Jose Carlos Metidieri (born December 18, 1942, in Votorantim (SP), Brazil) is a retired

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 ...

ian-born American soccer forward. He played professionally in Canada with Toronto Italia. In an exhibition game between Torino of Italy and a German side at Varsity Stadium, Metidieri in the beginning of the second half, donned a Torino uniform and substituted a Torino player to the surprise of all fans. In the United States, playing for the

Rochester Lancers Rochester Lancers may refer to: * Rochester Lancers (2015), a semi-professional soccer team that competes in the National Premier Soccer League * Rochester Lancers (MASL), an indoor soccer team that competes in the Major Arena Soccer League 2 * Roch ...

, he was the leading scorer of the North American Soccer League in 1970 and 1971 and named the league's Most Valuable Player - the only player in the league's history to accomplish both awards in consecutive seasons. He also earned two caps with the United States national soccer team in 1973.

Club career

Metidieri began playing soccer at age 16 at the local club Clube Atlético Votorantim. Thereafter, he was contracted by SE Palmeiras of Säo Paulo from where he moved to Italy, to play for SSC Napoli. His young age and limits on the number of foreigners playing on Italian teams caused him to soon leave this club to join Como Calcio. While there, a broken arm was a major setback to his development. Known as ''Topolino'' ("Little Mouse" in Italian; also the name of '' Mickey Mouse'' in Italy) due to his 5'4" stature and explosive speed on the field, moved on to Canada and joined

Toronto Italia The National Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada that existed from 1926 to 1997. Teams were primarily based in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The league was renamed to Canadian National Soccer League in 1993 following the foldin ...

of the Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League in 1963. There he was the 1965 and 1966 league leading scorer and the 1966 Most Valuable Player. In 1967, he moved to the

Boston Rovers Boston Shamrock Rovers (also known as Boston Rovers) were an American soccer team that competed in the United Soccer Association (USA) league in 1967. The team was based in Lynn, Massachusetts and played their home games at the Manning Bowl. ...

in the United Soccer Association before joining the

Los Angeles Wolves The Los Angeles Wolves were an American professional soccer team that played for two seasons. In 1967 they played in the United Soccer Association, finishing as champions, and in 1968 they were founding members of the North American Soccer Leag ...

, alongside cousin Gilson, for the North American Soccer League's first season. During his tenure with Boston he was permitted to play in the National Soccer League (NSL) with Toronto Inter-Roma. After one season in Los Angeles, Metidieri moved to the

. He achieved his 'double double' with the Lancers, a team he played with for four summers. In

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, he was the MVP and league leading scorer. Rochester fans affectionately remember his game-winning goal in the longest professional soccer match ever played lasting 176 minutes in duration at Holleder Stadium against the visiting Dallas Tornado in 1971. He scored 35 points in 23 games in 1970 and 46 points, including 19 goals, in 24 games in 1971. In 1971 as a member of the Lancers, Metidieri also took part in the league's first ever indoor tournament, scoring one goal and earning two penalty minutes. Metidieri finished his NASL career in 1974 playing for the Boston Minutemen. He made a brief and final return to the professional spotlight for the Major Indoor Soccer League's Buffalo Stallions from 1979 to 1980. In 1978, he returned to the NSL to play with the

Buffalo Blazers Buffalo Blazers was a soccer team in Buffalo, New York. They competed in the National Soccer League in 1976–1978 and 1980. They were one of only four American teams (Detroit Besa, Detroit Canadians, and Detroit Vardar) to have competed in the N ...

International career

Metidieri played in two 'A' internationals for the United States national soccer team in 1973. His first game was a 4–0 loss to

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on March 17. His second was a 4–0 loss to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...

on March 20. He also played an unofficial match, a 6–0 loss to

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, on March 29. He is the nephew of the former president of

Esporte Clube São Bento Esporte Clube São Bento, commonly referred to as São Bento, is a Brazilian professional association football club based in Sorocaba, São Paulo. They currently compete in the Série D, the fourth tier of the Brazilian football league syste ...

and the Football Association of the state of São Paulo, Alfredo Metidieri. After his retirement from soccer he lived in Rochester, New York where he owned a pizza restaurant. He later moved to

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the o ...

.Remembering the Lancers
/ref> He has four children. He now resides in

Gilbert, Arizona Gilbert is a town in Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, located southeast of Phoenix within the city's metropolitan area. Incorporated on July 6, 1920, Gilbert was once known as the "Hay Shipping Capital of the World". It is the fifth-l ...

with his wife and youngest daughter.

Honors

NASL Championship (1) * 1970 NASL Most Valuable Player (2) * 1970, 1971 NASL Scoring Champion (2) * 1970 ''(14 goals, 7 assists, 35 points)'' • 1971 ''(19 goals, 8 assists, 46 points)'' NASL Goal Scoring Champion (1) * 1971 ''(19 goals)'' NASL All-Star First Team selection (2) * 1970, 1971

References

External links

*
NASL/MISL stats
* Eduardo Gouvea:

', Gazeta de Votorantim, 6 July 2015. {{DEFAULTSORT:Metidieri, Carlos 1942 births Living people American soccer players Brazilian emigrants to the United States Brazilian people of Italian descent Association football forwards Boston Minutemen players Boston Rovers players Buffalo Stallions players Los Angeles Wolves players Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players Rochester Lancers (1967–1980) players Toronto Italia players Toronto Roma players United States men's international soccer players United Soccer Association players Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League players Canadian National Soccer League players Brazilian sportspeople