Dida (goalkeeper)

This is a Portuguese name; the first family name is de Jesus and the second is Silva.
Dida
Personal information
Full name Nélson de Jesus Silva
Date of birth 7 October 1973 (1973-10-07) (age 36)
Place of birth    Irará, Bahia, Brazil
Height 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club A.C. Milan
Number 1
Youth clubs
1990–1992 Cruzeiro de Arapiraca
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1992–1993
1994–1998
1998–1999
1999–2000
2000–
2001–2002		 Vitória
Cruzeiro
Lugano
Corinthians
A.C. Milan
→ Corinthians (loan)		 024 (0)
120 (0)
000 (0)
024 (0)
173 (0)
008 (0)   
National team2
1995–2006 Brazil 091 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 13 January 2008 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 1 July 2006.
* Appearances (Goals)

Nélson de Jesus Silva (born 7 October 1973 in Irará, Bahia), best known as Dida, is a Brazilian goalkeeper. He currently plays for Italian Serie A club A.C. Milan, with whom he is a two-time winner of the UEFA Champions League.

Contents

Club career

Early club career

Though he was born in Bahia, Dida was raised in the smaller northern state of Alagoas. His footballing role models were goalkeepers Valdir Peres and Rinat Dasaev, whom he watched on television during the 1982 FIFA World Cup.[1] His club career began in 1990, at the age of sixteen, with Alagoas team Cruzeiro de Arapiraca (not to be confused with Cruzeiro EC). Two seasons later, he signed with hometown club Vitória, who would win the 1992 state championship. In 1993, Dida made 24 first-team appearances for Vitória after winning the Under-21 FIFA World Youth Championship as Brazil's first-choice.

Dida was acquired by Cruzeiro in 1994, where, in a span of five seasons, he won three Minas Gerais state titles, the 1996 Copa do Brasil, and the 1997 Copa Libertadores, along with a pair of Placar Bola de Prata awards as the top goalkeeper in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A. But with this success soon came a desire to ply his trade in Europe, and in January 1999, he decided to leave Cruzeiro in order to sign with Italian powerhouse A.C. Milan.

A.C. Milan

Dida's request to opt out of the remainder of his contract with Cruzeiro in order to go to Europe kicked off a dispute with the club that lasted for five months, during which he suited up for Switzerland club FC Lugano just to keep in game shape.[1] But when the issue was finally resolved and Dida formally joined Milan, incumbent Christian Abbiati already had a firm grip on the #1 jersey, and veteran Sebastiano Rossi was not to be counted out, so Dida was third on coach Alberto Zaccheroni's depth chart.

Milan loaned Dida to São Paulo club Corinthians in order to get him some regular first-team action. It was during this time that his renowned penalty-saving skills came to the fore. His saving of two spot kicks in Corinthians' 3-2 victory over intrastate rivals São Paulo FC - with both penalties taken by Raí - in the semifinal of the 1999 Campeonato Brasileiro resulted in the headline "Dida is God" from sports publication Lance!.[2] In the inaugural FIFA World Club Championship (today the FIFA Club World Cup) in 2000, Dida saved a Nicolas Anelka penalty in a 2-2 draw with Real Madrid, and in the final against Vasco da Gama, Corinthians won the title in a 4-3 penalty shoot-out after Edmundo's shot went wide.

Milan recalled Dida for the 2000–01 season. He leapfrogged past Rossi into the starting lineup, since Abbiati was away with Italy at the 2000 Summer Olympics. A 4-1 group stage win over Beşiktaş J.K. on 13 September 13 2000 marked his official debut for the club, but on 19 September, in the 89th minute against Leeds United at a rain-soaked Elland Road, he accidentally dropped the ball into his own goal after catching a Lee Bowyer shot, causing Milan to lose the match 1-0.[3] It was an error of embarrassing proportions and despite a strong performance in a 2-0 Milan victory over FC Barcelona one week later, he was promptly benched following Abbiati's return. He made his first and only Serie A start that season as well, a 2-0 November loss to Parma F.C. in which Patrick Mboma scored both goals.

