Lincoln (footballer, born 1979)

Lincoln

Personal information
Full name	Cássio de Souza Soares
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Attacking midfielder
Team information
Current team	Galatasaray S.K.

Cássio de Souza Soares (born 22 January 1979 in Belo Horizonte) is a Brazilian football player. He his currently a free agent.

Career

Atlético Mineiro

Lincoln was a member of the 1999 Atlético Mineiro team, who were runners-up in Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, which also had Marques, Belletti, Caçapa, Galvan and the 1999 top-scorer Guilherme in the side, among others.

1. FC Kaiserslautern

Lincoln is known foremostly for his stint in the German Bundesliga. He was signed in 2001 by 1. FC Kaiserslautern as a replacement for playmaker Ciriaco Sforza, who was bought by Bayern Munich. The slender, but technically gifted, Lincoln made an immediate impact and contributed to a strong FCK finish in that season. However, trouble was afoot within the club from Rhineland-Palatinate, heavy internal friction was experienced and this was not helped by a large turnover of players. The last straw was when Lincoln went AWOL in Spring 2004. It turned out that he had headed back to his native Brazil as he felt it would be better for an injury he was apparently suffering from. This was not endorsed by the club and earned him a season-long suspension. Many of the clubs fans, members of the board and playing staff were left embittered by the fact that Lincoln left the club while they struggled against relegation.

Schalke 04

Lincoln's reputation had suffered, and it was seen as a surprise when Schalke 04 signed the playmaker. However, his game flourished while at the Ruhrgebiet club, and he was one of the strongest pillars in the surprising Schalke 2004–05 campaign that earned them second place in the Bundesliga. Although Lincoln experienced a dip in form in 2005–06, he firmly established himself as one of the best playmakers in the Bundesliga.

Galatasaray

In June 2007 Lincoln signed a four-year contract for Galatasaray S.K., for a fee of around €.7M. He was greeted at the Ataturk International Airport with a crowd of 4,000 Galatasaray supporters (see: ultrAslan).

Lincoln scored five times in his first season in the 2007–08 Turkcell Super League and he made a few important assists showing great performances both in Turkish league and Uefa cup games. He became a favorite of the Galatasaray fans. He was taken out of the squad of the seventh week clash against the arch rivals Beşiktaş. Karl-Heinz Feldkamp took Lincoln and Hakan Şükür out of the match squad because they had broken the camp rules by bringing family and friends to training. After the 2-1 win thanks to the goals of Hakan Balta and Shabani Nonda (P), some have called Karl-Heinz Feldkamp a braveheart and a hero, but many other supporters criticised him because of the decision.

Because of injuries Lincoln couldn't play many games in his first season in Turkey. He also hasn't participated in a derby in the Turkcell Super League because of injuries or card penalties.

He eventually had the opportunity to play against rivals Fenerbahçe on 09 November, 2008 and scored one of the quickest goals ever seen in Fenerbahçe - Galatasaray derbies, on exactly 1 minute 30 seconds after the kickoff, and Galatasaray dominated 0-1. However Galatasaray lost the game 4-1.

As the only playmaker and the fascinating leader of the attack organizations of the team, although spending only 1,5 seasons in Galatasaray, Lincoln was selected as the team captain in UEFA Cup game against Hertha Berlin on 3 December 2008.

In July 2009, Galatasaray released him due to not attending pre-season trainings.

Honours

• Schalke 04
  • UEFA Intertoto Cup: 1 (2004)
  • German League Cup: 1 (2005)
  • Bundesliga Player of the month: 1 (November 2004)
  • Schalke 04 Player of the year: 1 (2004-05)
  • Nominated as one of the five best players in Bundesliga 2006, by Kicker.

• Galatasaray
  • Turkish League: 1 (2007-08)
  • Turkish Super Cup: 1 (2008)

Career statistics

(winning a penalty for another player to convert, is counted as an assist .)

Club	Season	League			Cup			Europe			Total
		Apps	Goals	Assts	Apps	Goals	Assts	Apps	Goals	Assts	Apps	Goals	Assts
Kaiserslautern	2001–02	27	8	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	27	8	-
	2002–03	20	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	20	2	-
	2003–04	6	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	2	-
	Total	53	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	53	12	0
Schalke 04	2004–05	31	12	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	31	12	-
	2005–06	29	5	3	1	-	-	12	6	5	42	11	8
	2006–07	23	3	8	2	2	1	2	-	1	27	5	10
	Total	83	20	11	3	2	1	14	6	6	100	28	18
Galatasaray	2007–08	19	5	5	3	0	0	7	2	3	29	7	8
	2008–09	23	8	14	3	0	1	12	1	6	38	9	21
	Total	42	13	19	6	0	1	19	3	9	67	16	29

As of 1 June 2009

External links

• Official Site Template:En icon Template:Pt icon
• Profile at galatasaray.org Template:Tr icon Template:En icon
• Profile at TFF.org Template:Tr icon
• Profile at transfermarkt.de Template:De icon