Boom and Bust: Carlos Alberto Looks to Get Career Back on Track at Vasco

Having won the Champions League with Porto at the tender age of 19, Carlos Alberto would have been forgiven for expecting his career to blossom in Europe. A tenacious, dynamic attacking midfielder, his displays caught the eyes of many in the old continent in that 2003-2004 season.


Things didn't quite work out for the Rio native, however. A series of missteps and disciplinary problems saw his star plummet, to the extent that, in 2011, he was struggling to break into the Bahia side that had offered him a loan lifeline in Série A. Luckily for Carlos Alberto, though, he's been granted one last chance at the club with whom he enjoyed perhaps the most stable two-year spell of his career - Vasco da Gama.

In the week of his first appearance for months, I've written about the 27-year-old over at In Bed With Maradona. You can read the article here.

(Photo credit: Lancenet.)

Animal Magic: Vasco bid farewell to unpredictable idol

His fame in Europe stems from two main instance. The first, a stunning goal against Manchester United in the 2000 Club World Cup, speaks of his on-pitch ability, of instinctive talent beyond the dreams of most footballers. The second is rather less praiseworthy: an infamous photo shows him plying a circus chimpanzee with (what appears to be) beer. (No, seriously.)


Yet the career of Edmundo, which was celebrated with a testimonial game last week, deserves a more nuanced appraisal. Capable of acts of breathtaking beauty, yet beset by personal problems, he came to embody the club with which he enjoyed a fruitful, if intermittent, association - Vasco da Gama.

I wrote a piece on Edmundo, and what he means to Vasco, over at The Score's excellent Footy Blog. Click here to read it.

(Photo credit: Gazeta Press.)