Luís Boa Morte

Personal information
Full name	Luís Boa Morte Pereira
Date of birth	4 August 1977 (1977-08-04) (age 32)
Place of birth	Lisbon, Portugal
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Left winger / Striker
Club information
Current club	West Ham United
Number	13
Youth career
1994–1996	Sporting CP
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1996–1999	Arsenal	25	(0)
1999–2001	Southampton	14	(1)
2000–2001	→ Fulham (loan)	39	(18)
2001–2007	Fulham	166	(26)
2007–	West Ham United	65	(1)
National team‡
2001–	Portugal	27	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 08:02, 4 May 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 07:40, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

Luís Boa Morte Pereira (Portuguese pronunciation: [luˈiʃ ˈboɐ ˈmɔɾt(ɨ)]; born 4 August 1977 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese footballer currently playing for West Ham United in the Premier League.

Boa Morte mainly plays as an attacking wide forward although he has played as a conventional centre forward in the past. Amongst fans, he is principally known as "Boa", "The Crazy Racoon", and the "The Dead Snake", (due to the general mistake of translating his surname into English). His surname, in fact, in Portuguese means good death ^[1].

[edit] Club career

[edit] Sporting

He started his professional career in August 1996 with Sporting Clube de Portugal, spending time on loan to junior club Lourinhanense.

[edit] Arsenal

Boa Morte made his debut in English football for Arsenal when he became one of Arsène Wenger's first signings for the club, joining on a fee of £1.75 million.

He made his debut on 23 August 1997 as a substitute against Southampton. During Arsenal's double winning 1997-98 season, he made 15 league appearances, mostly as substitute and four in the FA Cup, although he did not appear in the final itself. He scored two goals this season, with both coming in a League Cup tie against Birmingham City.^[2]

The following season he was a fairly regular squad member, usually as substitute in the early part of the season, with a few European Cup appearances, including against Panathinaikos on 9 December 1998, when he scored Arsenal's third goal.^[3] His fourth and final Arsenal goal came against Preston North End in the FA Cup.^[4] His final appearance for Arsenal was as a second half substitute away to Sunderland on 14 August 1999.

[edit] Southampton

After failing to break into Arsenal's first-team on a regular basis, in August 1999, Boa Morte was signed for Southampton by Dave Jones for a fee of around £500,000 with further payments to be based on appearances.

In only his second appearance for Southampton, away to Middlesbrough on 11 September 1999, he was sent off for handling the ball in the goalmouth in the 77th minute, with Paul Gascoigne scoring the resultant penalty as Middlesbrough went on to win 3-2.

In January 2000, Dave Jones was replaced as manager by Glenn Hoddle, who dropped Boa Morte from the team. After Hoddle's appointment, Boa Morte only made three further appearances and in July 2000 he had a trial at Fulham, following which he moved to Craven Cottage, initially on a season long loan. As a result, the first installment on the fee due to Arsenal was never paid.

In his season at The Dell, he made a total of 17 appearances, mostly as substitute, with one goal - a thundering left foot drive at Watford in a 2-3 defeat on 28 December 1999.

[edit] Fulham

In his first season at Fulham, he helped Jean Tigana win the 2000-01 Division 1, making 39 league appearances and scoring 18 goals as Fulham ran away with the Championship with a total of 101 points.

Boa Morte in action for Fulham

His contributions to the championship-winning season resulted in him being signed permanently in June 2001 (on a fee of £1.7 million paid to Arsenal), despite Southampton's attempts to bring him back after the expiry of the loan arrangement.

In Fulham's first two seasons in the Premiership, he was not able to replicate his form of the Championship winning season, scoring only three goals, although his form returned to some extent in 2003-04, since when he has averaged eight goals per season. He was also voted Player of the Season for 2004–05^[5].

In August 2005, he was chased strongly by Newcastle United but pledged his future to Fulham and was made team captain. His crowning moment in a Fulham shirt was when he scored the only goal in the 1-0 win over Chelsea in the West London derby on 19 March 2006 at Craven Cottage.

