 Sinha playing forToluca | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Antônio Naelson Matias[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1976-05-23)23 May 1976 (age 49) | ||
| Place of birth | Itajá, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) | ||
| Position | Attacking midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1985–1993 | América-RN | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1998–1999 | Saltillo Soccer | 35 | (1) |
| 1999 | Monterrey | 17 | (1) |
| 1999–2017 | Toluca | 524 | (61) |
| 2014–2016 | →Querétaro (loan) | 48 | (1) |
| Total | 624 | (64) | |
| International career | |||
| 2004 | Mexico Olympic | 3 | (0) |
| 2004–2013 | Mexico | 59 | (6) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Antônio Naelson Matias (born 23 May 1976), known asSinha[2] orZinha, is a former professionalfootballer who played as anattacking midfielder. Born in Brazil, he played for theMexico national team.
Sinha spent the most of his career atDeportivo Toluca, where he made over 500 appearances, making him the most capped player in the club's history.
Sinha was born inItajá, a city located in the northwest of theBrazilian state ofRio Grande do Norte.He began his career playing for Rio Grande do Norte's capital city teamAmérica FC.
Sinha arrived in 1998 to Mexico, when he joinedCF Monterrey. In 1999, he moved to Toluca. Sinha is widely known for his dribbling skills, his accurate passing and his intelligence on the pitch as well as his leadership and long distance shot.
On February 12, 2017, Sinha achieved 600 official caps (including cup matches) with Toluca. This coincided with Toluca's 100 year anniversary.[3]
On April 30, 2017, Sinha was given a brief ceremony at theEstadio Nemesio Diez during the last home regular season game for Toluca.[4]
He was part of the Mexican 2004 Olympic football team, who exited in the first round, having finished third in group A, below group winnersMali andSouth Korea.
He has also been called up to play forMexico, although he is a Brazilian-born player, he became anaturalized Mexican citizen, after settling in Mexico for several years. During the2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Sinha became the first foreign-born player to score a goal for Mexico in a World Cup tournament, scoring againstIran. He was called up to play again for Mexico, thus making him the first naturalized to be called up byHugo Sánchez.
In 2005, he played in theConfederations Cup scoring a goal againstJapan that helped Mexico win the match. Mexico finished in fourth place in the tournament. He was also called up for the national team to play in theGold Cup.
During the2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Sinha, and four other members of theMexico national team tested positive for the banned substance ofClenbuterol and were removed from the team's tournament squad.[5] However, all players were exonerated as FIFA determined that the accused had accidentally ingested the banned substance through contaminated meat that had been served during a pre-tournament training camp.[6]
However,World Anti-Doping Agency appealed to theCourt of Arbitration for Sport to request a ban.[7] But on 12 October 2011 WADA withdrew this request after the full file was available for them.[8]
His final competitive match would come during a difficult time for the Mexico national team, as they barely qualified for theWorld Cup playoff against New Zealand.[9]Miguel Herrera found it necessary to only call upLiga MX players thus including the veteran Sinha on his roster. Sinha would sub in during both legs of the play-offs as Mexico successfully advanced to the2014 FIFA World Cup.[10]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico | 2004 | 5 | 1 |
| 2005 | 21 | 3 | |
| 2006 | 10 | 1 | |
| 2008 | 10 | 1 | |
| 2009 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2011 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2012 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2013 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 59 | 6 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | October 13, 2004 | Estadio Cuauhtémoc,Puebla, Mexico |  Trinidad and Tobago | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 2. | March 27, 2005 | Estadio Azteca,Mexico City, Mexico |  United States | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 3. | June 4, 2005 | Estadio Mateo Flores,Guatemala City, Guatemala |  Guatemala | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 4. | June 16, 2005 | AWD-Arena,Hanover, Germany |  Japan | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup |
| 5. | June 11, 2006 | Frankenstadion,Nuremberg, Germany |  Iran | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2006 FIFA World Cup |
| 6. | June 4, 2008 | Qualcomm Stadium,San Diego, United States |  Argentina | 1–3 | 1–4 | Friendly |
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