Asian Champions League: Nilmar keen on World Cup appearance in Brazil

From the heights of playing with the best clubs in European leagues, the Brazilian striker is playing in the Qatar Stars League.

Al Rayyan's Brazilian forward Nilmar is plying his wares in the Qatar Stars League after touching the highs of playing for clubs across European leagues such as Inter Milan, Lyon and Villarreal. KarimShow more

Nilmar looked wistful as he talked about playing for Brazil in 2014.

It was January 2012, and the Al Rayyan striker, then with Villarreal in Spain, knew that his prospects of representing his country in the World Cup finals in his homeland were diminishing.

He was only 27. He had been in Brazil's 2010 World Cup squad, his excellent form the year before ensuring his inclusion.

In 2009, he scored the only goal as Brazil beat England 1-0 in a Qatar friendly. He would have been surprised to be told then that Qatar would be where he played his club football four years later.

Nilmar was lightning quick for club and country. His partnership with Giuseppe Rossi thrived in 2009/10 and 2010/12. They scored 29 times as Villarreal finished seventh in 2010, 49 the following year as they finished fourth and reached the Uefa Champions League.

Then Villarreal were hit by a hideous series of injuries, which were compounded by the sale of Santi Cazorla. Nilmar and Rossi were both out, and the injury-hit squad unable to cope with the demands of the league and a Champions League group which included Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Napoli.

With seven first-team regulars missing at times, Villarreal lost all their six Champions League matches. Nilmar could only watch as his personal stock plummeted. "When we play well, everyone talks about us," he said. "I had offers to move to other clubs … but then I got injured, the team stopped winning and nobody watches us now."

Villarreal were heading for a surprise relegation and Nilmar's career was going down with them.

So talk of playing in the 2014 World Cup seemed fanciful.

He said that it had been his dream to play in the World Cup finals since watching his native Brazil win the 1994 competition. His childhood heroes were formed in that year, Romario and Bebeto. Less than a decade later aged just 19, he played for Brazil, a high in a career punctuated by lows.

Nilmar knows about football's up and downs, about how it feels to be sidelined and coerced into moving.

He had traversed the Atlantic, after being sold by his first club, Internacional of Porto Alegre, to Lyon. He was loaned out by Lyon to Corinthians, where his partnership with Carlos Tevez earned him a league title and a place in the Brazilian league's All-Star team in 2005.

"Tevez was the best partner I've ever had," Nilmar said. "He came from Boca, me from Lyon. We were young, we clicked."

He was so good that Corinthians made the deal permanent in a €10 million (Dh47.1m) transfer, but his status was unclear, the ownership of the player disputed in a muddle of court appearances, economic-rights issues and third-party ownership.

Nilmar went back to Inter, yet it was always in the interests of his masters to keep selling their star asset so that he kept getting signing fees. He moved to Villarreal in 2009 and, while it worked out for two seasons, the dream was shot last January.

He joined Qatari Stars League members Al Rayyan in July 2012, linking up with other foreign players such as Brazilian midfielder Rodrigo Tabata and South Korean defender Cho-Yong Hyung, under Uruguayan coach Deigo Aguirre.

Nilmar has performed well, ranking second in the league in scoring with 14 this season.

Seven-time domestic champions Al Rayyan are without a win in their opening two games in the AFC Champions League and play away at Al Ain tonight.

It is the first time the teams have met and Al Rayyan have lost all three of their Asian Champions League visits to the UAE.

With their hopes of a top-three spot in the Qatar Stars League ended by a 2-0 defeat at Al Wakra last weekend, they must win tonight to have any hope of getting beyond the group stage for the first time in five attempts.

It is unlikely, but with Nilmar in attack, not implausible, unlike his dreams of playing in Brazil 2014.

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