José Moreira

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Moreira
Personal information
Full name	José Filipe da Silva Moreira
Date of birth	March 20, 1982 (age 25)
Place of birth	Massarelos, Oporto, Portugal
Height	184 cm
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	SL Benfica
Number	1
Youth clubs
1992-1999 1999	SC Salgueiros SL Benfica
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1999-2002 1999-2005 2005-2006 2006-	SL Benfica B SL Benfica SL Benfica B SL Benfica	32 (0) 118 (0) 3 (0) 0 (0)
National team
1998 1999 2000 2001-2004 2004 2004-	Portugal U-17 Portugal U-18 Portugal U-19 Portugal U-21 Portugal U-20 Portugal	0 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

José Filipe da Silva Moreira, OIH (born in March 20, 1982 in Massarelos, Oporto) is a Portuguese football (soccer) goalkeeper who currently plays for Benfica of the Portuguese Superliga. Moreira has also played for the U-17, U-18, U-19, U-20, U-21, B squad and A squad of the Portugal National Team.

Contents 1 Early Years 2 Jump to Benfica 3 The Under-18 European Championships 4 Moreira joins the senior squad 5 Official Senior Debut 6 Moreira became number one 7 UEFA Cup debut, Superliga title and Euro 2004 8 Nowadays

[edit] Early Years

Moreira spent his childhood doing what he loved the most: playing football. Even though he preferred to play as a forward, his father knew he was a gifted goalkeeper. Young José Moreira followed his father's advice and took trials in Salgueiros (in the year 1992).

[edit] Jump to Benfica

In 1997, with only 15 years of age, the young goalie caught the eye of the biggest Portuguese clubs - Sporting, FC Porto, Boavista and Benfica. The reds made the best bid to Salgueiros and won the race to sign the young prodigy. Due to his young age, Benfica decided it was best to keep Moreira in Salgueiros for two more years, until 1999. When he arrived to the Estádio da Luz, Moreira was called for a mini-tour with the team in Azores: it was then that he made is debut for the senior squad, though unofficially.

[edit] The Under-18 European Championships

1999 was also the year that Moreira was called by the Portuguese U-18 coach Agostinho Oliveira for the European Championshops in Sweden. The young keeper who defended the Portuguese nets would become European U-18 next to his fellow players Miguel, Pepa, Cândido Costa, Vasco Faísca, amongst others.

[edit] Moreira joins the senior squad

Right after the U-18 adventure, Moreira returned to SL Benfica. He was called by the team's manager Jupp Heynckes to join the pre-season tour in Austria. At the time, two of the three senior goalies were not available (Carlos Bossio was in Argentina, Nuno Santos was gravely injured and Robert Enke was the only available keeper). Without a competition for the subs bench, Moreira was called to sit in for several matches during August and December of 1999 (he was only 17 years old).

[edit] Official Senior Debut

Though he was first called to the senior squad in 1999 he would only play two years later, in 2001, in the Estádio da Luz against Vitória de Guimarães, replacing the injured Robert Enke who left the pitch after 24 minutes played. In a game that was very one-sided as Benfica tried at all cost to take the three points, Moreira delivered a clean sheet on his professional debut as the match ended all square with a 0-0. In the meanwhile, Moreira had the time to conquer the Junior National Championship for Benfica in the year 2000. He also conquered the Toulon Tournament for the U-20 Portugal Team in 2000 after beating Colombia in the final for 2-1.

[edit] Moreira became number one

Moreira would be the team's first option in March 9, 2002, against Gil Vicente FC in Barcelos, with no goals suffered once again as Benfica won by 0-2. Since Robert Enke left Benfica at the end of the 2001/2002 season to sign for the Spanish Barcelona, Moreira became the number one choice from then on.

In 2002, at the age of 20, Portugal's manager António Oliveira picked his 23 players for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. Moreira wasn't amongst the 23 players, but was picked at the fourth goalkeeper in case anything happened to the three keepers Ricardo, Vítor Baía and Nélson.

[edit] UEFA Cup debut, Superliga title and Euro 2004

2003/2004 was, without a doubt, a positive season for Moreira.

