Matías Nicolás Rojas Romero (born 3 November 1995) is a Paraguayan professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Argentine Primera División club River Plate. He also plays for the Paraguay national football team.
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Matías Nicolás Rojas Romero | ||
| Date of birth | 3 November 1995 | ||
| Place of birth | Asunción, Paraguay[1] | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Attacking midfielder[3] | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Cerro Porteño | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2014–2019 | Cerro Porteño | 31 | (2) |
| 2017–2018 | → Lanús (loan) | 9 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | → Defensa y Justicia (loan) | 22 | (10) |
| 2019–2023 | Racing Club | 61 | (6) |
| 2023–2024 | Corinthians | 24 | (0) |
| 2024 | Inter Miami | 11 | (4) |
| 2025– | River Plate | 0 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2019– | Paraguay | 21 | (1) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 30 April 2024 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24 June 2024 | |||
Club career
editRojas' first club in his career was Cerro Porteño.[2][4] He made his debut for the Paraguayan Primera División club in March 2014 during a defeat to Nacional.[2] A year later, Rojas netted his first senior goal on 13 March 2015 as Cerro Porteño beat Deportivo Capiatá 3–2 at the Estadio Defensores del Chaco.[2] One further goal, against Sportivo Luqueño, followed as Rojas featured thirty-four times across 2015 and 2016.[2] On 10 January 2017, Rojas was loaned to Lanús of the Argentine Primera División.[2][5][6] He remained for seventeen months, making eighteen appearances and scoring once; in the Copa Argentina.[2]
Rojas arrived back to Cerro Porteño on 30 June 2018, but returned to Argentina on loan weeks later after agreeing to join fellow Argentine Primera División side Defensa y Justicia.[2][7][8] He scored on his first start, netting an equaliser in a 1–1 draw with Belgrano.[2] Rojas departed Cerro Porteño permanently in June 2019, staying in Argentina after signing terms with Racing Club of the Primera División. He would then move to Brazil, joining Corinthians in 2023, he would leave the club in 2024. [1]
Inter Miami
editIn April 2024, Rojas transferred to Major League Soccer club Inter Miami as a free transfer. On April 27th he made his MLS debut in a 4-1 win against New England Revolution. Then on May 4th he scored his first two goals for Inter Miami in a thrashing 6-2 win against New York Red Bulls. He then scored against CF Montréal it resulted in a 2-3 win. On December 9th Inter Miami released him.
River Plate
editOn January 9th in 2025 he would go back to Argentina signing for River Plate on a free transfer. On January 17th he would make his debut for the club in a friendly in a 2-1 win against Chilean club Club Universidad de Chile.
International career
editOn 2 March 2019, Rojas received a call-up to the Paraguay national team from Eduardo Berizzo ahead of that month's friendlies with Peru and Mexico.[9][10] He made his debut on 22 March in the game against Peru, as a 66th-minute substitute for Cecilio Domínguez.[11] Berizzo subsequently selected Rojas in his preliminary squad for the 2019 Copa América on 13 May, before making the official tournament squad on 29 May.[12][13]He was selected for the 26-man final preliminary squad 2024 Copa América on June 15. He would make only appearance in one of their three games. as Paraguay were eliminated at the bottom of their group winning no games.
Career statistics
editClub
edit- As of 1 July 2019[2]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Cerro Porteño | 2014 | Paraguayan Primera División | 1 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2015 | 19 | 2 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 2 | ||||
| 2016 | 11 | 0 | — | — | 4[a] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 0 | ||||
| 2017 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| 2018 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2019 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 31 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 2 | |||
| Lanús (loan) | 2016–17 | Argentine Primera División | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 4[b] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2017–18 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | 3[b] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | |||
| Total | 9 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 1 | |||
| Defensa y Justicia (loan) | 2018–19 | Argentine Primera División | 22 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2[a] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 10 |
| Career total | 62 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 80 | 13 | ||
- ^ a b Appearance(s) in the Copa Sudamericana
- ^ a b Appearance(s) in the Copa Libertadores
International
edit- As of match played 24 June 2024[2]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paraguay | 2019 | 7 | 0 |
| 2020 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2024 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 21 | 1 | |
International goals
edit| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 27 March 2023 | Estadio Monumental David Arellano, Santiago, Chile | Chile | 1–1 | 2–3 | Friendly |
Honours
editCerro Porteño[2]
Racing Club
Inter Miami
References
edit- ^ a b "Matías Rojas, el primer refuerzo de la temporada". Racing Club. 11 June 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "Paraguay - M. Rojas". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ "Matías Rojas". World Football. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
- ^ "Ficha Estadistica de MATIAS ROJAS". BDFA. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ "El paraguayo Matías Rojas, nuevo jugador de Lanús". TyC Sports. 6 January 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ "Matías Rojas tuvo su primer entrenamiento en Lanús". El Gráfico. 11 January 2017. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ "Defensa y Justicia da la bienvenida a Rojas". ABC. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ "Matías Rojas continuará su carrera en Defensa y Justicia". D10. 12 July 2018. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ "23 albirrojos de clubes del exterior para amistosos vs. Perú y México". APF. 2 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ "Matías Rojas es convocado por Berizzo para la Selección de Paraguay". Marca. 3 March 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2019.
- ^ "Peru v Paraguay game report". ESPN. 22 March 2019.
- ^ "Los 40 elegidos por el DT Eduardo Berizzo, para integrar la lista provisional". APF. 13 May 2019. Retrieved 18 May 2019.
- ^ "La lista definitiva (23) de la Albirroja para la Copa América "Brasil 2019"". APF. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 13 June 2019.
- ^ "Racing venció a Boca en un escandaloso final y se quedó con el Trofeo de Campeones" [Racing beat Boca in controversial ending and took Champions Trophy] (in Spanish). TyC Sports. 6 November 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
- ^ Sigal, Jonathan (2 October 2024). "Inter Miami win 2024 MLS Supporters' Shield". MLS Soccer. Retrieved 2 October 2024.
External links
edit- Matías Rojas at Soccerway
- Matías Rojas at National-Football-Teams.com