Connections - Brazil, part one

Our connections with Brazil date back from the recent past to 1908. In this series we will recall those various Brazilians who have played for Tottenham. The club sides we have met  and some of the international links. There is also two occasions when we nearly played there.
So where better to start than White Hart Lane.

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Where on 5th September 2006 Brazil played a friendly international game with Wales. Which they won 2-0. In the 74th minute they brought on a substitute at left back who would later become the first man from that country to play for us. Gilberto played for the Hertha Berlin club and joined us on deadline day in January 2008.

It seems slightly odd that Tottenham who have always been at the forefront of the transfer market and lead the way in bringing international players to these shores have not had more Brazilian players in their ranks. Spurs have always played with flair and searched the globe to bring talented individuals to the club.
When we did sign a Brazilian it wasn’t one of the skilful geniuses that we associate with that country it was a full back who could also play on the left side of midfield.

Brazil V Wales at White Hart Lane

At 31 years of age he had won 27 caps for his country. He had been a member of the national squad in the Copa America in 2004 and 2007 as well as the 2005 Confederations Cup. In 2006 he had been part of the squad for the 2006 World Cup and scored his first international goal in that competitions finals. He had European experience having spent three and a half years in Germany where he had made 101 appearances for his club with 14 goals.  Before moving to Berlin he had been playing for the Sao Caetano club in Brazil.

Things did not seem to go well for Gilberto from the start. An injury delayed his debut to the 6th March. On that night we played PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Cup at home and we lost 1-0. It was Gilberto’s error that led directly to their goal. Although we won the second leg by the same score in a game that Gilberto did not feature in we lost the tie in the penalty shootout. Where another connection is found, the PSV goalie for the tie was one Heurelho Gomes who was in stunning form and would of course later sign for Tottenham and had played in the game V Wales.

Canto do Rio Matchday programme

Gilberto made his league debut three days after his European game. Coming on as a substitute and playing in midfield he turned sharply and shot home his first and only goal  for the club into the net at the Paxton Road end to help us set up a victory over West Ham by four goals to nil. He would only make five more appearances that season, two of them from the bench, and mostly at the end of the season when our mid-table status was confirmed. 

The following season he had little chance to make an impact. In total he made just three more appearances for Spurs. One in the league and two in the UEFA cup and was substituted in all of them. He left the club in 2009 when his contract was cancelled by mutual consent and he returned home to find a club to play for in Brazil.
While he was at Tottenham despite playing so few games for us he still won 5 more international caps.

Gilberto

As for that Brazilian game  at White Hart Lane. the Welsh included a 17 year old winning his second cap, Gareth Bale. This was the last time to date the two sides have met.
The first time they played each other was in the quarter finals of the World Cup in 1958. The Brazilians won by the only goal and Spurs had Cliff Jones and Mel Hopkins in their side, (1).

The first South American club to play at White Hart Lane was Canto do Rio in April 1958. The then Rio Champions from the 1956/57 season. They were on a European tour having previously played in Spain, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland before finishing with three games in England. Tottenham won the game 4-1 with goals from Blanchflower, Smith and two from Clayton.

Heurelho Gomes became something of a legend at Tottenham. One moment he would produce a save that left you speechless the next moment a match costing howler.

He joined us from PSV and made 105 appearances for the club before moving to Watford.

He has won 11 caps for his country including a runners up medal at the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2003. He was a squad member at both  the World Cup 2010 and the Confederations Cup 2005. He has also won 14 caps at under 23 level.

Cliff Jones V Brazil 1958

The good and bad at Tottenham, He once saved two penalties in a game at Sunderland in 2010 and later the same year he was sent off in the first ten minutes away to Inter Milan in the Champions League.

In part 2- The first Spurs players to go to Brazil, another Brazilian club visits Tottenham and another ex-player. http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/connections-brazil-part-two

COYS
Keith Harrison.
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Notes - 1 - The Welsh at 1958 World Cup see -
http://www.indiaspurs.com/blog/flying-down-to-rio-flight-five