Dos Santos Giovani
Giovani dos Santos Ramírez is a Mexican professional footballer who plays for the Mexico national team. A versatile forward, dos Santos can play as an attacking midfielder, winger and secondary striker. Dos Santos began his football career at a very young age, being recruited by Spanish club Barcelona and played for their B team until age 18. He made his way up the ranks, eventually playing for the senior squad, making his debut in 2007. That year, he was named by World Soccer Magazine as one of the “Top 50 Most Exciting Teen Footballers”. After playing one season, Dos Santos was transferred to Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in 2008 in search for more playing time. Though he would stay with the club until 2012, his time there was mostly spent away on loan, at Ipswich Town, Galatasaray and Racing de Santander, with varying degrees of success. Spurs eventually sold dos Santos to Mallorca in 2012, and he was sold a year later to Villarreal. After a three-year stint, he was sold to LA Galaxy in July 2015, who went on to buy out his contract and release him prior to the 2019 season. Dos Santos was a member of the Mexico under-17 team that won the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship held in Peru. He made his debut for the senior national team in a 1–0 victory over Panama on 9 September 2007, and represented El Tri at the 2010, 2014, and 2018 FIFA World Cups, along with the 2013 and 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. With Mexico, Dos Santos has won the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2009, 2011 and 2015, scoring in the 2009 and 2011 finals and winning the MVP award in 2009. He was also a member of Mexico’s team that won the gold-medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
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A quick, skillful and creative player, Dos Santos is capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is usually deployed as a winger or as an attacking midfielder, and has even been used as a supporting striker. A technically gifted playmaker who possesses great flair and dribbling skills, he has been described as a “clever” and “sharp” player who has the capacity to both score goals and create chances for teammates. As a youngster, he drew attention to himself as a precocious talent, and in 2010 he was named by Don Balón as one the 100 best young players in the world born after 1989. Dos Santos earned his first selection for a Mexico senior team roster when Hugo Sánchez picked him for exhibition games against Panama and Brazil. Dos Santos appeared for the first time for Mexico in a 1–0 victory over Panama on 9 September 2007 wearing the number 10 jersey. The match was abandoned at half time because of heavy rain. He scored his first two goals for Mexico on 24 June 2009 in a friendly match against Venezuela, a game in which he was also named Man of the Match. Dos Santos scored his third goal for Mexico on 19 July in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup quarter-final game against Haiti in the 42nd minute and also recorded two assists in the 4–0 victory. On 26 July 2009, he helped Mexico end a ten-year drought of victory against the United States on American soil with a 5–0 victory that helped secure Mexico’s fifth CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was named player of the tournament. On 5 September 2009, Dos Santos contributed to all three goals in a 3–0 win over Costa Rica in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification stages. He scored the first goal from outside the penalty box with his preferred left foot and assisted in the following two goals. When his brother Jonathan dos Santos was cut from Mexico’s final 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup, his father Zizinho said that Dos Santos was very hurt and claimed he was unsure whether he would play in the World Cup. At the 2010 World Cup final stage, Dos Santos started in every game for Mexico as a right winger. He completed 138 passes without providing an assist. He was voted runner-up for the FIFA Young Player of the Tournament award, which eventually went to Thomas Müller of Germany. Dos Santos was called up to play the 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cup after a good mid-season loan to Racing de Santander. On 9 June 2011, he scored a brace against Cuba in a 5–0 win. In the final match against the United States, he scored in a 4–2 win by dribbling inside the box against goalkeeper Tim Howard and chipping the ball into the top-left corner over Eric Lichaj. That goal was also named the best goal of the tournament. Dos Santos was called up by Miguel Herrera to play the 2014 World Cup. He played in Mexico’s World Cup opener against Cameroon, and on 29 June 2014, opened the scoring in a 2–1 round of 16 defeat against the Netherlands with a left-footed long range strike. In May 2018 he was named in Mexico’s preliminary 28-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, and in June 2018, he was named in the final 23-man squad for the World Cup.
