Francais | English | Espanõl

Deco

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search
This article is about the football player. You may be looking for Art Deco.
For the video game company, see Data East.
Deco
Image:Decoportugal.jpg
Personal information
Full name Anderson Luis de Souza
Date of birth August 27 1977 (age 32)
Place of birth São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil
Height 174cm (5'8½")
Nickname Mágico
Deco
Position Midfielder
Club information
Current club FC Barcelona
Number 20
Youth clubs
1995 - 1996 Nacional
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1996-1997
1997
1997 - 1998
1998
1999 - 2004
2004 - 		Corinthians
Corinthians (AL)
Alverca
Salgueiros
FC Porto
FC Barcelona 		2 (0)

32 (13)
9 (2)
148 (32)
83 (15)
National team**
2003 – Portugal, 43 (3)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of July 8, 2006.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of November 15, 2006.

Anderson Luis de Souza, OIH (born August 27 1977 in São Bernardo do Campo, Brazil) is a professional footballer widely known as Deco (pron. IPA: ['dɛku]). He plays internationally for Portugal and for FC Barcelona at club level.

Contents

[edit] Arrival in Europe

Deco arrived at Portugal in 1997 at the age of 19 from the Brazilian club Corinthians to play for Lisbon side SL Benfica, along with fellow Brazilian player Caju. Despite good showings in training, Benfica decided to loan the player to the Portuguese Liga de Honra side Alverca where he played for a season. Deco performed well and was close to renewing his contract with Benfica and join the main squad. However, the Lisbon club and the player's representative did not reach an agreement, as the manager Graeme Souness did not think that he would develop into a player worth keeping. Subsequently Deco was traded to Porto side Salgueiros in the 1998-99 season, playing 12 games and scoring two goals by December. His performances caught the eye of FC Porto's staff, and during the winter transfer window he was sold to Porto, where he played six more games that season.

[edit] FC Porto Years

His early years at Porto showed him to be a talented playmaker and earned him the nickname "Magico" from the Porto fans for his magical touch. He was known to be a gifted, yet truculent "número dez" (number 10) since he devoted more than usual effort to defensive play than was expected from a playmaker. This made him register almost as many cards as assists and goals scored. His behaviour proved costly to Porto in games where he was either sent off or wasn't "tuned in" with the game. Nevertheless, he was a key figure during the three-year drought in the early 2000s, and was linked with a move to Catalan giants FC Barcelona.

[edit] Success

Under the guidance of José Mourinho, Deco was given the role of leading an ambitious Porto team. A key figure in the 2002-03 season, he scored 10 goals in 30 games, but nevertheless got 17 yellow cards and one red card, becoming one of the key players in the 2003 UEFA Cup 3-2 win over Celtic. The following year Deco helped Porto recapture the national title, and led the Champions League in assists and fouls suffered, in a run that ended with a 3-0 victory over AS Monaco in the Champions League final, where he scored the second goal. His final season at Porto earned him UEFA's MVP (Most Valuable Player) award, as well as the award for the best midfielder in the competition.

[edit] National team

Never called to the Seleção (Brazilian national team), Deco was mentioned several times in the media as an option for the Portuguese national team. In 2002, having completed six years of Portuguese residence, he received Portuguese citizenship. After many months of public discussion which split Portuguese public opinion, and despite the opposition of a large number of FC Porto rivals' supporters, he was called up for his first international - ironically against his birth country - played at the Estádio das Antas, on 29 March 2003. He played only eight minutes in his debut, but in that time he managed to score the free kick that stunned Brazil, leading to a 2-1 win for Portugal. This was Portugal's first win over Brazil since the 1966 FIFA World Cup. Since that game, he has been a regular in the national team, despite initial criticism by players such as Luís Figo. Even with the criticism, Deco's performance was one the highlights of the Portuguese National Team. He has scored 3 goals in 39 caps for Portugal as of July 2006.

During the 2003-04 season, Deco was the player who had won the most trophies and awards. Deco holds, after winning the UEFA Champions League in 2005-06, more international trophies than the Portuguese superstar Luís Figo.

