Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Egmar Gonclaves - classic goalscorer



Nationality: Singaporean  

D.O.B:

Club: Home United (1996-2006)

Position: Forward 

Honours
S-league: 1999, 2003
Singapore Cup: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005
FAM-FAS Cup Champions: 2005
S-league Top Scorer 2004
AFC Cup Top Scorer 2004 

Player History  
Egmar Gonclaves deserved a place in the S-league Hall of Fame just for the sheer number of goals he scored – 238 goals – but it is also for the part he played in the development of the S-league when it first started out.

It is doubtful though, the kind of success that await Egmar Gonclaves, would have dawn on the forward when he arrived as part of the 5-man Brazilian contingent at Police FC (Home United former name) with the club struggling to impose themselves on the league; finishing in the bottom 3 for the Tiger Beer Series and then dead last in the Pioneer Series.

But Egmar already show he had a future in the league for scoring goals was in his blood.

Indeed, he was such a hot property that the following year, in 1997, the forward was played a major role in which saw Marine Castle pullout of the league after their manager Dilwant Singh was found to have flout the poaching rule in approaching Egmar without informing Home United. 

The forward continue to stay at Home United and goals continued to flow but the trophy cabinet was empty as success deludes the Bishan club.

It changed in 1999 as Home United won their first trophy, the S-league crown, and talk of Egmar Gonclaves being a Singaporean one day started.

In 2000, the forward scored the winning goal in the Singapore Cup Final dispatching the ball from the spotkick as Home United won 1-0 against their bitter rival SAFFC and it was the first Final graced and witnessed by President Nathan.

For the 2001 season, he along with new recruits Indra Sahdan and Peres De Oliveira formed the three Musketeers as the trio scored 71 of the 88 goals with Egmar being the first ever player to score 100 goals in the S-league (although in truth it was 107 as S-league later reinstalled the 7 goals he scored in 1997 Singapore Cup – then call the League Cup) as he notched 4 goals against SAFFC on June 7 to celebrate that achievement.

That year, Home United also became the first club to successfully defend the Singapore Cup crown as they destroyed just crowned League Champions Geylang United in the Final.

The forward then became a Singaporean in 2002 and he scored his first ever international goal against Maldives in a 2-0 win at Jalan Besar.

Success did not arrived in the international stage for the forward but he still managed 4 goals in 12 internationals and it is reasonable strike rate for any striker at the international level.

He also proved it at the AFC Cup as he finished as the competition first ever top scorer with 8 goals in 10 games in it inaugural year in 2004 as once again the three Musketeers of Indra, Peres and himself imposed themselves on the oppositions; scoring 20 goals between them to lead the club to the semi-final.

A year earlier, the trio had already played a major in Home United First Double – S-league and Singapore Cup – scoring 92 goals to crush all oppositions standing in their way.

But strangely, Egmar had to wait until 2004 to win his first ever S-league Top Scorer Award, with 35 goals, despite his goalscoring rate and it was fruitful year for him with him scoring the 200 S-league goals (By now, S-league have given back his 7 goals in 1997) as well.

It was achieved against Sinchi in the first leg of the semi-final of the Singapore Cup as the forward once again celebrated a milestone breached with a hat-trick as Home United crushed the Chinese side 5-1 at Hougang.

While 2004 will be the only year Egmar Gonclaves won the top scorer Award in Asia and Singapore, he will continued to score goals for the Bishan club as it was second nature to him in the next 2 years he remained in the S-league.

By the time, he left the league after 11 years; he will have scored 238 goals – all of them with Home United – as well as notched 14 goals in the AFC Cup with a minimum combined of 17 goals in Asia.

A remarkable achievement by the Home United forward and one which should not be forgotten. 

Home United #
Year
League App
Goal
Cup App
Goal
1996
-
19
-
-
1997 - 1999
-
45
-
7
2000
22
18
6
2
2001
33
25
5
3
2002
31
16
3
2
2003
27 (2)
24
5
5
2004
26 (1)
30
5
5
2005
26
20
4
3
2006
22
14
0
0
Total
187 (3)
211
28
27

Home United - Asia *
Year
Asian App
Goal
Other
Goal
2000
-
?
-
-
2001
-
?
-
-
2002
2
1
-
-
2004
10
8
-
-
2005
6
2
2
2
2006
5
4
-
-
Total
25
15
2
2

# Incomplete as missing data from FA Cup 96-98
* Incomplete as missing data from 2000 & 2001


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