USL-2 Top 15 of the Decade: 5 - Dos Santos

USLsoccer.com continues its look at the best and most influential USL Second Division players of the past decade with number 5 on the Top 15, Julio Cesar Dos Santos. One of the league’s top strikers, Dos Santos was arguably the most productive offensive player in the first half of the decade.

# 5 – Julio Cesar Dos Santos

Although his career in USL-2 only spanned half of the decade, Dos Santos put up numbers that have yet to be matched. In his debut season for the New Jersey Stallions in 1999, he was already earning All-League honors after finishing second in the league in scoring with 23 goals.

As the decade began, his dominance only grew. He was named the league’s Most Valuable Player the following year by becoming the first player to post back-to-back 20-goal campaigns, tallying 20 as he led the club to the regular season championship. His numbers also secured the Scoring and Goal Scoring titles. New Jersey advanced to the championship game in the postseason before he was silenced in a surprising 5-0 Charlotte victory.

A repeat performance was not to be in 2001, but he rebounded in 2002 with another 20-goal campaign, earning the Scoring, Goal Scoring and Most Valuable Player honors again with 22 strikes during the season.

The three-time All-League honoree earned his fourth selection in 2003 with the New York Freedoms with an 11-goal outing in a season that saw a drop in scoring to a league high of 14.

The drop in scoring remained for most of the remainder of the decade with only Jacob Coggins connecting for 20 in 2004, leaving Dos Santos as the only man in league history to reach the 20-goal mark on multiple occasions.

Dos Santos ended his professional career after 2004, but continued playing locally with the Freedoms as they transitioned to an amateur club. He continues to dominate the local season while coaching youth teams with over 300 goals in seven years, coming into the limelight once again as a member of the team when they qualified for the 2008 US Open Cup. He also made a brief appearance in the PDL in 2008, scoring five goals in three games for the Brooklyn Knights.

In the end, his five-year stint in USL-2 (including 1999) saw him register 72 goals and 21 assists in 88 regular season games.

Previously...

6 – Herculez Gomez, 7 – Robert Ssejjemba, 8 – Josh Rife, 9 – Everson Maciel, 10 - Mark Schulte, 11 – Nathan Salsi, 12 – Jorge Estrada, 13 – Derrick Etienne, 14 – Ethan Zohn, 15 – Fadi Afash (First Five [+])

The Top 15 of USL-2 will continue with one player unveiled each Wednesday for the next 4 weeks. A new player will also be unveiled in the countdown of the Top 25 of USL-1 each Tuesday and Thursday.