During the 2006 Fifa World Cup, he also scored the first goal in Portugal's second group match against Iran. During the first knockout stage of the competition Deco received two yellow cards in the game against the Netherlands, which put him out of the quarter finals against England.

On July the 5th, Deco and the Portuguese National Team failed to score and lost to eventual Cup runners-up France 1-0.

[edit] FC Barcelona

Image:Ronaldinho deco.jpg On 17 June 2004, Deco told a Portuguese radio station that he would almost certainly join English side Chelsea (then coached by Mourinho) following Euro 2004. He said that a transfer deal between FC Porto and Chelsea had been all but finalized, and that the only remaining steps were passing a physical examination and signing a formal contract with Chelsea.

However, on 26 June 2004 he told the Portuguese sports daily O Jogo that he would rather move to FC Barcelona than follow Mourinho, his former coach, to Chelsea. While Bayern Munich gave up on Deco after the Chelsea deal seemed to have been concluded, it was still uncertain whether the German side would make a new bid. The best offer at that time was €21M from Barça, but this figure was still 4M short of the request by Porto's board. Portuguese newspapers then reported that Barça would try to offer Portuguese winger Ricardo Quaresma in part-exchange in order to ease the deal.

Finally, a deal was achieved between FC Porto and Barcelona the day after the Euro 2004 final. Barça agreed on a €15M fee, plus the complete rights of Ricardo Quaresma. Deco signed a four year deal with the Spanish side on 6 July 2004.

In Barcelona some suggested Deco would be completely eclipsed by Brazilian star Ronaldinho (a duo that according to Luiz Felipe Scolari "can make rain fall"). Indeed, many Barcelona fans met the transfer with raised eyebrows, as Deco was considered an attacking midfielder - a department which was already well covered. Instead, Rijkaard used him in a pure central midfield position, where his tactical knowledge, defensive abilities and enormous work rate surprised many. In December 2004, he came second in France Football's Ballon D'Or 2004 award, losing to Andriy Shevchenko and beating team mate Ronaldinho by six votes.

On 14 May 2005, Deco played in the draw against Levante UD, which gave Barcelona their 17th Liga title. In that same season his former FC Porto team-mates Ricardo Carvalho, Paulo Ferreira and José Mourinho became English champions at Chelsea. Perhaps ironically, it was Chelsea who knocked Barcelona out of the Champions League earlier that season. However, During the 2005-2006 competition, it was Barca knocking out Chelsea, and then continuing on to win in a final against English Premier League side Arsenal, 2-1. Deco recently scored twice in the Spanish Supercup 06-07 which Barca won. Deco has also won the UEFA Best Midfielder Award 06-07 for his performance in last season's Champions League campaign which Barca won, becoming the first player to win the same award twice with different teams, having won it with Porto.

[edit] Honors

  • FC Barcelona: UEFA Supercup Runners-up, Spanish Supercup 2006-07, UEFA Champions League 2005-06, Spanish La Liga 2005-06, Spanish Supercup 2005-06, Spanish La Liga 2004-05.
  • FC Porto: UEFA Champions League 2003-04, Portuguese League 2003-04, UEFA Cup 2002-03, Portuguese League 2002-03, Portuguese Cup 2002-03, Portuguese Supercup 2002-03, Portuguese Cup 2000-01, Portuguese Supercup 2000-01, Portuguese Cup 1999-00, Portuguese League 1998-99, Portuguese Supercup 1998-99.
  • Portugal National Team: Euro 2003-04 Runners-Ups.
  • Individual Awards: UEFA Best Midfielder Award 2006-07, 2003-04 Silver Ball (Second position of the European Player of the Year Award), UEFA Champions League MVP 2003-04, UEFA Champions League Best Midfielder 2003-04.

