From forward, to midfielder, to defender, Diogo de Almeida has dominated all three positions during the four years of his SMU soccer career. The senior is currently playing his last season with the Mustangs and is looking forward to a strong finish.
As a Brazilian native from Piracicaba, Sao Paulo, de Almeida started his soccer career playing for Brazilian youth soccer clubs. One of de Almeida’s first soccer clubs was Rio Branco Esporte Clube, which he played from 1998-2001. Rio Branca served as a foundation for de Almeida to move on in the soccer field and eventually move on to more prestigious soccer clubs, like Santos Futebol Clube and Sao Paulo Futebol Clube.
De Almeida then transferred to The Oakridge School in Arlington, where he was a two-year letter winner. He served as the team captain in his senior year and was named first-team All-Southwest Preparatory Conference. He also played for FC Dallas Youth and Dallas Texans ‘90, where he was able to help lead the Texans to the 2007 Disney Showcase championship.
SMU recruited de Almeida in 2008. During his freshman year, he was second on the team with five goals, two of which he scored in the 5-1 win against Central Arkansas and another two against UAB in a 2-0 win. De Almeida started in four games and played in all 18 games of the season.
The following season de Almeida made the switch from forward to midfielder, where he did not find much success. He only played for 451 minutes the whole season, having started four matches and playing only 13.
He made a second switch to defender his junior year, which is the position that worked best for him. De Almeida received more time on the field, having played 1,638 minutes within the 18 out of the 19 games he started. Now in his senior year, de Almeida has been able to earn more playing time.
Conference USA named de Almeida “Defensive Player of the Week” for the week of Oct. 17. The award was due to his top performance against Missouri State. He helped shut out the Bears and scored the only goal of the match, after deflecting a free kick from senior defender Ian Kalis in the 60th minute.
De Almeida tallied his second consecutive game-winning goal and extended his goal-scoring streak to three games. He now ties second for the most goals in the team for the season.
“It feels very good to get this honor, but I also have to recognize all my teammates that help me every day in training and games,” de Almeida said.
The senior was also named to the College Soccer News National Team of the week. Another reason for both awards was his ability to accommodate in the field, as he moved from right back to center back for injured players. Along with his lone goal, de Almeida only allowed four shots on target against the Bears.
