On the 4th of August, 2012, Chonburi completed the signing of Brazilian striker Thiago dos Santos Cunha. The then 27 year old, who had had spells with Wigan Athletic, Palmeiras and Santa Cruz amongst others, was given the number 37 shirt. None of us had heard of him and he was just the latest in a long line of foreign strikers brought in by the senior management. I think that it’s fair to say that expectations weren’t particularly high.
However, three days later, he made his debut in a Chonburi shirt, and scored a hat-trick for the reserves in their 5-0 away win over their Chiang Rai Utd counterparts, netting the second, fourth and fifth goal in the match, which was played immediately after the TPL fixture between the two senior teams. This display understandably caught the eye and he was immediately propelled into the first team for the visit of Police Utd the following Sunday (August 12th).
The first view that most of us got of our new star wasn’t a favourable one. He seemed to spend more time on his backside than on his feet and his persistent moaning - to team mates, officials and anyone else within ear shot - didn’t particularly endear him to the Sharks’ faithful. The consensus was that he probably needed more time in the second XI.
But a week later, against Pattaya Utd, he robbed defender, Sompob Nilwong, of possession and then smartly bent the ball around the keeper, into the far corner of the net, to seal a 2-0 win. He had arrived!
Over the next few seasons he delighted us with us goals, entertained us with his tricks and, yes, frustrated us with his histrionics. But the good far outweighed the bad and we took him to our hearts. The term “Legend” is thrown around lightly these days, but it certainly applies to ‘El Rifle’, which was the nickname he characteristically gave to himself.
When he returned for a second spell midway through the 2017 season, we rejoiced like we’d won the league. Sadly, his appearances were limited (which was true throughout most of his time at Chonburi - injuries and suspensions) and his whole stay was overshadowed by the Ratchaburi ‘Bottle of Water Gate’ (see what I’ve done there). However, he will always be fondly remembered by Chonburi fans and is certainly up there with Pipob, Adul and Sinthaweechai as one of our all time greats. His record speaks for itself.
2012: appearances 16; goals 12; yellow cards 3; red cards 0
2013: appearances 20; goals 16; yellow cards 5; red cards 0
2014: appearances 33; goals 25; yellow cards 5; red cards 1
2015: appearances 30; goals 22; yellow cards 13; red cards 0
2017: appearances 8; goals 5; yellow cards 1; red cards 1
Total: appearances 107; goals 80; yellow cards 27; red cards 2
Hat tricks
v Al Shorta (A) AFC Cup 26/9/12
v Rajpracha (A) LC 23/3/13
v Chiang Rai Utd (H) TPL 24/10/15
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