Eduardo Da Silva

Player Profile ::

Eduardo Da Silva
Date of Birth: 25 February 1983
Country: Croatia
Club: Dinamo Zagreb
Global Goal Rating: 2793.91 (As of 30th November 2006)

Eduardo Da Silva was born in Rio De Janiero in 1983. In 1998, with the Eastern European countries having opened their borders after the collapse of communism, Da Silva took the brave step of moving from his sunny homeland to the colder climes of Croatia, intent on making a career in professional football.

He settled in the Croatian capital Zagreb and signed for the country's biggest club Dinamo Zagreb, making his debut in the 2001/2002 season. Initially Da Silva didn't make a huge impact and made only a handful of appearances in his first season. It was decided Da Silva, by now a naturalised Croat would benefit from a loan spell at second division club Inter Zapresic in 2002/3, the move paid off for both club and player as Da Silva scored 10 goals in 15 games and Inter secured promotion. Da Silva returned to Dinamo Zagreb the following season a far more confident player and scored 9 goals in 24 matches, and was named Croatian Player of the Year in 2004.

After enjoying such a tremendous season in 2004 it was inevitable that the Brazilian born striker would come to the attention of the Croatian national team and he made his international debut at Lansdowne Road in 2004 against the Republic of Ireland. Da Silva made an appearance against his countrymen in a friendly in Split in August 2005 then got his first international goal against Hong Kong in February 2006. However he narrowly missed out on selection for the Croatian World Cup squad despite scoring 20 goals in 27 starts for Dinamo Zagreb. Da Silva was recalled to the Croatian squad by new manager Slaven Bilic and scored in a 2-0 friendly win away against Italy. Da Silva was on target again as Croatia won comfortably 2-0 against England and then the finest moment of his international career so far came when he scored a hat trick away against Israel in a crucial European Championship qualifier as Croatia prevailed 4-3.It is probably a little early to make comparisions with Croatia's other great strikers but what must be beyond doubt is that already Eduardo Da Silva is worth his weight in gold to the Croatian national team.