Oceano da Cruz

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Oceano da Cruz
Full name	Oceano Andrade da Cruz
Date of birth	July 29, 1962 (age 44)
Place of birth	São Vicente, Cape Verde
Height	1.77m
Nickname	"The ocean of soccer" by Sporting fans.
Playing position	Midfielder (retired)
Youth clubs
1975-1978	Almada
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1978-1980 1980-1982 1982-1990 1990-1994 1994-1998 1998-1999	Almada C.F. CD Nacional Sporting Real Sociedad Sporting Toulouse FC Total	? (?) ? (?) ? (?) ? (?) ? (?) 30 (6) ? (?)
National team
1985-1998	Portugal	54 (8)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Oceano Andrade da Cruz (born in São Vicente, Cape Verde on 29 July 1962) was a Cape Verdian born Portuguese footballer, one of the great midfielders of Portugal during the 1980s and 1990s.

His family emigrated from Cape Verde islands to Portugal when he was a child. He is, however, probably, the greatest footballer player his birth country ever produced.

He started his career in Almada, before moving to CD Nacional, where he was noticed, and signed for Sporting Clube de Portugal. He was a Sporting player from 1982/83 to 1989/90, and from 1994/95 to 1997/98, where he was one of the best players, despite never having won a Championship and a single Portuguese Cup, in 1995. He played for Spanish side Real Sociedad from 1990/91 to 1993/94, being one of the best players of the Spanish League.

He had 54 caps for Portugal national football team, scoring 8 goals. since his first appearance, in 30 January 1985, in a 2-3 defeat with Romania, to his final game, in 22 April 1998, in a 0-3 lost with England. However, he only became a usual presence at the National Team in the 1990s, being a leading player at the Euro 1996, were Portugal reached the quarter-finals. He was also present at the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, which Portugal narrowly missed.

After leaving Sporting, he spent a final season at French side Toulouse FC in 1998/99, were he finally retired, aged 36.

	Portugal squad - 1996 European Football Championship Quarter-finalists
1 Baía \| 2 Secretário \| 3 Paulinho Santos \| 4 Oceano \| 5 F. Couto \| 6 J. Tavares \| 7 Paneira \| 8 João Pinto \| 9 Sá Pinto \| 10 Rui Costa \| 11 Cadete \| 12 Alfredo \| 13 Dimas \| 14 P. Barbosa \| 15 Domingos \| 16 Hélder \| 17 Porfírio \| 18 Folha \| 19 Paulo Sousa \| 20 Figo \| 21 P. Madeira \| 22 Rui Correia \| Coach: António Oliveira