19 January 2013

Moreira ready to strike for DPMM FC


Saturday, January 19, 2013
DPMM FC'S Portuguese striker Joao Vitor Rocha De Carvalho Moreira is looking forward to getting down to work.

Moreira is one of the team's three new imports for next season's Singapore League (S-League) campaign along with Guadeloupe national team captain Stephane Auvray and Croatian defender Dino Drpic, and he seemed pretty sure why last season's S-League runners-up signed him.

"My job is to score and help DPMM FC in every competition," said the 26-year-old, who has represented his country at the Under-20 and Under-21 level.

"Training has been going well but this is just the beginning so I can't say too much ... But we are working hard to get fit and be ready for the next month's league.

"I think I'm a good header of the ball, am fast and have good technique," Moreira said of his strengths when met during DPMM FC's training last week.

Moreira put pen to paper last month after finding the net in both of DPMM FC's games at the Governor Aceh Trophy in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

He scored in a 4-2 loss to Indonesian side Semen Padang FC and a 1-1 draw against Malaysia Super League champions Kelantan in the invitational friendly.

Playing at various lower division sides in Spain and Portugal, Moreira's biggest claim to fame came during the 2008/09 season, where he played for Portuguese side Biera-Mar which plays in Portugal's top-tier competition, the Primeira Liga.

He will be expected to shoulder some of the scoring burden from Shahrazen Said, the club's main striker and the team's top-scorer in last season's S-League with 13 goals.

Moreira will be Shahrazen's third striking partner in the space of one year after Ghanian Osman Basiru and Brazilians Rodrigo Gral and Patrick Roberto Daniel Da Silva became the latest in the long list of foreign strikers to pass through DPMM FC's revolving door.

Basiru and Gral were signed at the beginning of last season but Gral was released in May after a lingering knee injury and his countryman Da Silva was roped in as his replacement.

But Basiru, Da Silva, and Croatian midfield maestro Ivan Jerkovic all played their last game for the club during their season-ender against Balestier Khalsa on Nov 2 their dismissal coming as something of a surprise for many fans.

Brazilian centre-back Tales Ricarte dos Santos is the only retuning import from last season, and though he is in Brazil recuperating from a knee injury, the 28-year-old towering defender is expected to be back in the Sultanate in time for next season's S-League.

DPMM FC, who finished second to Tampines Rovers FC in last season's campaign and won the Singapore League Cup for the second time, are still searching for a fifth and and final import.

Croatian Ivan Bosnjak, who represented his country at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, is currently on trial with the club and the striker certainly impressed during last Saturday's training session where the club's starting-11 went up against the bench.

The 33-year-old Bosnjak has 14 caps and one international goal to his name, but only played three minutes during the 2006 World Cup where he came on as a 87th minute substitute for Croatian captain Darijo Srna during Croatia's 0-0 draw with Japan in their second Group F match.

The Brunei Times 

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