Vata Matanu Garcia (born 19 March 1961), known simply as Vata, is a retired Angolan

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a striker. He spent most of his professional career in Portugal, most notably at Benfica.

Club career

Born in

Damba The damba (''Paretroplus damii'') is a species of cichlid. Etymology The genus name ''Paretroplus'' is composed by the Greek ''Para'' (meaning ''similar to'') and ''Etroplus'' (a closely related genus of Indian cichlids). The Latin species nam ...

Uíge Province Uíge (pronunciation: ; kg, Wizidi) is one of the eighteen Provinces of Angola, located in the northwestern part of the country. Its capital city is of the same name. History During the Middle Ages, the Uíge Province was the heartland of the ...

, Vata started his football career at

Progresso Associação do Sambizanga Progresso Associação do Sambizanga is an Angolan football club based in Luanda. The club was founded in 1975, as a result of a merger of three clubs: Juventude Unida do Bairro Alfredo (JUBA), Juventista and Vaza. Progresso do Sambizanga is no ...

. After a good run in

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 ...

with Varzim SC, he caught the eye of Primeira Liga club

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

, signing with them for 1988–89 and being crowned the season's top scorer in his first year. In the following campaign's European Cup campaign, Vata achieved his most (in)famous moment: after the 1–2 defeat at Olympique de Marseille in the semifinals, he scored from a left-side

corner kick A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is take ...

, putting the ball in the net with his right arm as Benfica won on the away goals rule with that single goal. After two more seasons in Portugal, with C.F. Estrela da Amadora and S.C.U. Torreense, 38-year-old Vata retired in 1999 after spells with

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

's Floriana Football Club and Gelora Dewata and

Persija Jakarta Persatuan Sepakbola Indonesia Jakarta ( 'Indonesian Football Association of Jakarta'; abbreviated as Persija), is an Indonesian professional football club based in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta. Persija Jakarta is one of the most suc ...

(

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, where he also would act as

player-coach A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

). In 1993–94 he also had a brief go at

Futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

, in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. As a full-time manager, Vata worked with Guntur Bali, winning the league in his only season and also coaching in that country

Mitra Kukar F.C. Persatuan Sepakbola Mitra Kutai Kartanegara is an Indonesian association football club based in Tenggarong, Kutai Kartanegara, East Kalimantan. They currently compete in the Liga 3. History This club was founded in 1979 as NIAC Mitra. NIAC stoo ...

and Kalimantan (in 2004–05). He also worked at the International School in Bali in 2000 and at the European Football Institute in Australia, as a high-performance coach of both the senior and reserve teams.

International career

Vata was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

65 times for the Angolan national team, including one 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match.

Honours

Club

;Benfica * Portuguese League: 1988–89,

1990–91 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

* Portuguese Supercup:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

* European Cup: Runner-up 1989–90 ;Floriana *

Maltese Cup The FA Trophy, currently known as the IZIBET FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football cup competition that takes place in Malta. The cup was founded in 1933; following a match between England and Italy, played in Rome in May 1933, ...

: 1993–94 ;Deltras *Indonesian League: 1999–2000 (as coach)

Individual

* Portuguese League: Top Scorer 1988–89 (16 goals) *Indonesian League: Top Scorer 1995–96

References

External links

*
Bali Beach Soccer bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vata Matanu Garcia 1961 births Living people People from Cunene Province Angolan footballers Association football forwards Girabola players Progresso Associação do Sambizanga players Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Varzim S.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers C.F. Estrela da Amadora players S.C.U. Torreense players Maltese Premier League players Floriana F.C. players Liga 1 (Indonesia) players Deltras F.C. players Angola international footballers Angolan expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Malta Expatriate footballers in Indonesia Angolan expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Angolan football managers