Soccer pro's main goal helping Timor

Andra Jackson

March 15, 2007

EAST Timor's soccer captain, Alfredo Esteves, believes soccer offers "a great tool" for unifying the conflict-torn country — so much so that he is prepared to trade his own promising professional career in America to help.

He recalls seeing the game's drawing power and its ability to unite when national team Timor Leste played the Indonesian under-21 team. A crowd of 1500 watched the game in a war-damaged stadium and "there were no hostilities. It was fun, a game. They were cheering both sides," he said in Melbourne.

Esteves is signed to Minnesota team Thunder, a first-division club in the US Soccer League, on a three-year deal. Its officials recruited him from Portugal, where he played with the club Oliveira do Bairro. "They gave me a good contract," said Esteves, who has played since he was four and turned professional seven years ago.

Portuguese-born and bred (his mother is East Timorese), he said he enjoyed living in America. "I did well," he said modestly of his acclaimed role in Thunder's 4-1 victory over Miami Football Club, which fielded Brazilian greats Romario and Zinho.

Yet the 30-year-old defender is prepared to trade it all for a berth with a Melbourne soccer club because it would allow him closer contact with East Timor, where he wants to start a soccer school. He has talked with Heidelberg and trained with the Sydney Soccer Club this week. His agent and relatives in Melbourne are sounding out other clubs. He has heard Melbourne Victory is "a good team".

Esteves, who holds Portuguese and East Timorese citizenship, had not been to East Timor until 2004. His father served in the Portuguese Army in East Timor, where he met Esteves' mother and absorbed stories of the people, "of their humility and their friendliness".

Esteves eagerly accepted captaincy of Timor Leste, which precludes him from playing for Portugal's national team. The fledging nation gained ranking from FIFA, the sport's world governing body, in 2003 and was accepted into the Asian Football Confederation. Esteves was the team's only professional player.

"The first time after independence, East Timor was invited to play in a great tournament: the 2004 ASEAN Tiger Cup championship in Malaysia," he said. Esteves guessed some players might have been former guerilla fighters. "It was not too good because we lost all the games," he said of that first effort but "we did a good job because we got a team together".

Players had no soccer fields or coaches and "that left me sad", he said. He resolved as a professional player to help East Timor.