Heurelho Gomes

Heurelho da Silva Gomes (born February 15 1981 in João Pinheiro, Minas Gerais, Minas Gerais), is a Brazilian Association football who currently plays as Goalkeeper (association football) for Tottenham Hotspur F.C..

Club career

Gomes started his career in his native country Brazil at Cruzeiro Esporte Clube where he played 59 games between 2002 and 2004. Here he was scouted by Piet de Visser and in July 2004 he was sold to PSV Eindhoven

PSV

He made his debut for the Eindhoven club against FK Crvena Zvezda on August 11 of that year.

At first, there were critics, saying that Brazilians 'should be on the field, not in the goal'. In other words, there were doubts if Gomes was reliable enough. Those doubts were quickly erased. Even though he conceded two goals in his debut against RBC Roosendaal, which PSV won 5-2, he proved himself to be a reliable goalkeeper. Gomes established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the world. He played a major part in PSV's four latest consecutive titles in the Eredivisie and in the great European achievements. In his first season, PSV immediately reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, where in the 14 attempts before, PSV wasn't able to reach the second round. In the following seasons, PSV progressed each time from the group stage.

In the Eredivisie, Gomes is known for his outstanding reflexes, which has saved points from PSV more than one time. Also his trademark throwing ability is well known. Gomes is able to throw the ball all the way deep into the opponents half. Also before the start of the match and second half, Gomes jumps up above the goal with his shoulders, pumping up the PSV-supporters.

Before his transfer to Tottenham, Gomes was a crowd favorite at PSV. He can speak Portuguese and Spanish and while in Holland he picked up a fair amount of Dutch, although it has to be said he is not fluent in the language. Whilst at PSV there were calls from Dutch-football fans to have him called up to the Brazil national side, which eventually happened in 2003.

Even though the rivalry between PSV, Feyenoord and AFC Ajax is intense, fans from rival clubs showed sympathy for the Brazilian. Most notably, was an incident in Rotterdam against Feyenoord, when Gomes injured himself whilst celebrating a goal, scored by his team mate Phillip Cocu, however he managed to continue in the game and even managed to pull off a wonder save in the game keeping his side in the game, which they went on to draw.

Notable achievements

Gomes achieved a great amount while at PSV. He has the record for highest percentage of clean sheets in the Eredivisie, with him keeping a clean sheet in 60% of his league games for PSV. In his first season in Holland, Gomes went 16 hours and 11 minutes without conceding a goal. In the same season, Gomes went on another run without conceeding any goals, this time he didn't concede a goal in 817 minutes. In his third season, 2006–07, he had again a notable streak. Gomes didn't concede in 956 minutes, which eventually played a huge part in PSV's surprise capture of the championship title. PSV won the Eredivisie 2006-07 title, after having the same amount of points as Ajax, but PSV finished first due to a better goal difference (+50, against +49 for Ajax). Even though those were very impressive stints, it wasn't enough to break the record of Heinz Stuy, who set the record in 1971 with 1082 minutes. Gomes did set a record, though, when in the 2007–08 season he kept a clean sheet in his first 5 games.

Criticism of the board and chairman of PSV

Gomes has stated in several media that he wouldn't mind to stay at PSV until the end of his career. However, in December 2007, Gomes stated in the Dutch magazine Voetbal International that he had lost trust in PSV. He also criticized the trainer situation. Ronald Koeman, went to Valencia, he was replaced by Jan Wouters, who stepped aside for Sef Vergoossen in January 2008, who in turn will be replaced by Huub Stevens in the summer of 2008. Also, Gomes criticized the way Vergoossen had treated youngster Ismaïl Aissati, saying that Vergoossen was too hard for the young midfielder and that he didn't get the trust that he needs. The conflict started when Gomes could have signed a contract until 2011, but the offer was withdrawn when the Brazilian was about to sign.

Tottenham Hotspur

Gomes signed for Tottenham Hotspur F.C. on 26 June for a fee believed to be around £7.8 million.
Gomes played his first game in Tottenham Hotspur colours in a pre-season friendly game on 19 July 2008 against Spanish 3rd Division Side CD Dénia, which Tottenham won 4-2.

Gomes eventually obtained a work permit to play in the United Kingdom, despite playing less than the 75% required amount of games for Brazil in the last 2 years.

Gomes made his home debut on the 10th August 2008 keeping a clean sheet with a 5-0 victory over AS Roma on Tottenham's last pre-season friendly before the English Premiership campaign 08/09.

Gomes didn't have the best start to life in the Premier League as Tottenham lost the first two opening games 2-1 to Middlesbrough and Sunderland respectively, but his commanding presence in goal helped Spurs earn their first point of the season with a draw against Chelsea FC at Stamford Bridge. However, his reputation took a hit a week later when he "inexplicably let Ashley Young's weak 54th-minute shot slip under his body" in Spurs' 2-1 home defeat against .

International career

Gomes made his debut for Brazil national football team in 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Although the competition is for senior national teams, Brazil chose to send an Under-23 squad to the competition. Gomes made 5 appearances as Brazil went to the final and finished second after being beaten by Mexico national football team 1-0.

Despite being part of the Brazilian squad that won the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, as the third-choice keeper behind Nelson de Jesus Silva and Marcos Roberto Silveira Reis, Gomes did not receive any playing time. He was also excluded from then coach Carlos Alberto Parreira's final 23-man roster for the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

It wasn't until his inclusion on the team for a series of late-summer friendlies, as a consequence of new Brazil coach Dunga's desire to play many of the Seleção's younger stars, that Gomes has finally gained some consistent playing time in goal. On August 14 2006, he was called up for a friendly against Norway national football team, which ended in a 1-1 draw. On September 3, 2006, he played in Brazil's 3-0 defeat of rivals Argentina national football team at Emirates Stadium in England. Two days later, Gomes kept a second consecutive clean sheet in a 2-0 victory over Wales national football team at White Hart Lane. His latest stint between the sticks was during a 2-1 win over Ecuador national football team on October 10, 2006.