Aleksandrs Cauņa

Aleksandrs Cauņa
Cauņa with CSKA Moscow in 2014
Personal information
Date of birth (1988-01-19) 19 January 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth Daugavpils, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union
(now Republic of Latvia)
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1995–2002 Dinaburg
2002–2005 Skonto Riga
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006 Olimps Riga 10 (2)
2006–2011 Skonto Riga 77 (16)
2009Watford (loan) 5 (1)
2011CSKA Moscow (loan) 4 (0)
2011–2017 CSKA Moscow 56 (3)
2017–2018 RFS 2 (0)
2020 FK Jelgava 1 (0)
Total 155 (22)
International career
2007–2015 Latvia 45 (12)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Aleksandrs Cauņa (Latvian pronunciation: [ˈt͡sauɲa]; born 19 January 1988) is a Latvian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Career

Club

Born in Daugavpils, at youth level Cauņa played for Dinaburg, being brought to Skonto Riga system at the age of 14 in 2002, where he spent three years. In 2006, he joined the Latvian First League side Olimps Riga, playing 10 matches and scoring 2 goals. In 2006, he re-joined Skonto Riga and got a place in the starting eleven. He was named the best youth player in Latvia despite playing only half the season in 2006.

In January 2008 Cauņa was invited to join the Premier League club Chelsea on trial and he trained with the club's reserves.[1] After the 2008 season Cauņa was on trials at several Premier League clubs, including Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland, but moves eventually fell through as managers Paul Ince and Roy Keane left the clubs.[2][3]

On 2 February 2009, he joined English Championship club Watford on loan until the end of the 2008–09 season, with a view to a permanent move.[4] On 3 March he made his debut, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute for Jon Harley in the 2–1 defeat to Plymouth Argyle at Home Park. Cauņa scored his first Watford goal on his full debut for the club, firing a powerful half-volley in a 2–2 draw with Southampton at Vicarage Road on 7 April 2009.[5] He returned to Skonto at the end of the season.

On 25 August 2010, he went on trial with English Premier League side Blackpool, playing in their Lancashire Senior Cup tie against Morecambe later the same day at Bloomfield Road, but did not stay with the club.[6]

CSKA Moscow

At the start of 2011 Cauņa went on trial with the Russian Premier League side PFC CSKA Moscow, and on 1 February 2011 he was loaned to the club for four months.[7] He made his debut on 17 February in the UEFA Europa League match against PAOK.[8]

On 27 June 2011, CSKA bought out his rights from Skonto and he signed a five-year contract with CSKA.[9] On 18 October 2011, Cauņa scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League group stages in a 3–0 victory over Trabzonspor.[10]

Cauņa scored his first Russian Premier League goal for CSKA on 19 August 2012 in a match against Mordovia Saransk. On 26 August 2012, Cauņa scored his second RPL goal against Krylia Sovetov Samara – a powerful blast from 30 metres,[11] that was later highly rated and put him in the team of the week.[12] On 26 September Cauņa and CSKA matched up against FC Tom Tomsk at the 1/16 stage of Russian Cup. CSKA came out with 1–0 win, with Cauņa being a goalscorer. He made an undeniable shot with left foot from outside the penalty area.

Cauņa left CSKA Moscow by mutual consent on 11 January 2017.[13]

FK Jelgava

On 28 December 2018, it was announced, that Cauna had signed with FK Jelgava as a coach, but he also wanted to return on the pitch some time.[14]

International career

Cauņa was a vital member of the Latvia national team since his international debut in 2007. He scored his first two international goals in 2009 – in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification matches against Luxembourg (a 4–0 win) and Switzerland (a 2–2 draw). His third goal came on 11 August 2010 in a 4–1 friendly match defeat to Czech Republic. It was his first appearance after recovering from a serious injury and being out of football for almost six months. On 12 October he scored a last-minute bicycle kick to level against Georgia in a UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying match. In 2008, he helped the team win the Baltic Cup.[15] As of 3 November 2013 he had made 40 appearances for Latvia, scoring 11 goals.[16]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[17][18]
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Skonto Riga 2006 LMT Virslīga 10 2 1 0 11 2
2007 22 4 1 0 23 4
2008 22 1 0 0 22 1
2009 11 4 2 0 13 4
2010 12 5 0 0 12 5
2011 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 77 16 0 0 4 0 0 0 81 16
Watford (loan) 2008–09 Championship 5 1 0 0 0 0 5 1
CSKA Moscow (loan) 2011–12 Russian Premier League 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0
CSKA Moscow 2011–12 Russian Premier League 13 0 1 0 7 1 21 1
2012–13 25 3 4 1 2 0 31 4
2013–14 4 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 5 0
2014–15 5 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 8 0
2015–16 9 0 2 1 2 0 0 0 13 1
2016–17 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 56 3 8 2 0 0 14 1 0 0 78 6
RFS 2017 Latvian Higher League 2 0 0 0 2 0
FK Jelgava 2020 Latvian Higher League 1 0 0 0 1 0
Career total 145 20 8 2 0 0 18 1 0 0 171 23

