English Premier League - Player Profile: Bosingwa Da Silva
Bosingwa, whose full name is Jose Bosingwa Da Silva was born on 24th of August 1982 in Zaire currently plays for Chelsea F.C in the English Premier League while at the international stage, he represents his country, Portugal.
Jose was born in Mbandaka, Zaire. His father was of Portuguese nationality while his mother was of Congolese descent. Bosingwa’s family moved during his child hood years to Seia in Portugal, specifically in the Guarda District of the southern European country. In his teens, Bosingwa played for Boavista, which is a small Portuguese football club. The Portuguese international footballer stayed with Boavista till the 2003. However, before the 2003-2004 season began Bosingwa was picked up by the famous Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho for his club side Porto.
At Porto, Jose Bosingwa was used sparingly in his first season as he only played eleven league games. His Champions League debut for the Portuguese giants came on 16th September, 2003 in a one all draw with Partizan Belgrade. At the start of his career, Bosingwa played as a defensive midfielder but later one he was converted into a right full back. In the 2004-2005 season, Bosingwa established his place in Porto’s first team as players like Ferreira and Carvalho departed from the club. With Jose in the lineup, Porto won four league titles in five years.
At the end of the 2004-2005 season, Bosingwa was involved in a horrific car accident which almost took his life. The accident in question took place in the month of May and due to the excessive speed of the vehicle, in which Bosingwa was travelling, the injuries that other people in the car sustained were near fatal. Along with the Portuguese right back, Boavista player Nelson and Desportivo Minhocas’s player Sandro Luiz were also in the car that crashed after skidding off the road in rain.
Sandro Luiz had his left foot amputated as a result of the accident while Nelson and Bosingwa escaped alive with minor injuries. After the accident, Bosingwa was suspended by Porto for a certain period of time as a punishment for his irresponsible off the field behavior. However on 11th of May 2008, Chelsea announced that they had reached a deal which amounted to sixteen million Euros for the skilled defender.
On 16th of July 2008, Chelsea unveiled their new marquee signing along with their new manager Luis Felipe Scolari. On 8th of August, Bosingwa was awarded the number seventeen shirt, which was previously worn by Scott Sinclair at the London club. Jose’s UEFA Champions League debut for Chelsea came on September 16th, 2008 against Bordeaux. His first goal for Chelsea came in the English Premier League against Stoke City on September 27th 2008.
On 1st of February 2009, Bosingwa was sent off in a Chelsea versus Liverpool after he put in a dangerous tackle on Yossi Benayoun. Later on in the season, Bosingwa was banned for three European cup matches after he made comments about the standard of refereeing in Chelsea’s European cup match against Barcelona
For the most of the 2009-2010 season, Bosingwa was sidelined with a painful knee injury. In international football for Portugal, Jose became a regular in Portugal’s national team squad in 2007 after he gained favor with the national team manager at that time, Luis Felipe Scolari. Even though Bosingwa holds a Congolese nationality, he has chosen to play for Portugal due to their higher international ranking in FIFA’s books. Bosingwa featured for Portugal in the 2008 European Championships. He also named in Euro 2008’s team of the tournament due to his spectacular displays in four matches he started.
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