Marcelo Moretto

Marcelo Moretto

Personal information
Full name	Marcelo Moretto de Souza
Date of birth	10 May 1978
Place of birth	Eldorado, Brazil
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current team	Miami Dade
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1998	São José	0	(0)
1998–2003	Portuguesa	13	(0)
1999	→ Londrina (loan)	0	(0)
2001	→ Sport Recife (loan)	6	(0)
2002	→ Brasiliense (loan)	0	(0)
2004	15 Novembro
2004–2005	Felgueiras	8	(0)
2005–2006	Vitória Setúbal	23	(0)
2006–2009	Benfica	19	(0)
2007–2008	→ AEK Athens (loan)	16	(0)
2010–2011	Olhanense	13	(0)
2011	Arka Gdynia	14	(0)
2011–2012	Avaí	19	(0)
2013	Atlético Sorocaba	13	(0)
2013–2014	América-MG	2	(0)
2015–	Miami Dade
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 November 2014. † Appearances (goals)

Marcelo Moretto de Souza (born 10 May 1978), commonly known as Moretto, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays for North American club Miami Dade FC as a goalkeeper.

Club career

Early years

Born in Eldorado, Mato Grosso do Sul, Moretto played four years professionally in his homecountry, representing São José Esporte Clube, Associação Portuguesa de Desportos, Londrina Esporte Clube, Sport Club do Recife, Brasiliense Futebol Clube and Clube 15 de Novembro. In 2003, aged 25, he decided to try his luck in Portugal, joining S.C. Salgueiros in the second division and making a very good first impression during the pre-season. However, facing serious economical crisis, the club was relegated to the third level and lost all of its professional players.

Forced to look for another team, Moretto joined F.C. Felgueiras (also in division two). There, he played only eight matches and conceded a total of ten goals but, nevertheless, caught the attention of other sides in the country.

In January 2005 Moretto came close playing for G.D. Estoril Praia and F.C. Penafiel – both in the Portuguese top flight – but ended up signing for two years with fellow league club Vitória de Setúbal to replace Fulham-bound Ricardo Batista. He soon became the coach's first option while the team performed above all expectations, winning the country's second most important trophy, the Portuguese Cup, after beating giants S.L. Benfica in the final.^[1]

In 2005–06 Moretto started off the season in Setúbal. The team performed well during the first half, with him appearing in 17 matches and conceding only five goals. After enjoying a remarkable success, Vitória was struck by the resignation of their coach Luís Norton de Matos and a few other players due to unpaid wages, and 2005 ended with the player being the number one goalkeeper of all European leagues, with the less number of goals conceded per minute played.

Benfica

During the 2005 Christmas and New Year break in Portugal, a lot was spoken in the press about Moretto's possible transfer to Benfica or FC Porto. In a controversial move he followed his will and picked Benfica to be his new club after explaining the allegedly «bad behaviour» of both the player's manager and Porto chairmen; Porto officially denied immediate interest in the player, and the transfer cost Benfica €1 million whilst he signed for five-and-a-half years.^[2]

Benfica's interest gained strength as José Moreira suffered an injury that would keep him off the pitch for the remainder of the season. Quim, the team's other goalkeeper also suffered an injury, leaving the team with only the junior unexperienced Rui Nereu to play both the domestic league and the UEFA Champions League; upon his arrival Moretto immediately became Ronald Koeman's number one choice between the posts, even with Quim fully recovered: throughout the rest of the campaign, he played on 18 occasions in the league, once in the cup and four times in the Champions League, against reigning champions Liverpool (conceding no goals) and FC Barcelona, where he stopped Ronaldinho's penalty and Samuel Eto'o shots.^[3]

Moretto did not have an easy time after joining Benfica because, alternating above-average performances with subpar ones, he suffered from the animosity of the club supporters, which undermined his concentration. As a result, upon the departure of Koeman and arrival of his replacement, Fernando Santos, he was relegated to the role of substitute, with Quim again becoming the starter; during 2006–07 he played only one game, often splitting the bench with Moreira.

On 13 July 2007, Moretto agreed to join AEK Athens F.C. on a loan deal.^[4] The Greek team had the option to purchase the player at the end of the loan period, which was not activated, and he returned to Benfica for the 2008–09 season.

Late career

On 3 August 2009 Benfica released Moretto from his contract, with the player planning to return to his country.^[5] Late in the year he signed with a team he had already represented, Brasiliense in the second tier.

In July 2010, however, Moretto returned to Portugal, signing with lowly first-divisioner S.C. Olhanense. In the following transfer window he changed teams – and countries – again, joining Arka Gdynia in Poland.^[6]

Personal life

Moretto's younger brother, André (born 1987), is also a footballer and a goalkeeper. He was under contract with Vitória de Setúbal for several years as well, but never represented the first team.

Gustavo Manduca, who shared teams with him at Benfica, is his brother-in-law.^[7]

Club statistics

^[8]

Club	Season	League		Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
		(Apps) + Minutes Played	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Portuguesa	1998	* . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
São José	1998	* . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Portuguesa	1999	* . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Londrina	1999	* . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Portuguesa	2000	10 . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	10	*
Sport Recife	2001	6 . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	6	*
Portuguesa	2002	3 . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	3	*
Brasiliense	2002	* . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Portuguesa	2003	* . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
XV de Novembro	2004	* . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Total (Brasil)		19 . * mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	19	*
Felgueiras	2004–05	8 . 675 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	8	*
Vitória Setúbal	2004–05	8 . 720 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	8	*
	2005–06	15 . 1350 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	15	*
Benfica	2005–06	18 . 1620 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	18	*
	2006–07	1 . 90 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	1	*
Total (Portugal)		50 . 4455 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	24	*
AEK	2007–08	14 . 1350 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	14	*
Total (Greece)		14 . 1350 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	14	*
Benfica	2008–09	0 . 0 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	0	*
Total (Portugal)		0 . 0 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	0	*
Career total		83 . 5805 mins	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	83	*

* – Not available

Honours

Benfica

• Taça de Portugal: 2004–05
• Taça da Liga: 2008–09

References

1. Meyong magic seals Setúbal joy; UEFA.com, 29 May 2005
2. Benfica build for title surge; UEFA.com, 2 January 2006
3. Barça denied by Moretto magic
4. Moretto in AEK loan move; UEFA.com, 13 July 2007
5. Benfica libera Marcelo Moretto para voltar ao futebol brasileiro (Benfica releases Marcello Moretto so he can return to Brazilian football); Futebol na Rede (Portuguese)
6. Marcelo Moretto w Arce Gdynia (Marcelo Moretto to Arka Gdynia): Sport.onet, 17 February 2011 (Polish)
7. "Moretto: "Muitos pensaram que iam sair em Janeiro"" [Moretto: "Many thought they would leave in January"] (in Portuguese). Record. 9 January 2011. Retrieved 1 January 2013.
8. "Marcelo Moretto". Soccerway. Retrieved 24 November 2014.

External links

• SambaFoot profile
• Marcelo Moretto at footballzz.co.uk
• Marcelo Moretto profile at ForaDeJogo
• Marcelo Moretto at 90minut.pl (Polish)