Antônio Naelson

Sinha

Personal information
Full name	Antônio Naelson Matias
Date of birth	May 23, 1976 (1976-05-23)
Place of birth	Itajá, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder, Central Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Toluca
Number	10
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–1997	América-RN	0	(0)
1998–1999	Monterrey	17	(1)
1999–	Toluca	422	(54)
National team‡
2004–	Mexico	55	(6)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 May 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 November 2011

Antônio Naelson Matias (born May 23, 1976), also known simply as Sinha is a Mexican football midfielder, who plays for Club Toluca in the Mexican First Division.

Biography

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).

International career

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.

In 2005, he played in the Confederations Cup scoring a goal against Japan 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 the Gold Cup. On May 23, 2010 Sinha won his 5th championship on his birthday, but missed a penalty on the penalty-shootout.

During the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Sinha, and four other members of the Mexican National Team, tested positive for the banned substance of Clenbuterol and were withdrawn from the team's tournament squad. 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.

However, World Anti-Doping Agency appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to request a ban. But on 12 October 2011 WADA withdrew this request after the full file was available for them.

Honours

Club Toluca

• Primera División de México (5): 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, Bicentenario 2010,

• CONCACAF Champions Cup: 2003
• Mexican Supercup (Campeón de Campeones): 2003, 2006

International goals

Scores and results list Mexico's goal tally first.

Goal	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

External links

• Antônio Naelson at National-Football-Teams.com
• Football Database.com provides Antônio Naelson's profile and stats
• (Portuguese) CBF
• (Spanish) Antônio Naelson Article
• Antônio Naelson stats at Medio Tiempo.com (Spanish)