One month after the Leeds debacle of 19 September 2000, he was among nearly a dozen Serie A players who were charged with using fraudulent European passports. Dida confessed to falsifying documents in order to obtain a Portuguese passport, in an attempt to dodge the Italian league's limit on non-EU players so he could sign with Milan. FIGC fined Milan £314,000, and banned Dida from the league for one year, in addition to a FIFA-imposed year-long suspension from national team play. On 3 April 2003, following a court appearance in Milano, he was handed a seven-month suspended prison sentence.[4]

Dida was loaned back to Corinthians for the 2001-02 campaign following the passport flap, then recalled again to Milan the next season, which he began on the bench until Abbiati limped off with a hip injury at halftime of a Champions League qualifying stage match against FC Slovan Liberec on 14 August 2002. Dida took his place for the second half and turned in a solid performance that would result in a new first-choice keeper for Milan.

He soon wrote his name into Milan history after the 2003 Champions League final at Old Trafford against league rivals Juventus, in which he saved penalties from David Trézéguet, Marcelo Zalayeta and Paolo Montero as Milan won the shoot-out 3-2 after the match had ended goalless. The praise poured in from his home country in addition to the Italian media; he was labeled "Saint Dida" by the Brazilian press, while Folha de São Paulo chipped in with the headline "Dida pushes Milan to the top of Europe."[5]

Dida was named the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year after conceding only 20 goals in 32 appearances during Milan's 2003-04 Scudetto-winning campaign,[6] making him the only non-Italian goalkeeper to win the award.[1][7]

On 12 April 2005, with Milan leading 1-0 in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal derby against crosstown rival Internazionale thanks to an early Andriy Shevchenko goal, Inter ultras became infuriated after a second-half Esteban Cambiasso goal was controversially nullified by referee Markus Merk – who, moments later, booked Cambiasso for dissent – due to the fact that he had just whistled Inter forward Julio Cruz for a foul on Dida in the six-yard box as players were jockeying for position inside the penalty area following an Inter corner kick. Bottles and various debris were subsequently thrown onto the pitch, but the projectiles soon escalated to lit flares. As Dida attempted to clear bottles in order to take a goal kick, a flare hurtled down from the upper deck and struck the keeper on the back of his right shoulder. Merk halted the match in the 74th minute.[8] After a thirty-minute delay in which firefighters were called in to remove the burning flares from the pitch, the match was restarted. Dida, however, was unable to continue, and was substituted by Abbiati. Less than a minute later, though, Merk finally abandoned the match after more flares and debris rained down. The match was awarded as a 3-0 victory, totaling a 5-0 aggregate, to Milan.[9]

Dida suffered bruising and first-degree burns to his shoulder, but did not miss any game time, as he was back between the posts for Milan's Serie A match on 17 April against A.C. Siena. Meanwhile, Inter were fined just over €200,000 – the largest fine ever imposed by UEFA – and were ordered to play their first four 2005-06 Champions League home matches behind closed doors as punishment.[10]

His form began to decline thereafter, as he struggled in the semifinals against PSV Eindhoven and in the 2005 CL final loss to Liverpool F.C., in which Milan blew a 3-0 halftime lead in a span of six minutes late in the second half and the match ended 3-3 after extra time. Dida was only able to save John Arne Riise's penalty as Liverpool triumphed 3-2 in the ensuing shoot-out. He had set a CL record for consecutive clean sheets with seven, which was surpassed by Arsenal's Jens Lehmann the next season.

Dida's rough patch continued as he slogged through a mistake-riddled 2005-06 season, leading to Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira publicly declaring that his starting position for the upcoming World Cup was not secure.[11] Though Milan's drive to return to the Champions League final fell short after a 1-0 semifinal aggregate loss to Barcelona, that series began a revival of his form with stops against Ronaldinho, Samuel Eto'o and Henrik Larsson over the course of both legs.

