He is Adelaide United’s longest current serving player and Cassio admits even he has surprised himself that he has hung around so long.
He is Adelaide United-s longest current serving player, having been with the club for over four and a half years, and reflecting on the journey Cassio admits he has surprised himself that he has hung around so long. But when he talks about the environment and atmosphere of playing for Adelaide United, it-s easy to see why.
“In my opinion it-s the best club in the A-League. We have the best crowd, the best fans. Always loyal fans with 10,000 or 11,000 coming to games and I always think about that as one of the reasons to stay,” Cassio said.
“I had a chance to go two years ago, to go overseas and to other A-League clubs, but I put everything on the table and thought, what-s the benefit to stay here? And I found out there is a lot of benefit to stay in Adelaide.”
In a career that has so far spanned a decade, Cassio has only once spent more than three consecutive years at the same club, which goes a way to explaining his surprise and delight at how Adelaide has become his new home.
The Brazilian pocket rocket can-t get past Adelaide-s good mix of weather, the easy access to the beach and being able to take his two sons to the park. His love affair for Adelaide and Australia is such that he has expressed his desire to be here permanently and become an Australian citizen.
“It-s a soap opera, there-s a lot of paperwork back and forward from Brazil. But the hardest part is done, I have got the permanent residency, now I am just waiting for the immigration department to call me to do the citizenship test,” Cassio said on his process to becoming an Australian.
“I am pretty excited to become Australian, so happy to be a part of this country here. I am pretty nervous but I am ready to do it.”
“It wasn-t a hard decision to be honest. I don-t need to give up my Brazilian passport, I can keep both. This is one of the reasons why I chose to do this.
Knowing Cassio-s intent to be an Australian citizen prompted a brief chat with Qantas Socceroos coach Holger Osieck last year, although the Reds- smiling assassin insists the communication he has had with Osieck was only once a casual basis to discuss the situation.
“Nothing serious, but of course I got excited, if I have the chance (to play for Australia) then of course if I can be one of the players if I keeps training well and playing well, then of course I would look at it,” Cassio said.
“But it-s not happening yet, I can-t say anything now. I don-t have the citizenship, I-m still waiting. After that we will see, but if it happens it would be a pleasure for me.”
