Player Profile

Venezuela are the only South American country to have never appeared in a World Cup finals, but at least they can cheer on one of their own at this World Cup when Caracas-born Danny lines up in the colours of Portugal.

When his family, who were of Portuguese origin, moved to the island of Madeira he developed as a player through the Maritimo youth system.

Five goals in his first 10 games saw him snapped up by Sporting Lisbon for €2.1m (£1.74m), although they immediately loaned him back.

He only played 12 games for Sporting as he found it hard to get a place in the team ahead of the likes of Ricardo Quaresma, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sa Pinto, Joao Pinto and Mario Jardel.

They sold him to Dynamo Moscow in 2005, where he linked up with Portuguese international team-mates Maniche and Derlei.

He excelled in the Russian capital and his performances prompted Zenit St Petersburg to fork out an astonishing transfer fee of €30m (£24.8m), smashing the previous highest fee for a Russian club of €16m (£13.2m), set by Maniche when he moved to Dynamo.

International recognition finally came just after his big money move to Zenit and he scored his first goal against Brazil, albeit in a 6-2 hammering.

A serious knee injury sustained last May ruled him out for much of the season, but he impressed on his return to book his World Cup place.

He scored the winning goal and was named man-of-the-match in the 2008 Uefa Super Cup final against Manchester United on his debut for Zenit.