Costinha, a midfield engine-room for Atletico


He is one of those players that are priceless for a manager. They guarantee character, strength and work in the midfield, fundamental for a balanced team. Francisco José da Costa, known as Costinha in the football world, is a player who typifies all of those values. For this reason Atletico Madrid have incorporated him into the squad for the coming season.

Costinha is a defensive midfielder who began his career in Oriental, a modest Portuguese club that, in the last few years, has become the feeder club for the country’s top teams. After Oriental, he moved on to Machico and from there to Nacional de Madeira, but he only stayed there one year before excepting an offer to play in Monaco. With that the new rojiblanco player took his first big step as a professional footballer.

His first season in France did not go very well, given that he was not in favour with the team coach. However, in the second year he came into his own, he started to demonstrate his worth and he made the midfield in the Monaco team his own. His physical power and defensive work converted him into a indispensable player for Jean Tigana. Costinha was the French trainer’s presence on the field.

In his last season in France, Monaco won the League, but Costinha decided to return to Portugal, where, although his name had been mentioned in connection with a club he had always followed, Sporting Lisbon, he finally signed for Oporto, where he met a virtually unknown José Mourinho. The current Chelsea manager built a midfield with Maniche, Deco and Costinha which became the almost perfect line-up. The physical power of the Oporto midfield was rightly praised by the European Press. The titles soon arrived…

Great titles

In the 2002/03 season, Oporto won the League and The UEFA Cup. One season later, they won the League again and capped off a glorious time being proclaimed champion of The Champions League, thrashing Monaco 3-0. Months after the Portuguese team was back at it, winning the Intercontinental Cup against Once Caldas.

The recently disputed World Cup in Germany, he started in nearly all the games for the Portugal coach. And was one of the main reasons why the team reached fourth place.

Luiz Felipe Scolari, Manager of the Portuguese team, recently commented that “I’m happy that he can go to a great team. If Costinha goes to Atletico Madrid they will have another fan here in Portugal, me”, the Brazilian coach said.

As far as the president of the Portuguese Football Federation, Gilberto Madaíl, was concerned, he did not hide his satisfaction at the signing of Costinha by Atletico Madrid. “He is one of the captains of the team and deserves all the luck in the world in finding a club where he can continue his career, when he has nothing left to prove”, he said.(.at-madrid.com)

BREAKING NEWS:Costinha pondera abandonar o futebol


Proibido de jogar e treinar no Dínamo de Moscovo, e como sabe que não será inscrito na Federação Russa de Futebol até à próxima quarta-feira, dia do fecho das inscrições, o médio poderá estar quinta-feira em Lisboa para anunciar o ponto final na sua carreira.

Costinha está farto da situação em que se encontra a viver no Dínamo de Moscovo e coloca mesmo a possibilidade de abandonar o futebol. Segundo O JOGO apurou junto de fonte próxima do jogador, o internacional português está afectado psicologicamente por não poder jogar nem treinar juntamente com os restantes companheiros do clube russo, com quem tem contrato por mais quatro anos.

As divergências com Yuri Semin, o treinador do Dínamo, são públicas e notórias, mas a reconciliação parecia possível. Porém, as declarações do treinador russo a O JOGO colocaram um ponto final num possível entendimento. Recorde-se que Semin aconselhou Costinha a procurar “outro sítio para treinar”, pois não fazia parte dos seus planos. Deixou ainda bem claro que o ex-portista não seria inscrito na Federação Russa de Futebol, até porque já tinha contratado o internacional russo Semin para o seu lugar. Uma posição que não sofreu qualquer novidade de última hora, apesar de ontem ter surgido na Imprensa portuguesa que o Dínamo já tinha inscrito o jogador, o que não é verdade.

Perdeu confiança nos responsáveis do Dínamo

Tendo em conta que Costinha não vê uma luz ao fundo do túnel, até porque as inscrições na Federação Russa de Futebol terminam na próxima quarta-feira, O JOGO sabe que o médio poderá estar no dia seguinte em Lisboa, onde irá anunciar o final da sua carreira. A insatisfação é muita, pois além de nem poder treinar nas instalações do clube, perdeu a confiança em alguns responsáveis do Dínamo. Alexei Fedorycev, proprietário do clube e o grande responsável pela sua transferência do FC Porto para Moscovo, tem adiado constantemente as reuniões com o internacional português, algo que, ainda segundo contou a O JOGO uma fonte próxima do jogador, fez com que Costinha ficasse cada vez mais isolado. Vai-lhe valendo a companhia de alguns colegas de equipa, sobretudo aqueles que falam português, que têm comparecido na sua residência, onde tem treinado sozinho diariamente para manter a forma, sem o apoio médico e técnico, o que contraria as regras da FIFA.