Dida in a home match against
ACF Fiorentina on May 6, 2007

Dida got off to a strong start in 2006–07; following a strike by Lazio's Stephen Makinwa in Milan's 2-1 season-opener victory on 10 September, he did not allow a Serie A goal for the next 446 minutes of play, and he conceded only two goals in five of Milan's six Champions League group stage matches. He made his 200th appearance for Milan in a 1-0 defeat of Ascoli Calcio on 20 September, and on 28 January 2007, he played his 150th career Serie A match in a 1-0 win over Parma. Dida also signed a three-year contract extension with Milan on 10 March, and said afterwards in a Milan Channel interview, "It took six months to reach this agreement and now it's finally done. I'm extremely happy."[12] However, '06–07 represented the first injury-plagued season of his career, and he missed eleven Serie A matches due to knee and shoulder problems; he had missed ten league games in the previous three seasons combined.

His play had consequently suffered again by the start of 2007; he notably came under heavy criticism after Milan's 3-2 CL semifinal first-leg loss to Manchester United on April 23,[7] but then played a role in Milan's decisive 3-0 second-leg victory on May 3, which sent the Rossoneri back into the Champions League final on a 5-3 aggregate.[13] His form subsequently rebounded again and it continued into the rematch with Liverpool on May 23, where he exorcised his Istanbul ghosts with three saves from Jermaine Pennant, Steven Gerrard, and Peter Crouch as Milan won 2-1 and raised its seventh Champions League trophy.[14]

On 3 October 2007, during Milan's CL group stage match against Celtic FC in Glasgow, Celtic striker Scott McDonald scored the match-winner in the 90th minute to seal a 2-1 victory. As McDonald and his team-mates celebrated near the corner flag, 27-year-old Celtic fan Robert McHendry entered the pitch and "touched" Dida on the shoulder as he ran past the Milan penalty area. Dida attempted to give chase but after a few steps he collapsed to the ground, holding the side of his face; he was stretchered off the pitch and substituted.[15] Although McHendry later turned himself in to police and was given a lifetime ban from Celtic Park, Dida was charged by UEFA with breaching rules upholding "loyalty, integrity and sportsmanship", as it was deemed that his injury was feigned. Dida was consequently punished with a two-match suspension, which Milan promptly appealed.[16][17]

Prior to Milan's Serie A match against Empoli FC at the San Siro on 21 October, he offered a gesture of apology to the fans by pausing to bow to each section of the crowd during the pre-game warm-ups, receiving a round of applause in response.[18] The next day, UEFA reduced his ban to one match, and he sat out Milan's 4-1 victory over FC Shakhtar Donetsk on October 24.[19]

Dida joined Milan teammates Cafu, Kaká, Ronaldo and Paolo Maldini for the fifth annual Match Against Poverty in Málaga, Spain on 19 November, but he missed Milan's group stage rematch against Celtic on 4 December due to illness.[20] In December, he became the first two-time winner of the FIFA Club World Cup after Milan defeated Boca Juniors.[21]

Ongoing injury problems and an overall drop in form limited Dida to just thirteen league appearances for the season, his fewest with Milan since the 2000-01 campaign. His participation in the Goal4Africa charity match on 12 July 2008 marked his first on-pitch action in six months.[22] With the return of Abbiati as Milan's first choice for the 2008-09 Serie A season, Dida was named as starter for Milan's UEFA Cup campaign.

International career

Olympic medal record
Competitor for Flag of Brazil.svg Brazil
Men's Football
Bronze 1996 Atlanta Team Competition

With 91 appearances in 11 years, Dida is Brazil's third-highest capped goalie, behind only Émerson Leão (107 matches) and Cláudio Taffarel (101). The only Brazilian keeper to be known by his nickname, he made his Canarinho debut at the 1993 Under-21 FIFA World Youth Championship, where Brazil won the championship for a third time. His first match for the Seleção came in a 1-0 defeat of Ecuador on 7 July 1995.

