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Post by masterplan200 on Oct 21, 2006 23:03:11 GMT -5
Found this opinon piece:
While I write these lines on a torn and wet piece of paper, he is in Rio de Janeiro.
The paper is the same one I hit and folded - made the recipient of my pain - as I watched the second defeat, in a row, of Brazil against Australia, at the Women’s Basketball World Championship.
Tears of seeing Brazil leading by nine points, and losing the game by more than 10. As the dream of the title vanished, I must tell you the truth...it was not only tears that made my paper wet but also the dripping of the ceiling of our main gymnasium that hosted the games after the heavy rains that hit São Paulo.
Girls playing for Australia, Russia and France, slipped all over the wet parquet floor, and FIBA, the basketball world governing body, said it will be hard to ‘see Brazil organizing big tournaments again’.
We do not have decent stadiums but we will organize, it seems, the FIFA World Cup in 2014.
We are not even close to having 50% of the buildings and infrastructure ready for the 2007 Pan American games, which Rio de Janeiro will host soon.
China's Olympics 2008 campaign, is already 90% finished!!!
Among the news of the official that got her foot pierced by a javelin (she's recovering well) at the most important athletics meet in South America and the mysterious MSI London-based, Russian-financed, Iranian-coordinated company and their affairs between Argentina, Brazil and England, only God knows how we carry on understanding how Ronaldo and Dunga will get along, one day, if ever, and the waves of players leaving the country on a daily basis.
And they are all leaving, it seems. Young, not so young. And even when they are 40!
The man is here. And Romario is 40.
As he prepares to be the most important ever football transfer in Oceania history, Brazil is counting the days for the Presidential election, and well...Romario, wants to Hip Hop better.
You heard it right.
As long as Miami FC, still want to offer him a new contract, three Brazilian teams want him badly, in Japan they are trying to see how they can lure the man to go play there, and even the Dutch want him again, he wants to play foot-volley.
In Brunei, the sultan is consulting with all kind of agents to see how he can bring to the richest country on earth the world champion striker.
And Romario is interested in defining how many goals he scored.
Ok, so, no more speculation: Mr. Mel Patzwald has come all the way to Brazil, representing Adelaide United to talk to Romario. To bring the superstar to the A-League so he can score 16 (or 23, depends on how you see it...) goals to reach the 1,000 goal mark.
The A-League may not be that well-known just yet but suddenly in Malaysia and Bolivia, media are speaking about Adelaide United and Romario...imagine what will happen if he scores a goal?
And what reactions will come directly from South America when he is snapped cuddling a koala.
I cannot imagine him taking Adelaide to the A-League title or the effect of a step taken out of turn, like a night out...hoping this will not happen.
But there will be no smarter move than bringing the man that flew like a butterfly when he scored that wonderful goal against the Netherlands at the 1994 World Cup to the A-League.
And if there is one thing Romario, close to the end of his career, brings is a unique legacy.
Smart, streetwise, the man that symbolizes more than anyone, that special Brazilian flare, this sweet and delightful lack of responsibility, meaning, and attitude of not following all the rules that exist.
Romario, cool and full of pitch knowledge, understands clearly that Australia wants him, more than he wants them. So, if they want him, let them open their wallets to get a piece of the goal machine.
Hoping it will be more successful than a fiasco, Romario is leaning towards accepting the offer, I am told by someone close to him.
In Adelaide, all over Australia, and everywhere in Oceania, people want to see a bit more of the beautiful Brazil, with the ball at his feet.
Hoping that Adelaide will be more like his time in PSV Eindhoven or Barcelona, and not at all like Qatar, where he played less than 180 minutes in three months, in exchange of 1 million US dollars, Romario will be writing a piece of history. A new chapter in the book of a unique player, even in worldwide standards.
Hey Mr. O’Neill... you know what? Change your mind! Australian teams should be free to do what they think it is best for them.
The day you have played a quarter of what Romario has played, you will understand what going to a stadium just to see a man like him play ball means. You will see how wrong it is to think that 'the level of players brought to Australia should be higher'.
Football is definitely organized, planned, serious structured and controlled but nothing beats the improvisation, the pleasure, the taste, the passion.
That is why on the four corners of this earth Romario is famous: he has it! Still.
Many can criticize this move, but what I think is that millions want to have the opportunity to see him conjure up some magic.
If he does what he knows best, there will be no room for nothing else on the news. He might not be in shape, but in a few months at Miami FC he scored 20 goals.
History confirms that he is a headache, and sometimes, a pain but he is a magician. He is a master of the game we all love.
What remains is that he told Cruyff to shut up in a 'you are not my father' speech, when the Dutch legend told him to stop going out at night, while at Barcelona.
And he did not tell the truth to Scolari, coach of Brazil in 2002, when he said he was having surgery on his eyes, when instead he was somewhere else.
But everyone remembers him being chosen the best player in the world by FIFA in 1994 and how he was the top scorer in the top Brazilian league last year. At the age of 39.
Gifted, rebellious, dramatic, talented, wise and with that X-factor that only top scorers have, Romario does not need to move more than a few metres for fans to see the best put the ball in the net.
Goal is his family name. He smells goal, lives for it.
And he is damn serious about reaching the 1,000 goal mark, especially now that he is so close to it.
So here from the land of the not so serious, to Australia - 'The Brazil that went right' - a small message to Mr. Matt Carroll, the Head of Operations at the Aussie Football Federation: give the boy all the permits, certificates and paperwork needed to allow him to perform as a 'guest' in your league.
Nothing will enhance your image than the wild one, Romario.
Mr. Kosmina: as a deep football connoisseur, get a grip of Romario. Show him the way but don't put a leash on him and allow him to do his thing.
You might just be surprised.
You might see Romario, after hours, teaching the youngest ones at Adelaide United, how to kick with three fingers, or how to control the box - the area of the pitch where our 'Baixinho' (Shorty), as his is nicknamed, made his kingdom.
I wish you luck people and I hope to not only one day hear Romario not only speaking proper English but also stroll the beaches in Rio de Janeiro, whistling and saying: “No worries, mate!!!”
Is he any good?
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