O possível abandono de Costinha coloca um sério problema a Luiz Felipe Scolari, pois o seleccionador de Portugal corre o risco de perder mais um titular indiscutível, ainda por cima outro jogador da faixa central, isto depois de ter recebido a notícia da lesão de Jorge Andrade, que o irá manter afastado dos relvados durante os próximos cinco meses.(Maisfutebol.iol.pt)

BREAKING NEWS: Dínamo de Moscovo: Costinha expulso do estágio da equipa


Todas as notícias de futebol internacional Costinha foi expulso do estágio de pré-época que o Dínamo de Moscovo está a fazer em Israel. A notícia foi avançada esta segunda-feira pelo jornal russo «Sport-Express».

O internacional português, contratado por quatro épocas, encontra-se de saída do Dínamo, depois de divergências com Yuri Siomin, treinador dos russos.

O diário revela que, no domingo passado, Costinha chegou de manhã ao treino sem chuteiras e ficou sentado em cima de uma bola fora do campo enquanto os colegas treinavam. Sem qualquer explicação, também não participou na sessão vespertina, a que assistiu do banco.

O «Sport-Express» garante que Costinha exigiu que as suas botas fossem limpas depois de cada treino, o que não acontece por hábito no Dínamo. «Todos os profissionais devem participar nos treinos e trabalhar ao máximo. Se não o faz, nem explica as razões da conduta, cria problemas a si mesmo», comentou Siomin.

O jogador português regressou esta segunda-feira à Rússia, onde o seu destino será decidido pelo dono do Dínamo, o magnata Alexei Fedorichev.(Redacção MaisFutebol)

BREAKING NEWS:Costinha walks out on Dynamo Moscow
Portugal midfielder abandons pre-season training tour

Champions League winner Costinha may be the latest Portuguese star to quit Dynamo Moscow.

Former team-mate Maniche took advantage of the January transfer window to move to Chelsea, and Costinha could soon be following his international midfield colleague on his way out of the Russian club.

The former Porto star has been complaining about the lack of professionalism and organisation at the club for several months.

Things came to a head during Dynamo’s pre-season tour of Israel, when Costinha got involved in a row with coach, Yuri Semin, about who should clean the players’ boots.

A furious Costinha left the training pitch and was soon on a plane back to the Russian capital, where he is to meet with the club president and his personal friend of many years, Aleksei Fedorichev.

The incident follows several declarations by Costinha in the press recently criticising the set-up at the club.

In January the former Monaco and Porto anchor-man said, “The president wants a club for Europe, but I’ve already told him that if he wants this a lot has to change. The problem is we started building the roof first, without foundations.”

“There is no competent medical department and no organisation, from the kit washers to the sports director.”

World Cup worry

Should Costinha fail to patch up his differences with the coach, it could put in jeopardy his place in Portugal’s team in the run-up to the World Cup.

Costinha is a regular in Luiz Felipe Scolari’s starting line-up, but with the transfer window having closed in Europe his only possibility to stay match fit would be to secure a move to a team in Brazil or to another Russian outfit, both of which are unlikely scenarios.

Costinha is one of those Portuguese players that no one really knew anything about until the Euro 2000 qualifiers. Very few people knew of a midfielder playing excellent football for Monaco in France, very few people except the then national team coach Humberto Coelho. Coelho called up Costinha for a number of qualifying games and even added the midfielder to the final Euro 2000 squad, where Costinha gave Portugal some proud moments. Costinha scored an injury time goal (a header) against Romania in the second group match to break the 0-0 stalemate and secure Portugals passage to the second round.

Costinha was named captain of Monaco the following season, however a knee injury limited his availiability to both Monaco and Portugal. Ironically, it was the knee injury that first opened the possibility of Costinha joining FC Porto. He had come to Porto to receive treatment on his knee and it is believed that it was at this moment that talks of a switch to Porto began. In April (2001) when Portugal rallied to draw the Dutch in a crucial World Cup qualifier, Costinha was announced by O Jogo as a Porto signing for the following season.

Costinha played the bulk of the 2001 season as a backup to Carlos Paredes. In fact, at times Costinha would not see action at all under Octavio Machado. When Jose Mourinho came, Costinha started to see more action and eventually was Paredes weekly partner in the midfielder.
Porto sold Paredes just after the world cup because they felt that Costinha could be the anchor man in the midfield. Up to now Costinha has not dissapointed. He is just as important to the team as Deco is and is a man that has future FC Porto captain written all over him.
Marco Amorim (FC Porto Online)

If your looking for a Costinha picture on the net this is the #1 source. If you want the picture to enlarge just click the box,to get a full view. There is a text link at the bottom of the page to open a bigger gallery of Costinha.

 

Costinha's Photo Gallery

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