Tony_Menezes

Tony Menezes

Tony Menezes

Canadian soccer player (born 1974)

In this Portuguese name, the first or maternal family name is Santos and the second or paternal family name is Menezes.

Anthony Santos Menezes (born November 24, 1974) is a retired Canadian professional soccer player, who predominantly played as a defender and represented Canada national football team on 27 occasions between 1998 and 2003.

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Personal life

A 6'1, 180 lb (82 kg) defender, Menezes was born in Mississauga, Ontario. He has a Brazilian mother and Portuguese father. When he was 10, he and his family immigrated to Brazil from Canada, where Tony was born.

Club career

Brazil

Menezes began his professional club career at Madureira EC in 1996 and appeared in Campeonato Carioca Série B1. He later moved to another Brazilian team America FC Rio in 1997 and played until 1998.

In 1999, he appeared with two different lower league clubs in Brazil, Bangu Atlético and Clube de Regatas Brasil before his stint in top flight side Botafogo between 2000 and 2001.[2]

He signed with Campeonato Brasileiro Série A outfit Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro and appeared in 6 Campeonato Carioca league matches.

China

In 2002, he moved to Asia and joined Gansu Tianma F.C., where he appeared in 19 league matches. He then signed with China League One side Nanjing Yoyo and played in 17 league matches, scoring 3 goals.[3] He again signed with a China League One outfit Zhejiang Lucheng in 2004. Menezes played as a defender but scored 4 goals in 22 league matches.

Canada

On April 19, 2006 he signed with a Canadian club for the first time, joining Toronto Lynx in the USL League Two.[4][5] He played there for only one season.

In 2006, ge again moved to Brazil and played for SC Ulbra (RS). He with the club, competed in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, but was eliminated in the second stage of the competition.[6]

India

In November 2006, he signed with the defending champions Mahindra United[7][8] of Indian National Football League as their third foreign player. He debuted for the Jeepmen at the 2006 Durand Cup tournament in Delhi.[9]

"Mahindra United is the best team in India and I'm proud to be part of the team. There is a professional attitude at this club which governs the functioning right up to the president. Also I found the team to be a tight knit bunch and bound like a family."

—Menezes on joining Mahindra United FC[10]

With Mahindra United, he appeared in two competitive seasons and won the IFA Shield in 2006. In the 2006–07 National Football League season, Mahindra finished 3rd in the league table. He has also represented Mahindra at the 2007 AFC Cup, where they qualified for the knockout stages, finishing 2nd in the Group-E behind Singapore Armed Forces but lost in the QF to Al-Najmeh of Lebanon (4–5 aggregate).[11][12]

Back to Brazil

After two years in India, Menezes joined back to his homeland Brazil and signed in January 2008 with Porto Alegre FC[13] and played until 2010.

International career

He made his debut for Canada in a May 1998 friendly match against North Macedonia and earned a total of 27 caps, scoring no goals.[14] He has represented Canada in four 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification matches between 2000 and 2001[15] and was a member of the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup title-winning squad. Winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup, is the biggest achievement of his long playing career. He has also represented Canada at the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup in Japan.[16]

His final international was a January 2003 friendly match against the United States, which ended as their 4-0 defeat.[17]

He later appeared for the Beach soccer national team of Canada and played 3 matches in 2005.

Honours

International

Canada

Gold Champions (1): 2000[18]

Club

Mahindra United
Gold Champions (1): 2006

References

  1. [1]
    Anthony Santos Menezes: Canadian player profile, clubs and stats Archived 2022-02-02 at the Wayback Machine Worldfootball.net. Retrieved 21 March 2021
  2. [2]
    "Tony Menezes: Canada soccer player detailed stats and transfers". ogol.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  3. [3]
    All Washed Up? Time.com. Retrieved 21 March 2021
  4. [4]
    Lynx add former Canadian international Menezes Archived 2008-09-20 at the Wayback Machine
  5. [5]
    "TONY MENEZES SIGNS WITH LYNX". Archived from the original on 2016-10-26. Retrieved 2009-03-14.
  6. [6]
    2006 Campeonato Brasileiro Série C at RSSSF Archived November 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  7. [7]
    "Season ending transfers 2006". Indianfootball.de. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  8. [8]
    "Mahindra United » Players from A–Z". WorldFootball.net. Archived from the original on 27 October 2013. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  9. [9]
    "Mahindra sign up Canada-born Brazilian Meneze". Outlook India. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  10. [10]
    Defending champions Mahindra United signed Tony Menezes as their 3rd foreigner Archived 2023-03-28 at the Wayback Machine The Hindustan Times. Retrieved 21 March 2021
  11. [11]
    "THE DEATH OF MAHINDRA UNITED". inbedwithmaradona.com. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  12. [12]
    "Mahindra United - Al Nejmeh: AFC Cup 2007 Quarter Finals (09/18/2007)". Tribuna.com. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2021.
  13. [13]
    Canadian Arena Team Announces Players for Montreal arenaleague.com. Retrieved 21 March 2021
  14. [14]
    Tony Menezes international career for Canada: Archive Archived 2023-03-28 at the Wayback Machine globalsportsarchive.com. Retrieved 21 March 2021
  15. [15]
    Tony Menezes – FIFA competition record (archived)
  16. [16]
    CONCACAF Championship, Gold Cup 2000 - Full Details Archived 2009-11-14 at the Wayback Machine - RSSSF
  17. [17]
    Tony Menezes in Canada national soccer team (games and statistics) Archived 2021-06-24 at the Wayback Machine National-Football-Teams. Retrieved 21 March 2021
  18. [18]
    "Canada win Gold Cup". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 28 February 2000. Archived from the original on 2 November 2019. Retrieved 9 February 2012.
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