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Player profile: Tonel

Full name: Antonio Leonel Sousa

Position: Defender

Date of Birth: 13 April 1980

Birthplace: Lourosa, Portugal

Antonio Leonel Sousa, known to the football world by his nickname ‘Tonel’, is a perfect example of a late developer.

He served his apprenticeship at FC Porto, but after failing to make the step up from Porto’s youth team to the senior squad, the central defender spent several seasons at two of Portugal’s more modest clubs, Academica and Maritimo.

At 25 years of age a lesser player may well have resigned himself to the fact that the chance to make a big name for himself in the game had passed him by.

But Tonel never stopped giving anything less than 100%, and his consistent performances led to a second chance at one of Portugal’s big three, when Sporting Lisbon bought him in 2005. He settled into the starting line-up remarkably smoothly and has never looked back.

Impenetrable partnership

Alongside Brazilian team-mate, Anderson Polga, Tonel has formed a rock-solid partnership at the heart of the Sporting defence. So much so that, at the time of writing, the Lisbon club’s rearguard proudly boasted the record of the defence that had conceded the fewest goals in the whole of Europe.

Particularly strong in the air, Tonel is not afraid to venture upfield where he is a potent goal threat from set pieces. His excellent form earned him his international debut for Portugal in November 2006 when Luiz Filipe Scolari chose him in the starting line-up for the Euro 2008 qualification match against Kazakhstan.

Unsurprisingly, Tonel’s key contribution to Sporting led the club to offer him an extended contract which he readily signed to keep him at Alvalade until the summer of 2011.

Having toiled to the top the hard way, Tonel was delighted to pen the new deal saying, “It’s obvious that this evolution has given a huge boost to my career and also my family life, as I am now more stable. I aim to help Sporting win silverware and make the fans feel proud of their team.”

If the rest of his team-mates imitate the infectious commitment of the commanding defender there is a good chance of that happening.

by Tom Kundert (30/04/2007)

CLUB APPEARANCES* GOALS Academica 63 5 Maritimo 28 1 Sporting** 55 5       PORTUGAL 1 0

* League only
** Up to June 2007