Antonio Naelson
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Antônio Naelson Matias | ||
| Date of birth | May 23, 1976 | ||
| Place of birth | Itajá, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil | ||
| Height | 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in) | ||
| Playing 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) |
| National team | |||
| 2004–2013 | Mexico | 59 | (6) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 September 2016. |
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Antônio Naelson Matias (May 23, 1976), known as Sinha or Zinha, is a former Brazilian-born Mexican professional footballer. He spent most of his career playing for Deportivo Toluca. He also played for Mexico in the 2006 World Cup.
A creative attacking midfielder, Naelson is known for his vision, pace, dribbling and passing ability. He is also an accurate set-piece taker.
Sinha was born in Itajá, a city located in the northwest of the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte. He began his career playing for Rio Grande do Norte's capital city team América FC.
Sinha measures 163 cm (5 ft 4 in) and weighs 67 kg (147 lb).
Sinha arrived in 1998 to Mexico, when he joined CF 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.
On April 30, 2017, Sinha was given a brief ceremony at the Estadio Nemesio Diez during the last home regular season game for Toluca.
He was part of the Mexican 2004 Olympic football team, who exited in the first round, having finished third in group A, below group winners Mali and South Korea.
He has also been called up to play for Mexico, although he is a Brazilian-born player, he became a naturalized Mexican citizen, after settling in Mexico for several years. During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, Sinha became the first foreign-born player to score a goal for Mexico in a World Cup tournament, scoring against Iran. He was called up to play again for Mexico, thus making him the first naturalized to be called up by Hugo Sánchez.
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