Dida was the starting keeper for Brazil at the 1996 Summer Olympics, but an error-laden campaign from Brazil, which included a penalty-area collision involving him and teammate Aldair, played a role in defeats to Nigeria and Japan and left Brazil with the bronze medal.[1] Two years later, coach Mário Zagallo, who had helmed the team at the Olympics, lured 1994 World Cup hero Taffarel out of retirement and back into the #1 jersey for the 1998 World Cup in France, which Dida would watch in its entirety from the bench. He did his part in Brazil's 1999 Copa América victory by conceding only twice in six matches, in addition to saving a Roberto Ayala penalty that preserved a 2-1 win over arch rivals Argentina in the quarterfinals.[23]

Despite Dida's run of good form with Corinthians at the time of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had replaced the fired Wanderley Luxemburgo following Brazil's lackluster qualification, made Marcos his number one. Dida, along with third-choice keeper Rogério Ceni, never played a minute in Brazil's winning campaign, thus setting a team record with fourteen consecutive WC final matches on the bench in 1998 and 2002 combined.

Dida played four out of five matches in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup (Marcos made one appearance due to squad rotation), conceding four goals and ranking second in total saves behind Mexico's Oswaldo Sánchez. One memorable moment of the competition was during Brazil's 1-0 group-stage loss to Mexico, when he saved a Jared Borgetti spot kick that had to be retaken twice due to repeated player encroachment into the penalty area.[24] Brazil have taken home the trophy twice, in 1997 and 2005, and Dida was the first-choice keeper on both occasions. Overall, he participated in five consecutive Confederations Cups from 1997 to 2005, becoming only the third player to accomplish this feat (Antonio Carbajal and Lothar Matthäus),[25] and was also the lone goalie to save a penalty in the 2005 edition.

2006 World Cup

Despite never playing a match during his brief tenure at FC Lugano, Dida received a warm reception from the local supporters during Brazil's training sessions in Weggis, Switzerland prior to the 2006 World Cup finals. During the team's two-week stay in Weggis, he also organized a Ping-Pong tournament in which many of his teammates, such as Lúcio, Robinho, Fred, Ronaldinho, and Ronaldo, participated. He was defeated by Juninho Pernambucano in the championship match, and the winner's trophy was even named after him.[26]

He conceded only two goals in five matches as Brazil defeated Croatia, Australia, Japan, and Ghana before being eliminated by France in the quarterfinals, a match which saw the Verdeamarela manage only one shot on goal in the entire contest and led to Parreira's resignation two weeks after the conclusion of the tournament. Due to his consistent play in goal, Dida was one of few Seleção players to avoid the wrath of the fans and Brazilian media after the team's elimination. He was also the first Afro-Brazilian goalkeeper to start in the World Cup finals since Moacyr Barbosa in the 1950 competition; for this accomplishment, he was hailed as Dida, o homem que quebrou o tabu ("Dida, the man who broke the taboo").[27] He assumed the role of captain against Japan when regular skipper Cafu was rested for that match, thus becoming only the second Brazilian goalie ever to wear the armband since Emerson Leão in the 1978 World Cup.

Brazil's loss to France ultimately became Dida's swan song. On 1 October 2006, Brazil coach Dunga announced during a television interview, "Dida told me that the Seleção is no longer a priority in his career."[28] Despite his World Cup heroics, he had not been called up for national team play since the July 2006 inception of Dunga, who had eschewed many of the veterans in favor of a predominantly younger roster for Brazil's post-World Cup matches.

