Romario
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Romário de Souza Faria (born January 29, 1966 in Rio de Janeiro), better known simply as Romário, is a Brazilian football (soccer) player who currently plays for Miami FC of the USL First Division. He is one of a select group of players with over 50 goals in international matches and one of Brazil's most famous and outstanding forwards. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the game.
On January 28 2006, one day before his fortieth birthday, he scored his 950th goal (official FIFA count). He is currently pursuing the figure 1,000 goals, a mark officially obtained only by legendary Pelé.
Career
He started his career playing for Vasco da Gama (becoming one of the best footballers of the club in the last two decades) where he won two State Championships (1987/88). Between 1988 and 1992 he played for PSV Eindhoven, who won the Dutch League in 1989, 1991 and 1992. In 1993 he moved to FC Barcelona and won the Spanish League the same year. As a member of the Brazilian national team, Romário won the silver Olympic medal in Seoul in 1988, scoring seven goals. Partnering with Bebeto in the attack, he led his country to the 1994 FIFA World Cup title, scoring five goals in the tournament. He was voted the most outstanding player of the tournament. Romário was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994, after being the runner-up in 1993. In 1995 he returned to Brazil to play for Flamengo. He spent the next year in Valencia. In 1998, he missed out the World Cup due to injury and then returned to Flamengo until 1999.He played for Vasco da Gama again in 2000, winning the Mercosur Cup, the Brazilian League, the South American and Brazilian Footballer of the Year award. From 2002 until 2004 he played for Fluminense. Romario was controversially left out of the 2002 Brazilian World Cup squad by Luiz Felipe Scolari, despite huge public demand for his inclusion. Fans from around the world sympathized with Romario and felt that the World Cup was deprived of one of its greatest performers. On October 21, 2004 he was fired from the club after a conflict with the coach. He then went back to play for the team he started at, Vasco da Gama. Then, in the beginning of 2006, he went to play with Miami FC along with former 1994 FIFA World Cup teammate Zinho. He has recently hinted that he might play for the entire season of 2006 and then retire, although his retirement has been announced numerous times before.
On April 28 2005, Romário played his last game with the Brazilian national team. He scored the second goal in Brazil's 3-0 win against Guatemala.
In 2005, at nearly 40 years of age, Romário scored an outstanding number of goals (22) in the Brazilian Championship, making him the league's top goalscorer. He is the second best scorer of all time in the Brazilian League, and has finished as leading scorer six times. Romário was named as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration in March 2004. Diego Maradona, in his autobiography,"El Diego", described Romario as an "incredible finisher" and that he had not seen a striker like him. He even went on to mention that Romario would be in his all time dream team without any hesitation.
League goals
- 1987-1989/1992-2006 [ROMÁRIO], FootballDatabase
- 1989-1992 [PSV.nl keep tally: 'Romario 1000'], PSV, March 8, 2006
Title history
- Rio de Janeiro State Championship (1985-1999) - four times champion, seven times leading scorer
- KNVB Cup (1989, 1990) - two times champion
- Dutch League (1989, 1991, 1992) - three times champion and three times leading scorer
- Seoul Olympic Games (1988) - silver medal
- Copa America (1989-1997) - two times champion and leading scorer
- Spanish League (1994) - champion and leading scorer
- FIFA World Cup 1994 - champion and Most Valuable Player (Golden Ball) Award Winner
- Confederations Cup (1997) - champion and leading scorer
- Brazilian Championship (2000) - champion
- FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup (2005) - 3rd place
Footnotes
External links
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