Brazil is known for their soccer. The South American country has produced the likes of Pelé, Ronaldinho, Kaká and Ronaldo. For the UK men’s soccer team, Brazil has produced Marco dos Santos.

The 22-year-old junior transfer has already scored three goals, which is second on the team. He was able to make an impressive debut as he found the back of the net in his first two regular season games. UK’s coaching staff saw the potential while he attended college at Faculdades Metropolitanas Unidas in São Paulo, Brazil with a major in physical education.

In March, 2007 at a showcase in São Paulo for players interested in coming to the U.S. to play and attend college, UK assistant coach Matt Wilkerson first spotted dos Santo’s talent on the soccer field.

“He’s a very good player. I think that anyone who watches him right away can tell that,” Wilkerson said. “He’s got a lot of dynamic qualities about him, and when he wants to be good he can be very good, so he stood out right away.”

Wilkerson and dos Santos maintained communication by e-mail and on his last chance to interview with admissions at UK, dos Santos took the 10 -hour flight on Aug. 4, 2007 to see if he would even be admitted into UK.

“(Wilkerson said) with soccer, you don’t have any problem. It doesn’t depend on us,” dos Santos said. “You have to do well in school to play soccer and I was kind of scared.”

He spent three days at UK, interviewed with the admissions office and went back to Brazil to wait on the official word. One week later, the news came.

“My coach called me and said Marco, you are fine. You have to be here in like two weeks, so the process was kind of fast,” dos Santos said. “My mom started to cry when I said, ‘Mama, I’m leaving.’ She was crying because she was happy and was like ‘oh, finally,’ but sad because I was leaving.”

Although dos Santos arrived one and a half years ago, he was ineligible to play the 2007 season due to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America transfer rules. He had to stay on the sidelines as UK beat then-No. 1 Southern Methodist at home last year. After the upset, he was right there cheering for his team, jumping up and down with everyone and hugging anybody that he knew.

“Soccer is my life, and I like to play, so it was pretty hard for me,” he said. “I woke up every morning and went to practice and played with my team. But when we had a game, I couldn’t play, I couldn’t help my teammates, just watch the team and I couldn’t travel. So I could only practice and practice and practice. It was a pretty hard time.”

Before coming to UK, dos Santos studied English for six months in a private class, with two hours a day spent with a teacher and at least two more hours by himself. The more time he spent learning English, the less time he got to play soccer.

“English is important for my life in the future and graduating in the American university, so when I go back to Brazil I can find a job,” dos Santos said. “It’s important for me that I can travel the whole world and I can speak English.”

Among his teammates, dos Santos is a favorite with his energetic personality. They often make good-natured jokes about him being a 22-year-old freshman in soccer, causing him to feel like both the youngest and oldest guy on the team sometimes.

“He’s a positive, funny and honest guy. He’s smart, and he’s just easy to be with,” said sophomore midfielder and two-year roommate Jirijoonas Kanth. “When he’s here at the games he motivates us, and in training he makes the atmosphere more energetic. Every day we always have fun together.”

Dos Santos is able to bring plenty to the table, be it teaching his teammates about the Brazilian culture or the leadership he already demonstrates on the field. UK head coach Ian Collins said the unique mix of intellectual and physical skills by dos Santos makes him an electric player.

“He’s a dynamic player, he’s very skillful, he’s good with the ball,” UK head coach Ian Collins said. “He reads situations really well, he’s got a lot of experience in college soccer, and those players are not common. It’s more of a case that guys are usually very physical and they run and stuff, but he brings a little bit more of a skillful part of the game, a little bit more savvy, a little bit more experience.”