Careca (born October 5, 1960), is a
legendary Brazillian Association Football (soccer) player.
Although retired, he is due to reenter the game with English
non-league club Garforth Town F.C. for the 2005/06 season.
Careca began his career with Guarani in 1978, and with his pace
and potent finishing ability quickly established himself as one
of his country's best young strikers. He signed for São Paulo in
1983, after he recovered from the injury which forced him to
miss the 1982 World Cup in Spain.
It was during the 1986 World Cup, in Mexico, the Careca really
established himself in world football. He ended the tournament,
during which Brazil were memorably eliminated by France at the
quarter-final stage, with 5 goals, placing him second in the
Golden Boot rankings behind England's Gary Lineker. Also during
1986, Careca led São Paulo to the Brazilian championship,
beating his former club Guarani in the final.
In the summer of 1987 Careca moved to Italian Serie A champions
Napoli, where he was a teammate of Diego Maradona. Careca's
first season at Napoli was an unsuccessful one, despite his 13
goals: the team were knocked out in the first round of the
European Cup by Real Madrid. and they lost the title in the
final games of the season. However, his second season was far
more successful. The team won the UEFA Cup, with Careca scoring
a memorable lobbed goal in the final, and finished second in
Serie A. In 1990 Careca finally won the Scudetto with Napoli, in
what would prove to be effectively Maradona's final season with
the club (he was banned from football for 15 months for failing
a drugs test). Careca would spend a further three years with
Napoli, establishing a partnership with Gianfranco Zola, during
which Napoli failed to win any silverware.
In 1993 Careca left Italy to play for new Japanese J. League
team Kashiwa Reysol. Careca spent four years with the team,
during which time he helped them to promotion to the J1 league
in 1994. He returned to Brazil in 1997 with Santos, he spent a
year with the club before joining the lower-league team São José
(RS), where he finished his career in 1999.
Careca retired having played 60 games for Brazil, and scored 29
goals. |
