Player Profile: Eduardo

Full name: Eduardo dos Reis Carvalho

Date of birth: 19 September 1982

Birthplace: Mirandela, Portugal

Portugal’s number one at the time of writing, Eduardo had to wait patiently until his mid-twenties to make the breakthrough to top-flight football. But the burly goalkeeper has been quick to make up for lost time.

Less than two years after taking his bow in the Portuguese Liga, the 1.87 metre tall stopper has become the first-choice stopper of the national team.

Eduardo was born in the northern town of Mirandela, famous for its cuisine, especially its generously proportioned steaks, and judging by the goalkeeper’s stocky frame it may well have been a staple item in the diet of the dos Reis Carvalho household as the young Eduardo grew up.

The goalkeeper came through the ranks at Sporting Braga, but had his path to the first team blocked by Braga’s regular goalkeeper of many years, Paulo Santos, a consistent performer who was in Portugal’s 2006 World Cup squad.

Setubal breakthrough

To gain much needed playing time Eduardo was loaned out first to lowly Beira-Mar in 2006/07, and the following season to Vitoria Setubal. It was as a key player in Carlos Carvalhal’s sensational Setubal side that the player made his mark as a goalkeeper of the highest order.

In a historic season for the Sadinos, Eduardo helped the club qualify for the Uefa Cup and lift the inaugural Portuguese League Cup. A man-of-the-match display in the final against Sporting, saving three spot kicks in the penalty shoot-out, cemented the keeper’s burgeoning reputation.

Eduardo was unlucky to miss out on Portugal’s Euro 2008 delegation, with many calling for him not only to be included in the squad, but even to be the starter between the sticks for the Seleccao.

He was subsequently recalled to Braga and immediately became the club's number one stopper. As Eduardo continued his fine form from the previous season, new Portugal head coach Carlos Queiroz wasted little time in making the player the national team's first-choice last line of defence.

by Tom Kundert (25/03/2009)