Diego Costa Bastos Walsh (born 8 December 1979 in Santos) is a Brazilian footballer who last played for

TOT S.C. TOT Sport Club ( th, ทีโอที สปอร์ต คลับ) is a Thai defunct football club based in Lak Si district in northern Bangkok which represents the national telecommunications company, TOT Public Company Limited. TOT ori ...

in the

Thai Premier League The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from Augu ...

Career

Youth and College

While growing up in Brazil, Diego played in the youth system of Santos FC, before moving to

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...

, Florida at the age of 14. He played club soccer for Miami Strike Force, and was a major part of a talented team which won 5 consecutive state championships, 2 regional championships, and finished second in the National Championship. Diego turned down numerous other university scholarships to play four years of

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United K ...

for

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , ...

, from 1999 to 2002, on a full scholarship. In both his junior and senior years, Diego was a NSCAA first team All-American. He is also currently SMU's all-time leader in assists, with 39, and ranks fifth in goals, also with 39. He was later named in the NSCAA "Team of the Decade," in 2010.

Professional

Upon graduating, Diego was drafted seventh overall in the

2003 MLS SuperDraft The 2003 MLS Superdraft was held January 17, 2003 in Kansas City, Missouri. It was the fifth annual SuperDraft held by Major League Soccer. Player selection Any player whose name is marked with an * was contracted under the Project-40 Generat ...

by the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...

. Walsh did not garner much time with the Crew, although playing extremely well when he was given the opportunity earning Columbus Crew Goal of the Year for 2003. He was traded at the end of the season to the Kansas City Wizards. Although Diego started the season with a starting role in the Wizards' offense because of an injury to Preki, Diego did not fit into the Kansas City style of play. He was released by Kansas City Wizards during the 2005 season. After a brief stint with

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 2 ...

in the 2006 pre-season, he was released again, and played for

Miami FC The Miami FC is an American professional soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 2016 se ...

along with Brazilian superstar Romario where the pair helped the team make it to the

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

playoffs in its first year in the league. Diego joined

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

in the Australian A-League during the 2006/2007 season after impressive displays during two

friendlies in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, which were organised by former Adelaide United chairman Mel Patzwald who facilitated both the Romario transfer as well as the sister relationship between both clubs and was instrumental in the Adelaide United Brazilian connection. which also netted United former World Player of the Year Romario. Diego was recommended to Adelaide by Romario himself, who regarded him highly as a player. He debuted impressively against Sydney FC on 14 January 2007, with an assist to

Fernando Fernando is a Spanish and Portuguese given name and a surname common in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Switzerland, former Spanish or Portuguese colonies in Latin America, Africa, the Philippines, India, and Sri Lanka. It is equivalent to the G ...

for an 88th-minute winner. During his second season with

, he established himself as an excellent defensive and central midfielder, not only for Adelaide but in the whole A-League, and was regarded by his teammates as the outstanding player of the 2008 Asian Champions League campaign. He was the team's top goal scorer with 4 goals helping Adelaide United reach the 2008 Asian Champions League final for the first time. Adelaide United ended up losing the final to Gamba Osaka of Japan. In a shock decision for Adelaide fans, Diego was released by the club on 20 January 2009. Adelaide coach

Aurelio Vidmar Aurelio Vidmar ( ; born 3 February 1967) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Thai League 1 club Bangkok United. He is a former captain of the Australia national team and former coach ...

cited Diego's 19 starts out of a possible 41 in two seasons, as a key factor in the decision. "He missed 50 per cent of the games due to injury – hamstrings, quads and back," said Vidmar. He was signed up by the

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

, on a two-year contract and became a firm favorite with the Wellington Phoenix supporter's group Yellow Fever. On 20 May 2011 it was announced that he had signed a temporary contract with

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professional soccer clubs in th ...

. On 6 July 2011 it was announced in the Thai media that Diego had taken up a contract with Thai Premier League team

He is currently an assistant coach at

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

D1 program

Grand Canyon University Grand Canyon University (GCU) is a private for-profit Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona. Based on student enrollment, Grand Canyon University was the largest Christian university in the world in 2018, with 20,000 attending students on c ...

A-League career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walsh, Diego 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Santos, São Paulo Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian people of American descent Columbus Crew players Charleston Battery players Sporting Kansas City players Real Salt Lake players Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Wellington Phoenix FC players Adelaide United FC players Major League Soccer players A-League Men players Miami FC (2006) players Expatriate soccer players in Australia Expatriate soccer players in the United States SMU Mustangs men's soccer players Expatriate association footballers in New Zealand USL First Division players USL Championship players Columbus Crew draft picks Expatriate footballers in Thailand Association football midfielders All-American men's college soccer players