Football Genius: Nelson Dida

Nélson de Jesus Silva was born 7 October 1973 better known simply as Dida. He is a Brazilian former footballer who played as goalkeeper. 

He first rose to prominence in Brazilian club football in the 1990s with Vitória, Cruzeiro EC and SC Corinthians, where he gained a reputation as a penalty-saving specialist. However, Dida is probably best remembered for his successful and often tumultuous ten-year stint with Italian Serie A club AC Milan from 2000 to 2010. During his tenure with the Rossoneri, he became equally known for mistakes as well as excellent gameplay, from a notorious error during a UEFA Champions League match against Leeds United in September 2000, to suffering a lengthy decline in form after being hit with a lit flare in a Champions League quarter-final match against crosstown rival Inter Milan in April 2005, and being assaulted by an opposing fan during an October 2007 match with Celtic. 

Dida's request to opt out of the remainder of his contract with Cruzeiro in order to sign with Milan kicked off a dispute with the club that lasted for five months, during which he suited up for Switzerland club FC Lugano to keep in game shape. But when the issue was finally resolved and Dida formally joined the Rossoneri, he was third on coach Alberto Zaccheroni's depth chart behind Christian Abbiati and Sebastiano Rossi, and Milan therefore loaned Dida to SC Corinthians in an attempt to get him some regular playing time. His reputation as a penalty saver first came to the fore after he saved two spot kicks – both taken by Raí – in Corinthians' 3–2 victory over intrastate rivals São Paulo FC in the 1999 Campeonato Brasileiro semifinal resulted in the headline "Dida is God" from sports publication Lance!. In the inaugural FIFA World Club Championship in 2000, Dida saved a Nicolas Anelka penalty in a 2–2 draw with Real Madrid, and in the final against Vasco da Gama, Corinthians won the title in a 4–3 penalty shoot-out after Edmundo's shot went wide. 

Milan recalled Dida for the 2000–01 season, and he leapfrogged past Rossi into the starting eleven since Abbiati was away with Italy at the 2000 Summer Olympics. A 4–1 Champions League group stage win over Beşiktaş on 13 September 2000 marked his official debut for the club, but on 19 September, in the 89th minute against Leeds United at a rain-soaked Elland Road, he accidentally dropped a Lee Bowyer shot into his own goal, causing Milan to lose the match 1–0. His explanation afterward was that since the ball was slippery from the rain, he attempted to absorb the force of the shot then catch hold of it, but it dropped into a puddle and bounced into goal. Despite keeping a clean sheet in Milan's 2–0 win over FC Barcelona one week later, he was promptly benched following Abbiati's return. He made his first and only Serie A start that season as well, a 2–0 November loss to Parma in which Patrick Mboma scored both goals. Meanwhile, Dida was among nearly a dozen Serie A players who were implicated in a scandal involving fraudulent European passports. In October 2000, it was reported that he had registered in Italy as an EU player with a Portuguese passport, which was discovered to be false following a routine check by Milan, who then promptly re-registered him as a non-EU player. UEFA declined to take any action and instead handed the case over to FIGC, who fined Milan £314,000, and banned Dida from the league for one year, in addition to a FIFA-imposed year-long suspension from national team play. On 3 April 2003, following a court appearance in Milan, he was given a seven-month suspended prison sentence. Milan sent Dida back to Corinthians for 2001–02 following the passport flap, then recalled him for the next season, which he began on the bench until Abbiati limped off with a hip injury at halftime of a Champions League qualifying stage match against FC Slovan Liberec on 14 August 2002. Dida took his place for the second half and turned in a solid performance that would result in a new first-choice keeper for Milan. 

Dida was the starting keeper for Brazil at the 1996 Summer Olympics, but an error-laden campaign – which included a penalty-area collision involving Dida and teammate Aldair – resulted in defeats to Nigeria and Japan and left them with the bronze medal. He did his part in Brazil's 1999 Copa América victory by conceding only twice in six matches, in addition to saving a Roberto Ayala penalty that preserved a 2–1 win over arch rivals Argentina in the quarterfinals. With 91 appearances in 11 years, Dida is Brazil's third-highest capped goalie, behind Cláudio Taffarel (101), and Gilmar (94). The only Brazilian keeper to be known by a nickname, he made his Canarinho debut at the 1993 Under-21 FIFA World Youth Championship, where Brazil won the championship for a third time. His first cap for the Seleçãocame in a 1–0 defeat of Ecuador on 7 July 1995. 

Dida played four out of five matches in the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, conceding four goals and ranking second in total saves behind Mexico's Oswaldo Sánchez. One memorable moment of the competition was during Brazil's 1–0 group-stage loss to Mexico, when he saved a Jared Borgetti spot kick that had to be retaken twice due to repeated player encroachment into the penalty area, which also marked the only penalty save of the competition. 

Despite his run of good form with Corinthians at the time of the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan,Luiz Felipe Scolari, who had replaced Wanderley Luxemburgo as coach following Brazil's lackluster qualification, named Marcos his number one. Dida and third-choice keeper Rogério Ceni never played a minute in Brazil's winning campaign. Due to his consistent play in goal, Dida was one of few players to avoid the wrath of the Brazilian media and fans after the team's elimination. In addition to his historical World Cup start, he became the first Seleção goalie to wear the captain's armband since Émerson Leão in the 1978 World Cup, when incumbent skipper Cafu was rested for Brazil's 4–1 win over Japan on 22 June, a match in which Dida was substituted by Ceni late in the second half as part of Parreira's plan to play mainly reserves. 

Despite never playing a match during his brief tenure at Lugano, Dida received a warm reception from the local supporters during Brazil's training sessions inWeggis, Switzerland prior to the start of the 2006 World Cup. Following fourteen straight matches on the bench in the past two World Cups, he was chosen as the starting keeper by coach Carlos Alberto Parreira for the finals, which in turn made him the first black keeper to start for Brazil in a World Cup final since Barbosa in 1950, for which he was hailed by Brazilian sports daily Globo Esporte as Dida, o homem que quebrou o tabu ("Dida, the man who broke the taboo"). He conceded only two goals in five matches as Brazil defeated Croatia, Australia, Japan, and Ghana before being eliminated by France in the quarterfinals, a match which saw the Verdeamarela manage only one shot on goal in the entire contest. 

Brazil's defeat by France ultimately became Dida's swan song. On 1 October 2006, new Brazil coach Dunga announced during a television interview, "Dida told me that the Seleção is no longer a priority in his career." Despite his World Cup heroics, he has not been called up for national team play since the July 2006 inception of Dunga, who had eschewed many of the veterans in favor of a predominantly younger squad for Brazil's post-World Cup matches. He faced a total of eight penalties in his international career, saving six of them.