Honours

Vitòria

Cruzeiro

Corinthians

Milan

International

Individual

Dida is a five-time nominee of the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper Award, tying for sixth with Pepe Reina in the 2007 voting. He was also the first Brazilian keeper ever to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or, doing so twice in 2003 and 2005. On 15 January 2008, he was ranked thirteenth out of seventy nominees in IFFHS' All-Time World Goalkeeper Ranking from 1987 to 2007.[29]

External links

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Player Profile: Dida - acmilan-online.com
  2. ↑ "Chilavert sets record on goalkeepers' day". Indian Express (1999-12-01). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  3. ↑ Phil Shaw (2000-09-20). "Football: Leeds feast on Dida's calamity". The Independent. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  4. ↑ "Milan keeper Dida handed suspended sentence". ABC News Australia (2003-04-04). Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
  5. ↑ "All-Italian final fails to stir Europe's media". SI.com (2003-05-29). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  6. ↑ "AC Milan takes title; Leeds slide". Taipei Times (2004-05-04). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 James Eve (2007-05-01). "Dida the key to Milan Champions League hopes". Reuters. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  8. ↑ "Milan derby halted after Dida hit by flare". ESPN.com (2005-04-12). Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
  9. ↑ "Milan game ended by crowd trouble". BBC Sport (2005-04-12). Retrieved on 2008-03-22. (includes photo gallery)
  10. ↑ "Inter handed stadium ban and fine". BBC Sport (2005-04-15). Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
  11. ↑ "Parreira ups pressure on Dida". sambafoot.com (2006-02-06). Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
  12. ↑ Dida renews contract with AC Milan - International Herald Tribune, 3/10/07. Retrieved on 11/17/08.
  13. ↑ "Dida Support Vocalised At Milanello". Goal.com (2007-05-02). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  14. ↑ "2007 CL Final Match Report". anfield-online.co.uk (2007-05-23). Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
  15. ↑ Kenny MacDonald (2007-10-03). "Milan won't appeal after Dida hit in Celtic win". Reuters. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  16. ↑ "Dida gets two-match ban". channel4.com (2007-10-11). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  17. ↑ Nadia Carminati (2007-10-12). "Milan to lodge Dida appeal". Sky Sports. Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  18. ↑ "Galliani Happy To See Dida Ban Cut". Goal.com (2007-10-23). Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
  19. ↑ "Dida UEFA ban reduced". channel4.com (2007-10-21). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  20. ↑ "‘I’m desperate to sort out our away form’". The Herald (2007-12-05). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  21. ↑ "Dida, o primeiro bimundial da Fifa" (in Portuguese). lancenet.com.br (2007-12-16).
  22. ↑ "Team lineups". goal4africa.org. Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
  23. ↑ "Brazil march on as Argentina's penalty jinx continues". Rediff.com (1999-07-12). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  24. ↑ "Mexico beat Brazil to reach semis". BBC Sport (2005-06-19). Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
  25. ↑ "Dida's fifth in a row". FIFAworldcup.com (2005-06-16).
  26. ↑ "Zebra no ping-pong brasileiro" (in Portuguese). abril.com.br (2006-06-03). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  27. ↑ "Dida, o homem que quebrou o tabu" (in Portuguese). GloboEsporte (July 2006). Retrieved on 2008-10-14.
  28. ↑ "Dida calls it a day for Brazil". New Zealand Herald (2006-12-29). Retrieved on 2008-03-22.
  29. ↑ "All-Time World Goalkeeper Ranking (1987-2007)". iffhs.de (2008-01-15). Retrieved on 2008-10-14.
A.C. Milan – current squad

1 Dida • 3 Maldini • 4 Kaladze • 5 Emerson • 7 Pato • 8 Gattuso • 9 Inzaghi • 10 Seedorf • 11 Borriello • 12 Abbiati • 13 Nesta • 14 Cardacio • 15 Zambrotta • 16 Kalac • 18 Jankulovski • 19 Favalli • 20 Viudez • 21 Pirlo • 22 Kaká • 23 Ambrosini • 24 Senderos • 25 Bonera • 36 Darmian • 76 Shevchenko • 77 Antonini • 80 Ronaldinho • 84 Flamini • Coach: Ancelotti