Manoel Rezende de Mattos Cabral (born July 26, 1950), known as Nelinho, is a former Brazilian association footballer who played as

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He played for several clubs in his home country and abroad, including Belo Horizonte rivals Cruzeiro and

Atlético Mineiro Atlético, Spanish for ''athletics'', or Athletico in English, may refer to: Sports Teams Athletico *Athletico SC (Lebanon), a Lebanese football academy *Athletic Bilbao, or Atletico Bilbao, Basque students athletic club (also forming Athletic Cl ...

. Nelinho also represented the Brazilian national team in two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

Club career

Born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

, the son of

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

immigrants from

Ovar Ovar ( or ) is a city and a municipality in Aveiro District, Baixo Vouga Subregion in Portugal. The population in 2011 was 55,398, in an area of 147.70 km2. It had 42,582 eligible voters (2006). The municipality includes two cities: Ovar (16 ...

, Nelinho started his career at local club Olaria, but signed his first professional contract with América. After a recommendation by

Otto Glória Otto Martins Glória (9 January 1917 – 4 September 1986) was a Brazilian football coach. Career Glória was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but had his greatest successes with Benfica in Portugal, guiding the club to nine national trophies. ...

, then manager of the team, he moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

to play for Barreirense. A brief stint with Venezuela's Deportivo Anzoátegui followed, before returning to Rio de Janeiro to play for Bonsucesso, which then loaned him to

Remo Remo Inc. is an American musical instruments manufacturing company based in Valencia, California, and founded by Remo Belli in 1957. Products manufactured include drum kits, drumhead A drumhead or drum skin is a membrane stretched ov ...

. After good performances in the 1972 Brasileirão, Nelinho was signed by Cruzeiro for the following season. At the Belo Horizonte-based club, Nelinho won the Campeonato Mineiro four times between 1973 and 1977, and one Copa Libertadores in 1976, scoring in two matches of the finals against River Plate. While at the club, he was also selected for the Bola de Prata ( Campeonato Brasileiro team of the year) three times, in 1975, 1979 and 1980. In total, he had 411 appearances with Cruzeiro, and scored 105 goals. Nelinho managed Cruzeiro in 1994. After a brief spell at Grêmio, where he won a

Campeonato Gaúcho The Campeonato Gaúcho Série A1 (Gaúcho Championship A1 Series or Série A1), officially named as Campeonato da Primeira Divisão de Futebol Profissional da FGF - Divisão Especial - Série A1 and commonly known as Campeonato Gaúcho or Gauchã ...

, Nelinho returned to Belo Horizonte to play for Cruzeiro's rivals

in 1982. He spent the rest of his career at the club, where he won four more Campeonato Mineiros and was awarded with the Bola de Prata once more in 1983. He also coached the club in 1993.

International career

Nelinho was capped 21 times by

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, between April 1974 and June 1980, and scored six international goals. He won a

Taça do Atlântico Taça do Atlântico ( en, Atlantic Cup, es, Copa del Atlántico) was a national football team's competition held between 1956 and 1976 on an irregular basis, contested by the national football teams from South America. Teams participating wer ...

with the ''Seleção'', and was part of the squad in two Copa Américas. Nelinho played three matches in the 1974 FIFA World Cup and four in the 1978 FIFA World Cup, and scored one of the most stunning goals in

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

history, in the third place match against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 1978: from the right side of the pitch, he struck the ball into the far corner of the goal with the outside of his right foot, bending it around the sprawling

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, which he earned as captain of the Italian national team in the 1982 tournament, at th ...

Later life

After retiring from football, Nelinho joined Brazil's Democratic Labour Party and was elected State Deputy of Minas Gerais in 1987. After a period of involvement with politics, he returned briefly to football and managed Atlético Mineiro in 1993 and Cruzeiro in 1994. In 2005, Nelinho worked as pundit for

TV Globo TV Globo (, "Globe TV", or simply Globo), formerly known as Rede Globo, is a Brazilian free-to-air Television broadcasting, television network, launched by media proprietor Roberto Marinho on 26 April 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Gr ...

and

SporTV SporTV is a Brazilian pay television sports network owned by Canais Globo, part of Grupo Globo, launched in 1991. It is the most watched sports network in Brazil. On January 18, 2013, were launched High-definition simulcasts of SporTV and ...

, and currently owns a health club in Belo Horizonte.

Honours

Cruzeiro * Campeonato Mineiro: 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977 * Copa Libertadores: 1976 Grêmio *

: 1980 Atlético Mineiro * Campeonato Mineiro: 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986 Brazil *

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 ...

Individual * Bola de Prata: 1975, 1979, 1980, 1983

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelinho 1950 births Living people Brazilian footballers Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian people of Portuguese descent America Football Club (RJ) players F.C. Barreirense players Bonsucesso Futebol Clube players Clube Atlético Mineiro players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players Clube do Remo players Clube Atlético Mineiro managers Cruzeiro Esporte Clube managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Primeira Liga players Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Venezuela Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal 1974 FIFA World Cup players 1975 Copa América players 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1979 Copa América players Brazil international footballers Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Association football defenders Brazilian football managers