Oceano da Cruz

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Oceano Andrade da Cruz (born in São Vicente, Cape Verde on 29 July 1962) is a Cape Verdean–born Portuguese footballer, one of the great midfielders of Portugal during the 1980s and 1990s.

His family emigrated from Cape Verde islands to Portugal when he was a child. He is, however, probably, the greatest footballer player his birth country ever produced.

He started his career in Almada, before moving to CD Nacional, where he was noticed, and signed for Sporting Clube de Portugal. He was a Sporting player from 1982/83 to 1989/90, and from 1994/95 to 1997/98, where he was one of the best players, despite never having won a Championship and a single Portuguese Cup, in 1995. He played for Spanish side Real Sociedad from 1990/91 to 1993/94, being one of the best players of the Spanish League.

He had 54 caps for Portugal national football team, scoring 8 goals. since his first appearance, in 30 January 1985, in a 2-3 defeat with Romania, to his final game, in 22 April 1998, in a 0-3 lost with England. However, he only became a usual presence at the National Team in the 1990s, being a leading player at the Euro 1996, were Portugal reached the quarter-finals. He was also present at the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification, which Portugal narrowly missed.

After leaving Sporting, he spent a final season at French side Toulouse FC in 1998/99, where he finally retired at age 36.

v • d • e Portugal squad - UEFA Euro 1996 1 V. Baia • 2 Secretário • 3 Paulinho Santos • 4 Oceano • 5 F. Couto • 6 Tavares • 7 Paneira • 8 J. Pinto • 9 Sá Pinto • 10 Rui Costa • 11 Cadete • 12 Alfredo • 13 Dimas • 14 P. Barbosa • 15 Domingos • 16 Hélder • 17 Porfírio • 18 Folha • 19 P. Sousa • 20 Figo • 21 P. Madeira • 22 R. Correia • Coach: A. Oliveira

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