Pedro Mendes

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Personal information
PEDRO MENDES

Full name	Pedro Mendes
Date of birth	February 26, 1979
Place of birth	Guimarães, Portugal
Height	177 cm
Position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Portsmouth
Number	30
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1998-1999 1999-2003 2003-2004 2004-2006 2006-	Felgueiras Vitória Guimarães Porto Tottenham Hotspur Portsmouth	31 (2) 82 (7) 26 (0) 30 (1) 23 (4)
National team**
2002	Portugal	2 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13:00, 29 October 2006 (UTC). ** National team caps and goals correct as of September 10, 2006.

Pedro Miguel da Silva Mendes (pron. IPA: ['peðɾu 'mẽðɨʃ]; born February 26, 1979 in Guimarães, Portugal) is a Portuguese footballer who plays in midfield for Portsmouth. His previous clubs include Vitória de Guimarães, FC Porto and Tottenham Hotspur.

He started his career at Vitória Guimarães and made his debut for the Portugal National Team on 20 November 2002, a 2-0 friendly win over Scotland. The following season he moved to FC Porto, where he won the Champions League.

In the summer of 2004 Mendes moved to England to play for Tottenham Hotspur. During his time at Tottenham he is, perhaps, most famous for his lob from the halfway line against Manchester United which Roy Carroll, the Manchester United goalkeeper, appeared to fumble into his own goal. The goal was not given but TV replays later proved the ball was quite a distance over the line.

The 2005 - 2006 season saw Mendes reduced to a peripheral role at Tottenham. In the January 2006 transfer window Tottenham coach Martin Jol offloaded Mendes to fellow Premiership club Portsmouth. Since joining Portsmouth, Mendes has been a regular starter and has been a pivotal player and goal scorer in their fight to avoid relegation. He seemingly assured his place in Portsmouth folklore by scoring both goals in a crucial match against Manchester City; the second coming in the 93rd minute from twenty-five yards out. The result gave his team a 2-1 win and a springboard which eventually led them to survival in the Premiership.

On the 23rd of August 2006, during a match against Manchester City, Mendes was elbowed in the face by Manchester City player Ben Thatcher who received a yellow card. He was knocked unconscious, suffered a seizure and had an overnight stay in hospital. He has since said "It is the worst thing to have ever happened to me in my career."^[1] Manchester City instigated their own 6 game ban to Thatcher and fined him six weeks wages for the viciousness of his challenge, but the FA felt the incident warranted further investigation. Though a yellow card was issued at the time and the FA has a general policy of not overruling referee decisions as it undermines their authority, they felt the challenge was severe enough to issue further punishment and Thatcher was given an eight match ban 'for serious foul play' with a further suspended fifteen match ban.^[2] Despite the severity of the incident, Mendes was back playing for Portsmouth two weeks after the incident.