Copa America.. the Irish connection

**seand** · 17/07/2007, 10:26 AM

With the Copa America and all that�. I was wondering are there or have there been any South Americas in the League of Ireland? Didn�t Sligo have a Bolivian or Ecuadorian recently? Are there any others?

**CharlesThompson** · 17/07/2007, 10:30 AM

Originally Posted by seand

With the Copa America and all that�. I was wondering are there or have there been any South Americas in the League of Ireland? Didn�t Sligo have a Bolivian or Ecuadorian recently? Are there any others?

Did I hear right in that the famous Socrates once played football in Ireland? i.e. not international football I'm talking about.

**Dodge** · 17/07/2007, 10:32 AM

Urban Legend.

He didn't

**Calcio Jack** · 17/07/2007, 10:36 AM

For me the major connection was the Santos visit in 1972 to play a Drums/Bohs selection in Dalymount... Pele played in a cracking game in front of 45,000.... Rovers legend Johhny Fulham scored one of the goals from a penalty... on the same day Ireland's Terry Conroy scored a goal for Stoke City as they beat Chelsea in the League Cup final at Wembley

**Pablo** · 17/07/2007, 10:38 AM

Slightly related.........USA striker Charlie Davies played against us for Hammarby at the weekend having played in the Coppa America.

**sparkey** · 17/07/2007, 10:54 AM

The Brazilian Nelson DaSilva played for Derry City in their early days in the LOI. From memory he was on loan to them from Standard Leige (spelling??) in Belguim. Someone from Derry will be able to verify or slate above statment.

**paul_oshea** · 17/07/2007, 10:58 AM

i often thought about this before, for the full time clubs ( would it be possible for part-time clubs? ) how come they haven't tried to bring over some south american players of average to decent pedigree, it would surely increase the following for all the brazlians in ireland for example, but it would also probably increase the competitiveness of the league. Its just another avenue to explore i reckon.

**Dodge** · 17/07/2007, 11:01 AM

Pats had a couple of Brazillians on our books in 2003. Luis Sacilitto made his debut in the last game of the season. Both of them played for the u21 season. I thought Luis was good but the centre half was rubbish. in the excellent book "Futbol" about Brazilian football they have a chapter on a Brazillian who plays in the Faroes

**Snoop Drog** · 17/07/2007, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by Dodge

Urban Legend.

He didn't

So he wasn't a student and player at UCD?

**ifk101** · 17/07/2007, 11:10 AM

Googled.

Before he became a doctor (and a famous footballer) Brazilian footballer Socrates apparently spent some of his student years in Dublin. My memory is hazy but I think I was told that while there he played for University College Dublin (UCD) in the FAI Cup, or it could have been that he only managed to make the UCD reserve team. Is there any truth to these unlikely stories? if so, maybe that's where he picked up his smoking habit", writes Colman Walsh

Amazingly enough Colman, you're right. "Socrates did play for UCD, but it was way, way back, sometime in the 70s." says Brendan McKenna of the Football Association of Ireland. "He was an attraction at the time, but it was before he played for the Brazilian team. He wouldn't have played much more than a season." That's confirmed by Gerry Callan of the Irish Star, who says he thinks Socrates did play for UCD, but only for the reserves on Saturday's as the first team played on Sunday, and he didn't want to play then.

**MyTown** · 17/07/2007, 11:11 AM

Where was the Waterford player Jose Quitongo from?..........bit of an African surname alright but........?

**Sheridan** · 17/07/2007, 11:12 AM

Paulo Nicomedes was the other Brazilian at Pat's. I seem to remember one of them scoring an own goal in the Under 21 cup final circa 2004.

Carlos Alvarez was the Bolivian who played for Sligo. Think he had a trial with Wexford Youths but didn't make the cut. Wasn't very good as I recall.

**Hitman** · 17/07/2007, 11:12 AM

Originally Posted by MyTown

Where was the Waterford player Jose Quitongo from?..........bit of an African surname alright but........?

I'm fairly sure he's from Angola.

**Mr A** · 17/07/2007, 11:13 AM

He was Portuguese iirc.

**Sheridan** · 17/07/2007, 11:13 AM

Originally Posted by MyTown

Where was the Waterford player Jose Quitongo from?..........bit of an African surname alright but........?

It's a Portuguese name, but he was African (specifically Angolan.)

**OneRedArmy** · 17/07/2007, 11:35 AM

Originally Posted by sparkey

The Brazilian Nelson DaSilva played for Derry City in their early days in the LOI. From memory he was on loan to them from Standard Leige (spelling??) in Belguim. Someone from Derry will be able to verify or slate above statment.

Absolute genius in midfield.

Don't believe he was on loan (could be wrong) but was joined us midway through our first season in the LoI in 1985-1986. Beat half the Longford team in the Shield final in 1986 before laying off to Da Gama to score a cracker.

Sadly passed away in his 40's a few years back.

**Dodge** · 17/07/2007, 11:40 AM

Originally Posted by Sheridan

Paulo Nicomedes was the other Brazilian at Pat's. I seem to remember one of them scoring an own goal in the Under 21 cup final circa 2004

Would've been 2003, and he also gave away a penalty in that game

**superfrank** · 17/07/2007, 11:51 AM

Originally Posted by Hitman

I'm fairly sure he's from Angola.

He sure is. There was even talk of him being called up for the 2006 World Cup. I think he plays in the lower reaches of the Scottish league now.

**SunderlandBohs** · 17/07/2007, 12:16 PM

Didn't Brad Fridel go on loan to Pat's from Sunderland? We couldn't get a work permit for him so he was loaned to Pat's to keep him match fit. I don't think he played for them. I think that was due to the fact he didn't get his work permit for us.

**fergalr** · 17/07/2007, 12:32 PM

Stop the nonsense about Socrates please!! He was never a student in Ireland and never played footie of any description here. Its pure urban myth and anything you see on the net claiming otherwise is pure spoof.