Juninho Pernambucano

Juninho Pernambucano
Personal information
Full name	Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Junior
Date of birth	January 30, 1975 (1975-01-30) (age 34)
Place of birth	Recife, Brazil
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club	Lyon
Number	8
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1991–1994 1994–2001 2001–	Sport Recife Vasco da Gama Lyon	1050 (22)[1] 2910 (56)[2] 2650 (94)[3]
National team2
1999–2006	Brazil	044000(7)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 07:17, 25 February 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 07:17, 25 February 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Antônio Augusto Ribeiro Reis Junior (born January 30, 1975 in Recife), commonly known as Juninho or Juninho Pernambucano,^[4] is a Brazilian football player, who plays as an attacking midfielder for French club Olympique Lyonnais. He scored seven goals in 44 games for the Brazilian national team, before retiring from international football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest free kick takers of all time.

Biography

After a long period of tests, and a time in the futsal (indoor football) division of Sport Recife, he started his career in 1993. Soon he joined the main team of Sport Recife, helping form the so called "Gold Generation of the Futsal" with other great players from the indoor division. In 1994 Juninho won the Campeonato Pernambucano and the Copa do Nordeste. He participated in many remarkable games, including the 5-2 in the Sao Paulo of Tele Santana, World Champions in 1993. Juninho left Sport Recife, but never denied loving it since he was a kid, when he saw Sport Recife win the Brazilian Championship of 1987.

He moved to CR Vasco da Gama in 1995, and won several trophies with the club, including the Brazilian Championship in 1997 and 2000, the Copa Libertadores in 1998, the Copa Mercosur in 2000, as well as the 2000 Brazilian Silver Ball award as one of the best Brazilian midfielders of the season. In that time, he was part of a incredible forward squad, playing with some top level international players, as Romário, Edmundo, Juninho Paulista, Felipe and Pedrinho. He made his debut for the Brazilian national team in 1999.

On September 7 1999, Juninho became the first football player to play two top-level matches in two different countries in the same day. He represented his country in the second half of the friendly match between Brazil and Argentina in Porto Alegre, which Brazil won 4-2, playing about fifteen minutes. In spite of a delayed flight to Montevideo, he still arrived in Uruguay in time to feature in the second half of the Copa Mercosur match between Vasco and Nacional.

In 2001, Juninho moved abroad to play for French club Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon). Before his arrival at Lyon, the club had never won the French Ligue 1 championship. In his first year at the club, the championship was secured, and it was subsequently won seven seasons in a row. At Lyon, Juninho made himself especially noted for his accurate, powerful and varied set pieces.

Juninho represented Brazil at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Following Brazil's defeat in the quarter-finals of the tournament, he announced his international retirement, as to make way for younger talents coming through the ranks in Brazil to build for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Juninho has been nominated many times for FIFA World Player of the Year award and France Football Ballon d'Or but has still not won it.

Juninho has been regarded as the world's greatest free kick taker of the present day and of all time. In addition, he is an effective passer, having provided many assists, and his leadership abilities prompted Lyon manager Gérard Houllier to name him team captain.

Free Kicks

Juninho has been described as "One of the world's most feared strikers of a static ball"^[5]. As of November 5, 2008, Juninho has scored 40 goals from direct free kicks for Olympique Lyonnais, his latest being a 30 yard low strike against Steaua Bucharest which wrongfooted the keeper. ^[6]. The method he uses for long-range free-kicks is frequently "knuckle balling," where the ball has almost no spinning motion during flight. ^[7]. A successful knuckle ball will "move" or "wobble" in the air unpredictably, making it difficult for the goal keeper to save.^[8]. He first made his name as a free kick taker to europe with a long range free kick against Bayern Munich in the 2004-05 champions league group stage in which the ball dipped viciously at the end of travel that deceived Bayern keeper Oliver Kahn. He has scored from free-kicks beyond 40 yards on three occasions: a 41 meter screamer against AC Ajaccio in 2006^[9], a 45 meter goal against F.C.Barcelona in 2007.^[10] and a 48 meter goal against OGC Nice in 2008 ^[11]. Even before Lyon, he displayed his talent in Vasco, scoring several free-kick goals for the club. Juninho has also scored memorable free-kick goals for Brazil, the most famous being a curling shot from 27 meters against Greece in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup. Brazil would go on to win the match 3-0.^[12]

King of São Januário

Before joining Lyon, Juninho played for Vasco da Gama in Brazil's Série A. While there, he won the Brazilian Championship twice (1997, 2000) and two continental cups (the Copa Libertadores in 1998 and the Copa Mercosur in 2000), becoming a favorite of the Vasco fans.

Since that time he has been known as "Reizinho de São Januário" (The Little King of São Januário)^[13] or "Reizinho da Colina" (The Little King of The Hill),^[14] a reference to Vasco da Gama Stadium's name (São Januário) or nickname (Stadium of The Hill). Although he left Vasco for Lyon after a judicial fight, he is still considered a favorite of Vasco fans ^[15]. Junniho has been citated in a classic chorus sang by the fans^[16] remembering his free-kick goal against River Plate, at Monumental de Núñez, during the 1998 Libertadores ^{[17] [18]} which helped the club reach the finals against Barcelona de Guayaquil.

Honours

Juninho freekick from 40 metres

Sport Recife

• Campeonato Pernambucano: 1994
• Copa do Nordeste: 1994

CR Vasco da Gama

• Brazilian championship: 1997 and 2000
• Rio de Janeiro State championship: 1998
• Copa Libertadores: 1998
• Torneio Rio-São Paulo: 1999
• Mercosur Cup: 2000

Olympique Lyonnais

• French Ligue 1 championship: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
• Trophée Des Champions: 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007
• Coupe de France: 2008

Brazil national team

• 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup

Footnotes

External links

• Official Website
• Juninho Pernambucano Video
• FootballDatabase profile

Brazil squad – Copa América 2001 1 Marcos • 2 Belletti • 3 Cris • 4 Roque Júnior • 5 Eduardo Costa • 6 Roger • 7 Geovanni • 8 Emerson • 9 Guilherme • 10 Juninho Paulista • 11 Denílson • 12 Dida • 13 Alessandro • 14 Luisão • 15 Juan • 16 Júnior • 17 Juninho Pernambucano • 18 Rochemback • 19 Fernando • 20 Alex • 21 Ewerthon • 22 Jardel • Coach: Scolari

Brazil squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup Winners (2nd Title) 1 Dida • 2 Maicon • 3 Lúcio • 4 Roque Júnior • 5 Emerson • 6 Gilberto • 7 Robinho • 8 Kaká • 9 Adriano • 10 Ronaldinho • 11 Zé Roberto • 12 Marcos • 13 Cicinho • 14 Juan • 15 Luisão • 16 Léo • 17 Gilberto Silva • 18 Juninho • 19 Renato • 20 Júlio Baptista • 21 Oliveira • 22 Edu • 23 Gomes • Coach: Parreira

Brazil squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Dida • 2 Cafu • 3 Lúcio • 4 Juan • 5 Emerson • 6 Roberto Carlos • 7 Adriano • 8 Kaká • 9 Ronaldo • 10 Ronaldinho • 11 Zé Roberto • 12 Rogério Ceni • 13 Cicinho • 14 Luisão • 15 Cris • 16 Gilberto • 17 Gilberto Silva • 18 Mineiro • 19 Juninho • 20 Ricardinho • 21 Fred • 22 Júlio César • 23 Robinho • Coach: Parreira