SMU taps Brazil pipeline again
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Apr 23, 2008
The same pipeline from Brazil through the Oakridge School in Arlington and the Dallas Texans previously sent All-American Bruno Guarda and Paulo Da Silva, rising seniors, to SMU.
"I am extremely excited about the 2008 class," Hyndman said. "We've got quite a few players coming in - more than we've ever had - and this class has a chance to be special, to be one of the best classes in the history of SMU soccer."
Ivo, a midfielder/forward, was recruited at the age of 13 from Sao Paulo FC's youth program to move to the Dallas area.
"Arthur is one of the top recruits in the country," said Hyndman, who once taught in Sao Paulo. "He's a left-sided player who could play in the midfield or at forward. He's a very talented, skillful player. We're very glad he's with us, because he certainly is not someone we would want to play against."
De Almeida is a midfielder.
"Diogo is a very talented, versatile player with a great soccer brain," Hyndman said. "He's another left-sided player, but he can play a number of positions for us - he could play forward, a center midfield spot, wing midfield, or even left fullback."
Ivo and de Almeida are among six Texans SMU has signed. One of the others is Joe Cooper, the younger brother of FC Dallas star Kenny Cooper, who signed with SMU before choosing to pursue a professional career at Manchester United.
SMU also signed a pair of forwards from the 2007 U-18 national championship Andromeda club: Jochen Graf and Zach Funk.
