José Márcio Pereira da Silva (born 17 November 1948), better known in the United States as Zequinha is a Brazilian former

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 in Brazil and the United States.

Biography

Born in

Leopoldina, Minas Gerais Leopoldina is a municipality in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. , it has a population of 52,640. It is situated in the southeastern Zona da Mata mesoregion of the state. The municipality contains the Lapinha Biological Reserve, a strict ...

, Zequinha started his career in 1967 at

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

and he left to play for

Botafogo Botafogo (local/standard alternative Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation: ) is a beachfront neighborhood (''bairro'') in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is a mostly upper middle class and small commerce community, and is located between the hills of M ...

two years later. After six season there, he then made the transfer to Grêmio in 1975 and stayed on for three years, before moving to

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube (), commonly referred to as São Paulo, is a professional football club in the Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1930. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista (the State of São Paulo's premier state lea ...

for one season. With the popularity of the North American Soccer League at its zenith, Zequinha moved to the U.S. and joined the

Dallas Tornado The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons. ...

in 1979. Rather than go home during the off-season, he chose to play

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor so ...

in the

MISL The Misls (derived from an Arabic word مِثْل meaning 'equal') were the twelve sovereign states of the Sikh Confederacy, which rose during the 18th century in the Punjab region in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent and is cit ...

for the

Detroit Lightning The Detroit Lightning was a Major Indoor Soccer League franchise which existed for only one season, 1979–1980. The Lightning finished that season at 15–17. The team's home arena was Cobo Arena. On May 28, 1980, at the end of the 1979–1980 ...

. He played two more years in Dallas before the team was merged with the

Tampa Bay Rowdies The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second tier ...

after the 1981 season. After two indoor and one outdoor season with the Rowdies he joined the

Tulsa Roughnecks Tulsa Roughnecks may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams: * Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984), the original top-flight team that played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1984. * Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000), the te ...

and was a member of their

Soccer Bowl The Soccer Bowl was the annual championship game of the North American Soccer League, which ran from 1968 to 1984. The two top teams from the playoffs faced off in the final to determine the winner of the NASL Trophy. From the league's founding ...

winning side in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. From there he moved back to MISL, playing indoors for the Tacoma Stars. He finished out his career in the USL, first with the

Dallas Americans Dallas Americans was an American soccer club based in Dallas, Texas that was a member of the American Soccer League. After the ASL folded, the club joined the newly formed United Soccer League, which itself lasted two seasons. It is also the name ...

in 1984, then with the

Tulsa Tornados The Tulsa Tornados were a professional soccer team from Tulsa, Oklahoma. They played for one season (1985) in the USL. The 1985 season only lasted six games as the league folded halfway through. Established by David Fraser during the spring of 198 ...

in 1985. It was in the indoor game that he had his greatest success while in the U.S. He was a member of Tampa Bay's 1983 indoor Grand Prix winning side, scoring the game-tying goal with 1:55 remaining in regulation to send the match to

golden goal The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sudd ...

overtime.

References

External links

NASL/MISL stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zequinha Living people 1948 births Men's association football forwards Brazilian men's footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Brazil men's international footballers Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas players CR Flamengo footballers Grêmio Foot-Ball Porto Alegrense players São Paulo FC players Dallas Americans players Dallas Tornado players Detroit Lightning players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Tacoma Stars players Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975–1993) players Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players Tulsa Tornados players United Soccer League (1984–85) players People from Leopoldina, Minas Gerais Footballers from Minas Gerais