Giovani dos Santos

Giovani dos Santos

Personal information
Full name	Giovani dos Santos Ramírez
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Attacking Midfielder Striker
Team information
Current team	Barcelona
Number	31
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of July 02, 2007

Giovani dos Santos Ramírez (born May 11, 1989 in Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico) is a Mexican football midfielder who plays for FC Barcelona and is part of the Mexican National U-20 Football and the team that won the FIFA U-17 World Championship 2005 held in Peru. Dos Santos, also known as "Gio" or "Giova", was a key piece in winning the title.

Biography

He is the son of the former Brazilian football player Gerardo dos Santos, better known as "Zizinho", who played in the Mexican soccer teams América and León in the late 1980s. Gio's mother is the Mexican Liliana Ramírez de dos Santos; he has two brothers, an older, Eder and a younger, Jonathan who also plays for FC Barcelona, but in the Juvenil B category.

His father can be recognized as the driving force behind Giovani’s career, he founded a school in Monterrey named São Paulo in México in which he coached his children among many other kids. In 2001 São Paulo participated in the Dallas Cup, a prestigious youth tournament in the USA, winning the U-12 category with Giovani as the star of the team. After that accomplishment Zizinho decided that Giovanni was ready to begin a more professional formation and he managed to get a trial for Giovani with the Mexican first division team, Club Monterrey, in which he was immediately identified as a prodigy and quickly jumped the youth ranks to join their filial of professional third division.

Months later a youth team of Club Monterrey was due to participate in a tournament in France and the officers of the club decided to send Giovani as a reinforcement. In that tournament he was scouted when a youth team of FC Barcelona played Giovani's team. After the match a representative of FC Barcelona contacted Giovani’s parents to offer a place for Giovani on FC Barcelona’s youth system, his parents accepted and moved to Spain a year later.

Established in Barcelona with his parents and brothers Giovanni quickly adapted to his new way of life, both of his brothers made trials to join FC Barcelona youth system, but only Jonathan was accepted. Giovani was placed in a category a couple years above his, but he didn’t struggle, in the Cadete A category he was Pichichi of the league with 28 goals. He then moved on briefly to Juvenil B and then to Juvenil A, where he won the Milk Cup Premier Category with FC Barcelona in 2005.

U-17 World Cup 2005 Era

During the FIFA U-17 World Championship 2005 wearing the number eight on his back he dazzled observers, experts or not. With his great performance during the tournament, Gio managed to assist on half of the goals of the Mexican team during the tournament, a fact that combined with his ability awarded him the Adidas Silver Ball as the second best player of the tournament, only behind the Brazilian Anderson, although many experts considered that the honor for the best player of the tournament should have been awarded to Dos Santos.

After the U-17 title Giovani returned to Barcelona, and went back to the Juvenal A category where he helped his team to make comeback in the league and win the regional title, this title allowed them to participate in the Youth Copa del Rey, where they faced other regional champions, among them their historic arch rival Real Madrid. Giovani played once again a significant role during the tournament and helped the team win the national title of the category.

In the summer of 2006 Giovani dos Santos was one of the few youth players invited to the pre-season of the FC Barcelona senior squad, during a friendly match on July 29 2006 he scored in what was his debut game for FC Barcelona senior team against AGF Aarhus. Still, his debut in an official match is pending, but is expected to happen next season, as club president, Joan Laporta, has announced that Giovani Dos Santos will play with the Barcelona first squad in the upcoming 2007-2008 season.

Hugo Sánchez, newly appointed manager of the Mexican National Team, has made public that he maintains communication with the player, and intends to call on him in the near future. Meanwhile Dos Santos remains in the list of players for the Mexican U-20 National Team.

In early 2007, Ronaldo de Assís Moreira,(aka Ronaldinho), publicly mentioned that he admires the young Dos Santos and expects great things of him, and said also that he found Dos Santos to have many of the same characteristics that he himself has both physically and strategically.

U-20 World Cup Qualification Round

He scored twice during the U-20 World Cup Qualification rounds: once against St. Kitts and Nevis in the 86^th minute and the second Against Jamaica in the 56^th minute. He had to sit out the last game versus Costa Rica due to the fact that he had received a yellow card in the previous match. The game ended in a 1-1 draw, but that didn't stop Mexico from qualifying at the top of its group (in the region).

U-20 World Cup 2007

The Mexican National Team is in Group C of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, and must face the national teams of Gambia, Portugal, and New Zealand, in that order. On July 2, 2007, Giovanni Dos Santos and the rest of the Mexican National Team faced off against Gambia and won with a final score board of 3-0, with Giovanni opening the count at the thirteen minute mark of the seond half with a superb kick from the outer box, with an elevated foot, making the ball in on the left side of the goally box. Nine minutes later, Hector Moreno scored once more for Mexico, and when Giovanni Dos Santos was taken out at the fortieth minute of the second half, his substitute, Jorge Hernandez, scored the third and final goal for Mexico. Dos Santos is expected to play as a starter for his national team.

External links

• GiovannidosSantos.com Unofficial site
• Youth Players Unofficial Site