[edit] Facts about Deco

  • Deco is currently the only Portuguese player in the Barcelona squad.
  • Deco is also one of the few players to win the UEFA Champions League with two different clubs.
  • Deco's nicknames at FC Porto were "Mágico" and "SuperDeco".
  • Deco was named man of the match at the 2003-04 Champions League final.
  • Deco scored the first goal of Barcelona's Champions League-winning campaign.
  • In most matches, Deco tops the committed fouls list but he also tops the suffered fouls list.
  • Deco scored the winning goal on his international debut against Brazil to give Portugal its first victory over Brazil since the 1966 World Cup.
  • Deco is the first player to win the UEFA Best Midfielder Award with two different clubs, once each.
  • Deco is married to Jaciara

[edit] Goals

  • Total: 81 goals.

[edit] Alverca

  • Portuguese League: 13 goals.

[edit] Salgueiros

  • Portuguese League: 2 goals.

[edit] FC Porto

  • Portuguese League: 32 goals.
  • UEFA Cup : 5 goals.
  • UEFA Champions League: 8 goals.

[edit] FC Barcelona

  • Spanish La Liga: 10 goals.
  • UEFA Champions League: 4 goals.
  • Spanish Supercup: 2 goals

[edit] Portugal

  • International friendly: 2 goals.
  • Portugal: 3 goals.

[edit] Quotes

  • "Deco doesn't talk a lot but when he does everybody listens" - Lionel Messi on Deco.
  • "World class" - José Mourinho on Deco.
  • "My choice of Deco had to do with his technical and professional qualities and his strong determination in reaching the objectives," - Scolari on the inclusion of Deco into the Portuguese National Squad.
  • "Deco is the barometer of our season, when he is in form the quality of the game rises, when he is not so good the team as a whole performs less well" - Barca Coach Frank Rijkaard on Deco.
  • "He's a great player. It would be foolish to underestimate him" - Ex-Celtic coach Martin O'Neill on Deco during the 2002-03 UEFA Cup Final.

[edit] External links

Image:Commons-logo.svg
 Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Preceded by:
Pavel Nedvěd 		UEFA Champions League Best Midfielder
2003-04 		Succeeded by:
Kaká
Preceded by:
Gianluigi Buffon 		UEFA Champions League Most Valuable Player
2003-04 		Succeeded by:
Steven Gerrard
Preceded by:
Kaká 		UEFA Champions League Best Midfielder
2005-06 		Succeeded by:
current holder



Image:Flag of Portugal.svg Portugal squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place Image:Flag of Portugal.svg

1 Ricardo | 2 Ferreira | 3 Caneira | 4 Costa | 5 Meira | 6 Costinha | 7 Figo | 8 Petit | 9 Pauleta | 10 Viana | 11 Simão | 12 Quim | 13 Miguel | 14 Valente | 15 Boa Morte | 16 Carvalho | 17 Ronaldo | 18 Maniche | 19 Tiago | 20 Deco | 21 Nuno Gomes | 22 Santos | 23 Postiga | Coach: Scolari

FC Barcelona - Current Squad

1 Valdés | 2 Belletti | 3 Motta | 4 Márquez | 5 Puyol | 6 Xavi | 7 Guðjohnsen | 8 Giuly | 9 Eto'o | 10 Ronaldinho | 11 Zambrotta | 12 Gio | 15 Edmílson | 16 Sylvinho | 18 Ezquerro | 19 Messi | 20 Deco | 21 Thuram | 22 Saviola | 23 Oleguer | 24 Iniesta | 25 Jorquera | 28 Ruben | 29 Valiente | 32 Crosas | 33 Jeffrén | Coach: Rijkaard

ar:ديكو

bg:Деко ca:Anderson Luis de Souza cs:Deco de:Deco et:Deco es:Deco eo:Anderson Luiz de Sousa fr:Deco ga:Anderson Luis de Souza gl:Deco id:Deco it:Deco he:דקו lt:Deco nl:Deco ja:デコ・ソウザ no:Deco pl:Deco pt:Deco (futebolista) ru:Деку fi:Deco sv:Deco vi:Deco tr:Deco uk:Деку (футболіст) zh:迪高

Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Deco"
Personal tools