for Nueva Chicago in the Argentine 2nd division. In 1998, he transferred to Club Atlético Lanús in the Primera Division Argentina. In 2000, he joined Quilmes Atlético Club in the 2nd division and helped them gain promotion to the Primera. Since transferring to Emelec he has received awards including Goalkeeper of the Year in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2009 from the Ecuadorian Championship. Elizaga became a citizen of Ecuador after declaring his intention of playing in the international stage. He has also stated that he has a love for his new country.

He made his international debut in May 2007 with Ecuador against Ireland. They later tied 1–1. Selected for the 2007 Copa América, he demonstrated superb goalkeeping skill during Ecuador's final match against giants Brazil keeping the score level until Robinho's penalty. They were eliminated 1–0. Elizaga later got called up for the 3rd and 4th rounds of the FIFA World Cup Qualification in the CONMEBOL region against Paraguay and Peru. Elizaga kept the Peruvians off the scoreboard until he was substituted off. He did not receive a call up for a while but is being put back on the line-up and has demonstrated good showings including Ecuador's victory over Colombia at Giants Stadium, where he stopped a penalty kick as well as the rebound. He continually receives call-ups for the national team, often as a back-up for José Francisco Cevallos. In June 2009, he started in World Cup qualifiers against Peru and Argentina in place of the injured Cevallos. During those matches, he helped the squad earn crucial points for qualification, including a clean-sheet against Argentina in which he saved a penalty kick against Carlos Tevez during the first half of the match. He also performed strongly during a decisive match against Uruguay, but conceded a penalty kick (converted by Diego Forlan) after bringing down an Uruguayan striker in the last minutes of the game, resulting in a 1–2 loss. In 2011, he was called up once again to guard Ecuador's goal posts, this time during the Copa America…