Thiago Martins (born 4 September 1976) is a retired Brazilian footballer who played professionally in the United States and Norway. Early life and education Martins was born on the east side of São Paulo, Brazil, and came to the United States in 1996. He landed in Los Angeles, at 19 years old and with little money. He eventually made his way to Santa Barbara, California, where he slept in hotels until his money ran out. He had to resort to sleeping on the beach. Fortunately he awoke one morning to a group of people playing soccer on the beach and joined them. One of the players took Martins into their home, even though Martins spoke little English or Spanish and they spoke no Portuguese. He began to play soccer in Sunday leagues, where Tim Vom Steeg noticed his skill as he attempted to defend him in one game. Thiago agreed and started taking classes at Santa Barbara City College, where he also played soccer for two years from 1997 to 1998 under head coach Tim Vom Steeg. Vom Steeg soon moved to nearby University of California, Santa Barbara to take up their head coaching position with loyal Martins transferring as well. In 1999, his first season with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer team, he only played in 11 games due to a broken metatarsal, but still managed to score 6 goals. In his second season with UCSB, he scored 6 goals and assisted on 2 others for a point total of 14. He appeared in 18 matches and was named to the All-Big West Conference First Team. Professional career USL A-League Martins left UC Santa Barbara after the 2000 season to play for the now-defunct San Diego Flash of the A-League. He was drafted 56th overall in the 2001 A-League Draft, catching the eye of Colin Clarke, after putting in stellar performances with UC Santa Barbara and getting his green card during his senior year. After their demise at the end of the 2001 season, Martins joined fellow A-League team Minnesota Thunder, where he scored 2 goals in 11 appearances. Martins was subsequently released and moved to his third A-League side in Pittsburgh Riverhounds. With Pittsburgh, Martins hit his stride, scoring 8 goals in only 576 minutes over 8 games. Martins shined in the 2003 season, during which he scored 22 goals and had 7 assists in 25