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[18]
National team Year Apps Goals
Latvia 2007 3 0
2008 6 0
2009 7 2
2010 5 2
2011 7 3
2012 7 2
2013 4 1
2014 1 0
2015 4 1
2016 0 0
2017 0 0
Total 44 11
Scores and results list Latvia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cauņa goal.
List of international goals scored by Aleksandrs Cauņa
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 28 March 2009 Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg  Luxembourg 2–0 4–0 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
2 9 September 2009 Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia   Switzerland 1–1 2–2 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification
3 11 August 2010 Stadion u Nisy, Liberec, Czech Republic  Czech Republic 1–4 1–4 Friendly
4 12 October 2010 Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia  Georgia 1–1 1–1 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
5 4 June 2011 Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia  Israel 1–2 1–2 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
6 2 September 2011 Mikheil Meskhi Stadium, Tbilisi, Georgia  Georgia 1–0 1–0 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
7 6 September 2011 Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia  Greece 1–0 1–1 UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying
8 1 June 2012 Võru Stadium, Võru, Estonia  Lithuania 1–0 5–0 2012 Baltic Cup
9 7 September 2012 Skonto Stadium, Riga, Latvia  Greece 1–0 1–2 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
10 22 March 2013 Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz, Liechtenstein  Liechtenstein 1–1 1–1 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
11 10 October 2015 Laugardalsvöllur, Reykjavík, Iceland  Iceland 2–1 2–2 UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying

Non-FIFA International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 9 February 2011 Mardan Sports Complex, Antalya, Turkey  Bolivia 1–1 2–1 Friendly

Honours

Skonto Riga

CSKA Moscow

Latvia

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Cauņa aizvada pirmo treniņu 'Chelsea' otrās komandas sastāvā". 24 January 2008.
  2. ^ "Inss atlaists, Cauņas izredzes sarūk". 16 December 2008.
  3. ^ "Cauņa: "Pēc Kīna aiziešanas situācija ir bēdīga"". 5 December 2008.
  4. ^ Smith, Frank (2 February 2009). "Watford sign midfielders Don Cowie and Aleksandrs Cauna". Watford Observer. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  5. ^ "Watford 2-2 Southampton". BBC. 7 April 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2013.
  6. ^ "TEAM NEWS FROM BLOOMFIELD ROAD". Blackpool F.C. 25 August 2010. Archived from the original on 27 August 2010. Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  7. ^ "Cauņa spēlēs Maskavas "CSKA"". sportacentrs.com. February 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  8. ^ "Cauņa debitē "CSKA" ar aktīvu līdzdarbošanos vārtu guvumā". sportacentrs.com. 17 February 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  9. ^ "Цауня подписал контракт с ПФК ЦСКА". PFC CSKA Moscow. 27 June 2011. Archived from the original on 26 March 2012.
  10. ^ "B grupa: Cauņa gūst vārtus Čempionu līgā". sportacentrs.com. 18 October 2011. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  11. ^ "Cauņa gūst vārtus otrajā Krievijas Premjerlīgas spēlē pēc kārtas". 26 August 2012.
  12. ^ "Cauņa simboliskajā izlasē, Višņakovam debija Krievijā". 28 August 2012.
  13. ^ "Александр Цауня покинул ПФК ЦСКА". pfc-cska.com (in Russian). PFC CSKA Moscow. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
  14. ^ Cauņa pievienojas FK «Jelgava» treneru kolektīvam, grib būt arī futbolists, lsm.lv, 28 December 2018
  15. ^ "LFF: Baltijas Kauss". Lff.lv. 30 May 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  16. ^ "LFF: SPĒLĒTĀJI". Lff.lv. Archived from the original on 12 February 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2011.
  17. ^ "A.Cauņa". uk.soccerway.com. Soccerway. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  18. ^ a b "Aleksandrs Cauņa". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved 11 January 2017.