Sunday, June 4 2006

JOHANNESBURG: Like millions of boys, striker Francileudo dos Santos grew up dreaming of one day playing at the World Cup finals.

He will get to achieve that ambition next month, not in the colours of his home country but at the helm of the Tunisia attack.

The 27-year-old Brazilian-born striker had tenuous links to Tunisia and flimsy claims to wear their colours but in little more than two years he has become integral to their plans.

Born in Maranhao in northern Brazil, his connection with Tunisia is but a two-season spell at Etoile Sahel between 1998 and 2000 before he went to Sochaux and, now, Toulouse in France.

In need of a proven goal-scorer just before they hosted the 2004 African Nations Cup finals, Tunisia offered Dos Santos a passport and reportedly a cash incentive to play.

He quickly set about repaying the debt with key goals as Tunisia won the tournament, including the opening goal in the final against north African rivals Morocco, and continued with goals in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.

He has 18 goals now in 28 appearances for his adopted country.

Dos Santos says he sees no wrong in his decision to play for Tunisia.

"I realised fairly quickly that there was no way I was going to get a chance to play for Brazil and I'm happy to be representing Tunisia," he told Reuters in an interview during the Nations Cup finals in Egypt in January.

"If a person wants to naturalise, what's wrong with that if he can adapt to the country. The Tunisians like me a lot and I'm very happy to have made the decision and to play for Tunisia," he said.

(REUTERS)