Team Roster for 2008 1 Norihiro Yamagishi 2 Keisuke Tsuboi 3 Hajime Hosogai 4 Marcus Tulio Tanaka 6 Nobuhisa Yamada 7 Naohiro Takahara 8 Alessandro Santos 9 Yuichiro Nagai 10 Robson Ponte 11 Tatsuya Tanaka 12 Shunsuke Tsutsumi 13 Keita Suzuki 14 Tadaaki Hirakawa 15 Sergio Escudero 16 Takahito Soma 17 Edmilson Dos Santos 18 Junki Koike 19 Hideki Uchidate 20 Satoshi Horinuchi 21 Tsukasa Umesaki 22 Yuki Abe 23 Ryota Tsuzuki 24 Kazuya Sakamoto 25 Tetsushi Kondo 26 Hiroyuki Takasaki/a> 27 Yoshiya Nishizawa 28 Nobuhiro Kato 29 Koki Otani 30 Masayuki Okano 31 Masato Hashimoto 32 Yusuke Hayashi 8 Alessandro Santos Position:MF Born:20-Jul-1977 Height/Weight:178/69 Birthplace:Brazil Previous Teams:Gremio (Brazil), Meitoku Gijuku HS, Shimizu S-Pulse, Urawa Reds Appearances (J1/J2):257/0 Goals: 62/0 First Appearance: 19-Apr-1997 Shimizu S-Pulse - vs - Gamba Osaka (at "Banpaku" Stadium) First Goal : 28-May-1997 Shimizu S-Pulse - vs - Avispa Fukuoka (at Nihondaira Stadium) Year Team Matches Goals 1997 Shimizu S-Pulse 27 3 1998 Shimizu S-Pulse 26 10 1999 Shimizu S-Pulse 30 11 2000 Shimizu S-Pulse 30 4 2001 Shimizu S-Pulse 30 12 2002 Shimizu S-Pulse 29 9 2003 Shimizu S-Pulse 26 7 2004 Urawa Reds 27 7 2005 Urawa Reds 32 4 2006 Urawa Reds 34 5 TOTAL 291 67 Alessandro Santos was born in Brazil, but came to Japan when still a high school student, both to learn about Japan and to pursue an opportunity to play football. After a very successful few years at Shizuoka's Meitoku Gijuku High School, Alex was selected by Shimizu S-Pulse, and quickly established himself as one of the team's main offensive weapons. He is a very versatile player, and although he is generally used on the left wing, he is capable of playing wing back, central midfield or even striker. After living in Japan for eight years, and becoming quite fluent in Japanese and thoroughly settled in the country, Alex obtained Japanese citizenship in late 2001. This provided him with the opportunity to play for the national team at the 2002 World Cup. After making appearances in two of Japan's World Cup matches, Alex attracted the attention of Charlton Athletic, a Premiership club in England which has some past ties to S-Pulse. Unfortunately, he was unable to receive a working visa, and returned to S-Pulse for the remainder of the 2002 season. Nevertheless, Santos has worked his way into a regular position in the National Team, and at the start of 2004 he convinced S-Pulse to trade him to the Urawa Reds, where his chances of claiming some silverware, as well as raising his profile as a potential international player, increased. With the new environment and a boost to his confidence, the naturalised Japanese star reached his peak in 2004 and 2005. But while this was a breakout year for him individually, Santos was unable to share in any silverware, apart from one league cup title. By 2005, as his speed started to desert him and younger players challenge for a spot, he began to find himself pushed out of the starting lineup. As the 2006 World Cup approached, and the pressure increased, many began to question whether Santos deserved the starting role, not only for the National Team, but at the club level as well. Thus, when Austrian Club Red Bull Salzburg came calling, at the end of 2006, Santos grabbed at the chance to make one grand appearance an even larger stage. Although he might have made a bigger impact if he had moved overseas while still in his prime, Austria is not the most demanding of leagues, and Santos was still able to win a few starting appearances in Europe. Although Red Bull decided that it was not worth the money to renew his contract after the initial one year loand, at least Santos did get his chance to play professionally in Europe. As age creeps up on him and deprives him of the speed needed to create chances on the wing, Santos is likely to come under greater scrutiny. On an Urawa Reds team that has plenty of talent to spare, his starting opportunities may be limited. However, while he may no longer be the top player at his position, there is no question that he still has the combative spirit and wily experience to make valuable contributions to the team. National Team Data & History