Matheus Nunes could become the ninth naturalized to represent Portugal
Non tuesday, the european champions in 2016 host Luxemburg, at the Algarve Stadium, in the european qualifying game of group A of the 2022 World Cup, but it could be on Saturday, not in particular with Qatar, on the same stage, as Matheus Nunes can fulfill the first game for the ‘AA’ selection.
After being a regular substitute for Sporting last season, ‘covered’ by João Mário, the 23-year-old player, born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this year assumed a crucial role in the national champion and, consequently, Fernando Santos ‘opened the doors’ for the Portuguese team.
Last August, Matheus Nunes was summoned by the coach Tite to represent a ‘canarinha’, but he did not make it across the Atlantic Ocean, eventually choosing Portugal, after talking to both coaches.
It was also in the youth teams of Ericeirense, in 2012/13, that he started the journey in the Portuguese championships, having ‘jumped’ to Estoril Praia in the recent past, in 2018/19, to represent the under-23 team and show – himself at a level that caught the attention of the ‘lions’, who decided to hire him at the same time.
After fulfilling the rest of the season also in Sporting’s under-23 team, Matheus Nunes completed 10 matches in the current club’s main team in the following season, permanently integrating the group coached by Rúben Amorim in 2020/21, being one of several pieces important part of winning the 19th ‘Leonino’ national championship.
The ‘Leonino’ midfielder may, on Saturday, succeed FC Porto’s Otávio, who won his first ‘AA’ cap in a friendly against Qatar, played on September 4, in the Hungarian city of Debrecen, where Portugal win by 3 -1.
The 26-year-old FC Porto player arrived on Portuguese soil in the 2014/15 season, from Internacional, from Brazil, but was unable to assert himself immediately in the first team, having been loaned to Vitória de Guimarães for two consecutive years. .
In 2016/17, he established himself in the ‘blue and white’ main squad, assuming himself as one of the essential players, namely, in the last three years, under the guidance of coach Sérgio Conceição.
The midfielder of the ‘dragons’, born in Paraíba, Brazil, succeeded Dyego Sousa, who, on March 22, 2019, was an option in the challenge against Ukraine (0-0), without qualifying for Euro2020.
Dyego Sousa, who had ‘landed’ in Portugal at just 18 years old, in 2007, to represent the Nacional juniors, stood out at Sporting de Braga, specifically, in his second year serving the Minho, in 2018/19, scoring 20 goals in 41 games.
In Portugal, before joining Minho, the player born in São Luís do Maranhão, in the northeast of Brazil, also played in Leixões, Tondela, Portimonense and Marítimo. After the ‘arsenalists’, he still played for Benfica.
It took more than a decade for the Portuguese national team to debut again as a naturalized player, after Liedson, Pepe, Deco, Celso and Lúcio Soares, all born in Brazil, and David Júlio, originally from South Africa.
In September 2009, Liedson, who spent eight seasons at Sporting, was called up by Carlos Queiroz to face Denmark, qualifying for the 2010 Mundial, and on his debut saved Portugal from defeat in Copenhagen by scoring the equalizer ( 1-1).
The ‘levezinho’ finished a career with 15 games and four goals for Portugal and represented the selection of ‘quinas’ in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Pepe, 38, is still active, with 121 international appearances and is already the central defender with the most games ever for the Portuguese team, with 11 more than Fernando Couto, having already scored seven goals.
Like Dyego Sousa, Pepe arrived on national soil still as a teenager and also to Madeira, where Marítimo was represented, when he was only 18 years old.
In 2007, the FC Porto central called the call of Luiz Felipe Scolari and, in November, he made his first-team debut against Finland (0-0), in the match that confirmed qualification for the final phase of Euro2008.
Years earlier, in 2003, also by the ‘hand’ of Scolari, Deco also opted for the Portuguese team, six years after arriving in the country, at the age of 20.
Featured at FC Porto, the midfielder was called up for a private with Brazil, in a decision that at the time was not unanimous in public opinion, and ended up facing the ‘canarinha’ in March, at Estádio das Antas. Portugal won 2-1, with Deco scoring the winning goal near the end, with a free-kick.
Deco, who ended a career with 75 games and five goals for Portugal, turned out to be decisive in the national team’s campaign in Euro2004, in which he reached the final, and in Mundial2006, having reached the semi-finals. The midfielder was also at Euro2008 and Mundial2010.
In the 1970s, the Brazilian striker Celso, from Boavista, represented the team of the ‘quinas’ three times and, in the 1960s, it was the turn of Brazilian central Lúcio Soares and South African midfielder David Júlio, both from Sporting , count five and four caps, respectively.