Pedro Mendes
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| Pedro Mendes | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Pedro Miguel da Silva Mendes | |
| Date of birth | 26 February 1979 | |
| Place of birth | Guimarães, Portugal | |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | |
| Playing position | Midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Portsmouth | |
| Number | 30 | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1998–1999 1999–2003 2003–2004 2004–2006 2006– |
FC Felgueiras Vitória Guimarães FC Porto Tottenham Hotspur Portsmouth |
31 (2) 82 (7) 26 (0) 30 (1) 58 (5) |
| National team2 | ||
| 2002 | Portugal | 2 (0) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Pedro Mendes (pron. IPA: ['peðɾu 'mẽðɨʃ]; born 26 February 1979 in Guimarães, Portugal) is a Portuguese footballer who plays in midfield for Portsmouth.
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[edit] Club career
[edit] Early career
He started his professional career with FC Felgueiras, by an one year loan of Vitória Guimarães,when he stayed for four seasons before moving to FC Porto, where he won the Champions League. Mendes shows a huge love for is youth club, Vitória Guimarães, and that can be seen in the FA Cup Final, when he was wearing a Vitória Guimarães scarf.
[edit] Tottenham Hotspur
In the summer of 2004, Mendes moved to England to play for Tottenham Hotspur. During his first season at Tottenham, in January 2005, he was the victim of a controversial and key decision against Manchester United. His speculative shot from 50 yards should have been a relatively easy catch for Roy Carroll, but the Manchester United goalkeeper fumbled the ball into his own goal. What would have been the game's only goal was not given, as the referee deemed the ball not to have crossed the line, but TV replays showed the ball had clearly gone at least a foot over the line.
The 2005–06 season saw Mendes reduced to a peripheral role at Tottenham. In the January 2006 transfer window, Tottenham coach Martin Jol offloaded Mendes to fellow Premiership club Portsmouth.
[edit] Portsmouth
Since joining Portsmouth, Mendes has been a regular starter and had been a pivotal player and goal scorer in their fight to avoid relegation. He seemingly assured his place in Portsmouth folklore by scoring both goals in a crucial match against Manchester City, the second coming in the 93rd minute from 25 yards out. The result gave his team a 2–1 win and a springboard which eventually led them to survival in the Premiership.
On 23 August 2006, during a match against Manchester City, Mendes was elbowed in the face by Manchester City player Ben Thatcher who received a yellow card. He was knocked unconscious, required oxygen at pitchside and suffered a seizure while being transferred to hospital, where he spent the night. Mendes was discharged from hospital the next day, but remained under medical supervision.[1] He has since said "It is the worst thing to have ever happened to me in my career."[2] Despite the severity of the incident, Mendes was back playing for Portsmouth two weeks after. In the return game at Fratton Park Pedro was again on the receiving end of a violent tackle from Joey Barton after scoring a trademark 'wonder' goal against City.
After being a regular in the first two seasons at Portsmouth, Mendes has recently been reduced to a peripheral figure, with Lassana Diarra, Papa Bouba Diop and Sulley Muntari being the first choice central midfield combination. He is currently still at Portsmouth where he has thus acquired the nick name 'The man with the big heart' due to his phenomenal performances and style of play, and he won the FA Cup with the club on 17 May 2008 with a 1-0 victory over Cardiff City.[3]
[edit] International career
Mendes made his debut for Portugal on 20 November 2002, a 2–0 friendly win over Scotland.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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