NT Caps: 82 NT Goals: 7 Tournaments: World Cup Korea/Japan (2002) Confederations Cup (2003) Asia Cup (2004) Confederations Cup (2005) FIFA World Cup Germany (2006) Date Vs. Score Location Status Min. G 3-21-2002 Ukraine 1-0 Nagai Stadium Start 45 0 4-17-2002 Costa Rica 1-1 Yokohama Int'l Start 79 0 4-29-2002 Slovakia 1-0 Nat'l Stadium Start 66 0 5-2-2002 Honduras 3-3 Nat'l Stadium Sub 45 1 5-14-2002 Norway 0-3 Oslo, Norway Sub 5 0 5-25-2002 Sweden 1-1 Nat'l Stadium Sub 35 0 6-4-2002 Belgium 2-2 Saitama Stadium Sub 26 0 6-18-2002 Turkey 0-1 Miyagi Stadium Start 45 0 11-20-2002 Argentina 0-2 Saitama Stadium Sub 32 0 3-28-2003 Uruguay 2-2 Nat'l Stadium Sub 45 0 4-16-2003 Korea 1-0 Seoul, Korea Start 90 0 5-31-2003 Korea 0-1 Nat'l Stadium Start 90 0 6-8-2003 Argentina 1-4 Nagai Stadium Sub 45 0 6-11-2003 Paraguay 0-0 Saitama Stadium Start 90 0 6-18-2003 New Zealand 3-0 St.Denis,France Start 90 0 6-20-2003 France 1-2 St.Etienne,France Start 90 0 6-22-2003 Colombia 0-1 St.Etienne,France Start 90 0 8-20-2003 Nigeria 3-0 Nat'l Stadium Start 90 0 9-10-2003 Senegal 0-1 Niigata Stadium Start 90 0 10-11-2003 Romania 1-1 Bucharest, Romania Start 90 0 11-19-2003 Cameroon 0-0 Oita Stadium Start 90 0 12-4-2003 China 2-0 Nat'l Stadium Start 90 0 12-7-2003 Hong Kong 1-0 Saitama Stadium, Start 90 1 12-10-2003 Korea 0-0 Yokohama Int'l St. Start 90 0 2-8-2004 Malaysia 4-0 Nat'l Stadium Start 63 0 2-12-2004 Iraq 2-0 Shizuoka Stadium Start 90 1 2-18-2004 Oman 1-0 Shizuoka Stadium Start 90 0 3-31-2004 Singapore 2-0 Jalan Besar Stadium Start 90 0 4-24-2004 Hungary 2-3 Hungary Start 90 0 4-28-2004 Czech Rep. 1-0 Sparta Prague Stadium Start 80 0 5-30-2004 Iceland 3-2 Manchester, England Start 90 0 6-01-2004 England 1-1 Manchester, England Start 90 0 6-09-2004 India 7-0 Saitama Stadium, Japan Start 90 0 7-10-2004 Slovakia 3-1 Oita Stadium, Japan Start 81 0 7-13-2004 Serbia 1-0 Yokohama Int'l Stadium Start 90 0 7-20-2004 Oman 1-0 Chongqing, China Start 90 0 7-25-2004 Thailand 4-1 Chongqing, China Start 90 0 7-28-2004 Iran 0-0 Chongqing, China Start 90 0 7-31-2004 Jordan 1-1 (PK4-3) Chongqing, China Start 90 0 8-04-2004 Bahrain 4-3 (OT) Chengdu, China Start 90 0 8-07-2004 China 3-1 Beijing, China Start 90 0 8-18-2004 Argentina 1-2 Shizuoka Stadium, Japan Start 90 0 9-8-2004 India 4-0 Calcutta, India Start 90 0 10-13-2004 Oman 1-0 Oman Start 90 0 11-17-2004 Singapore 1-0 Saitama Stadium, Japan Sub 11 0 12-16-2004 Germany 0-3 Tokyo National Stadium Start 68 0 1-29-2005 Kazakhstan 4-0 Yokohama Intl Start 90 1 2-9-2005 North Korea 2-1 Saitama Stadium Start 90 0 3-30-2005 Bahrain 1-0 Saitama Stadium Start 90 0 5-22-2005 Peru 0-1 Niigata Stadium Start 90 0 5-27-2005 UAE 0-1 National Std. Tokyo Start 90 0 6-4-2005 Bahrain 1-0 Manama, Bahrain Start 90 0 6-15-2005 Mexico 1-2 Hannover, Germany Start 90 0 6-19-2005 Greece 1-0 Frankfurt, Germany Start 90 0 6-22-2005 Brazil 2-2 Koln, Germany Start 90 0 7-31-2005 North Korea 0-1 Daejon, Korea Start 90 0 8-03-2005 China 2-2 Daejon, Korea Sub 16 0 8-17-2005 Iran 2-1 Yokohama Stadium Start 90 0 9-07-2005 Honduras 5-4 Miyagi Stadium Start 90 0 10-08-2005 Latvia 2-2 Riga, Latvia Sub 14 0 10-12-2005 Ukraine 0-1 Ukraine Start 68 0 11-12-2005 Angola 1-0 Natl Stadium, Tokyo Start 90 0 2-10-2006 USA 2-3 San Francisco Start 90 0 2-18-2006 Finland 2-0 Shizuoka Stadium Sub 18 0 2-22-2006 India 6-0 Yokohama Stadium Start 90 0 2-28-2006 Bosnia 2-2 Westfahren Std.(Germany) Start 90 0 3-30-2006 Ecuador 1-0 Oita "Big Eye" Std Start 90 0 5-09-2006 Bulgaria 1-2 Nagai Std., Osaka Sub 47 0 5-13-2006 Scotland 0-0 Nagai Std., Osaka Start 90 0 6-3-2006 Germany 2-2 Kaiserslautern, Germany Start 90 0 6-6-2006 Malta 1-0 Frankenstadion, Germany Start 59 0 6-11-2006 Australia 1-3 Kaiserslautern, Germany Start 90 0 6-18-2006 Croatia 0-0 Frankfurt, Germany Start 90 0 6-22-2006 Brazil 1-4 Dortmund, Germany Start 90 0 8-9-2006 Trinidad&Tobago 2-0 Tokyo, National Stadium Start 85 2 8-18-2006 Yemen 2-0 Niigata Stadium Start 90 0 9-1-2006 Saudi Arabia 0-1 Saudi Arabia Start 90 0 9-6-2006 Yemen 1-0 Sanaa, Yemen Start 90 0 10-11-2006 India 3-0 Katarnaka, India Start 90 0 11-15-2006 Saudi Arabia 3-0 Sapporo Dome Start 65 0

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