He became a favourite amongst Fulham's supporters whilst he played for them, for his impassioned, never-say-die and sometimes aggressive style of play - although this has lead to problems with referees^[6]. Even though his form dipped towards the end of his Fulham career, he is still considered something of a cult hero there due to his ability to take players on, his ability to cause panic like an unpinned grenade in the opposition ranks, and his emotional character, a trait that strengthened the bond between him and the fans^[7].

[edit] West Ham United

Boa Morte signed for West Ham United in January 2007 on a three and a half year contract for an undisclosed fee, which is believed to be around £5 million.^[8]

He played his first game for the Hammers in an FA Cup tie against Brighton & Hove Albion, setting up two goals and on 13 January 2007 in the Premier League against former team Fulham. On 28 April 2007, he scored his first goal, and, so far, only goal for the club in an important 3-0 win against Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium. West Ham United Fans initially were very excited about Boa Morte's arrival, but due to some bad performances was cast aside by a section of the West Ham United faithful, but just before his anterior cruciate ligament injury he worked his way sucessfully back into the hearts of the fans.^{[citation needed]} On 29 July 2009 Boa Morte picked up a serious injury in the pre-season friendly against Tottenham Hotspur. West Ham were playing in the Barclays Asia Trophy in Beijing when Boa Morte got his studs stuck in the ground, twisted his knee and suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury.^[9]

[edit] International career

Due to a number of impressive performances for Fulham, Boa Morte was called up to the Portuguese national team, winning his first cap in April 2001 against France.

His first, and so far only, goal came in a 5-1 home win against Angola in November 2001^[10], a game which had to be abandoned when Angola were reduced to 6 players on the pitch.^[11]

Despite an impressive season at club level, Boa Morte was disappointed to be left out of his country’s squad for the 2004 European Championships on home soil. However, the winger was part of Portugal’s World Cup 2006 campaign in Germany, playing in the 2-1 victory over Mexico on 21 June 2006.

After an absence of 3 years Boa Morte was recalled, by coach Carlos Queiroz, to the Portuguese squad on 29 May 2009.^[12] He earned his first cap since 2006 on 6 June 2009 in Portugal's 2-1 win in Tirana against Albania in a World Cup qualifying game.^[13]

[edit] International goal

Scores and results list Portugal's goal tally first.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	14 Nov 2001	Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon, Portugal	Angola	5–1	Win	Friendly

[edit] Career statistics

^[14]

[edit] Honours

Arsenal

• FA Premier League Champions 1997-98
• FA Cup Winners 1998

Fulham

• Football League Championship Champions 2000-01

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Luis Boa Morte PortuGOAL profile
• Luís Boa Morte career stats at Soccerbase
• Photos and stats at sporting-heroes.net
• Feature on Fulham club website

v • d • e Portugal squad – 2004 Summer Olympics 1 Moreira • 2 M. Sérgio • 3 R. Meireles • 4 Bruno Alves • 5 Costa • 6 Meira • 7 C. Ronaldo • 8 Viana • 9 H. Almeida • 10 C. Martins • 11 Ribeiro • 12 Frechaut • 13 Boa Morte • 14 Bosingwa • 15 Lourenço • 16 João Paulo • 17 Danny • 18 Bruno Vale • Coach: Romão

v • d • e Portugal squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 1 Ricardo • 2 Ferreira • 3 Caneira • 4 Costa • 5 Meira • 6 Costinha • 7 Figo • 8 Petit • 9 Pauleta • 10 Viana • 11 Simão • 12 Quim • 13 Miguel • 14 Valente • 15 Boa Morte • 16 Carvalho • 17 C. Ronaldo • 18 Maniche • 19 Tiago • 20 Deco • 21 Nuno Gomes • 22 Santos • 23 H. Postiga • Coach: Scolari