António Simões

António José Simões da Costa ( born December 14, 1943 in Corroios ) is a former Portuguese footballer, who participated with the national team of his native country at the World Cup 1966.

Career

Club career

António Simões started his footballing career at Portugal's most successful club, SL Benfica of Lisbon. The one born in Corroios, a town right in the neighborhood of Lisbon Simões played at Benfica from 1961 to 1975. During this time he was loaned out several times to smaller clubs, like for example at GD Estoril Praia or U Tomar, a division club club. During these fourteen years that he spent with breaks in Lisbon, he won with the club a few titles. In a team with other Portuguese stars of that time as Eusébio, José Augusto or Mário Coluna playing to António Simões got together with Benfica ten Portuguese league titles, the first in 1963 and the last in his final year at Benfica, 1975. Moreover, five times the Portuguese Cup, the Taça de Portugal, won. Also in Europe the great Benfica team of the early sixties was successful. In the years 1961 and 1962 to win the European Champion Clubs' Cup, the most important competition for club teams in Europe, respectively. While Simões 1961 was not yet the pro squad of Benfica, he was on an elementary part of the winning team of the year. Also in the final at the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam, he was the 5-3 victory against Real Madrid in the starting lineup.

When he left Lisbon in 1975 for the United States, he joined the Boston Minutemen. In the now-defunct organization that was active in the highest American football league at the time, he remained one and a half years and completed 27 games ( 5 goals). He then went on to the San Jose Earthquakes, where he graduated to 1977 33 league games. In 1979 he was for Dallas Tornado for six games active again in the NASL. Then he let his career in indoor soccer finish. Furthermore, he later worked as a coach at some unterklassigen American clubs.

National

António Simões came in his career with 46 appearances for the Portuguese national football team. He was first nominated in May 1961 an international match against Brazil in Sao Paulo, where he was not used. Then a year later he came to his first international match. In 1966 he was appointed to the Portuguese squad for the World Cup in England from Portugal coach Otto Glória. On the island, where Portugal for the first time took part in a football world championship, Simões was used in all six games of the Iberians. In those six games, he managed a hit, he shot the interim 1-0 in the preliminary round match against the reigning world champions Brazil (3:1). Had After the World Cup, when Portugal finished third at the end, took his international career until the year 1973, when he made his last international match against Bulgaria.