During the season, Moreira did his debut on the European Competitions, playing in the UEFA Cup against Molde FK (at the Estádio da Luz). Benfica won for 3-0 and again in Norway for 0-2, getting through to the next round. Benfica would also beat Rosenborg and later be knocked out of the competition by the Italians of Internazionale. The season ended with Benfica, commanded by José Antonio Camacho, conquering the Portuguese Cup after beating FC Porto (at the time managed by no other than José Mourinho). With the season over, Moreira was called to join the U-21 squad for the Vale do Tejo International Tournament. Not only the trophy was conquered by the Portuguese side as Moreira was elected the best goalkeeper in the competition. While being the number one keeper of Benfica, but now facing the strong competition of his fellow player Quim, Moreira was picked by Portugal National Team's manager Luiz Felipe Scolari as one of the three goalies (the other two were Ricardo and team-mate Quim) for the Euro 2004. Portugal was very close to winning the cup, but lost to Greece in a dreadful final played in Estádio da Luz, his home. Moreira did not play during the Euro 2004, however.

[edit] Nowadays

After splitting SL Benfica's nets with Quim, Moreira conquered the Portuguese Superliga for SL Benfica, but failed to win the Portuguese Cup after losing in the final to Vitória Setubal At the time, Moreira is recovering from a surgical operation to his right knee (on October 18, 2004) that got him off the pitch during most of the 2005/2006 season. When he returns to competition, he will also face the hard competition of two great SL Benfica keepers Quim and Moretto. Aside the football pitches, Moreira fathered his first baby, a girl named Beatriz, in May and married his 25-year-old girlfriend Maria João soon. Considered the most promising shot-stopper in Portugal, José Moreira was the first choice goalkeeper at SL Benfica for two seasons before a loss of form saw him fall behind Quim in the reckoning. Currently, after recovering from his knee injury and playing for the club's B-Squad for the remainder of the 2005/2006 season, Moreira is Fernando Santos' second pick, after Quim.

National team: Selected for the UEFA EURO 2004™ squad ahead of the vastly experienced Vítor Baía, Moreira would join up with the hosts after helping Portugal to third place and an Athens Olympic berth at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Germany. He did not play at EURO 2004™ but was Portugal's goalkeeper at the Olympics.

Club: Moreira made his first-team debut for SL Benfica in a pre-season friendly in July 2000 and established himself in the side following Robert Enke's transfer to FC Barcelona. He made 31 league appearances in the 2002/03 season, helping Benfica to second position in the Portuguese SuperLiga. After coach José Antonio Camacho's failure to land Portuguese international Ricardo during the close season, Moreira retained his Number 1 status and missed just one league outing as Benfica again finished runners-up to FC Porto. He was also in fine fettle in the Portuguese Cup as the side beat the champions in a thrilling final.

2004/05: Moreira began last season as Giovanni Trapattoni's first-choice goalkeeper but a string of bad results, culminating in a 4-1 derby defeat at CF Os Belenenses, saw him demoted to the bench. After starting the first 14 games, he made just one further appearance as the Lisbon outfit ended an eleven-year title drought.

In a one-and-half-month period in the summer of 2004, Moreira represented Portugal at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Germany, then deputised for Ricardo at UEFA EURO 2004™, before a trip to Athens for the Olympic football tournament.

	Portugal squad - 2004 European Football Championship Runners-Up
1 Ricardo | 2 P. Ferreira | 3 Rui Jorge | 4 J. Andrade | 5 F. Couto | 6 Costinha | 7 Figo | 8 Petit | 9 Pauleta | 10 Rui Costa | 11 Simão | 12 Quim | 13 Miguel | 14 N. Valente | 15 Beto | 16 R. Carvalho | 17 C. Ronaldo | 18 Maniche | 19 Tiago | 20 Deco | 21 Nuno Gomes | 22 Moreira | 23 H. Postiga | Coach: Scolari

SL Benfica - Current Squad
1 Moreira | 2 P. Correia | 3 Anderson | 4 Luisão | 5 Léo | 6 Petit | 7 M. Ferreira | 8 Katsouranis | 9 Mantorras | 10 Rui Costa | 11 Miguelito | 12 Quim | 15 P. Jorge | 16 Beto | 18 Manú | 20 Simão | 21 Nuno Gomes | 22 Nélson | 23 David Luiz | 25 N. Assis | 26 Karagounis | 27 Derlei | 28 J. Coimbra | 30 Miccoli | 31 Moretto | Manager: Fernando Santos