Romario's "1,000 goals" divide Brazil By Diana Renee

dpa German Press Agency Published: Tuesday March 27, 2007

By Diana Renee,
Rio de Janeiro- An expectant but divided Brazil follows
closely the course of Romario - one of the country's greatest
football heroes - as he marches on to the historic mark of 1,000
goals.
According to the 41-year-old striker's own accounts, he scored his
999th goal Sunday night at the Maracana stadium, in a game
between his Vasco da Gama and arch-rival Flamengo. However, he did
not manage the intended brace and will have to wait a little longer.

His next opportunity to aim for the historic mark will be
Wednesday, against Americano. However, the game is scheduled to be
played in the stadium Sao Januario - a scene that Romario himself
thinks ill-suited for such an occasion.

Unless there is a stadium change, it is likely that the striker
will choose to "hold" his 1,000th goal till next Sunday, when his
team will return to the legendary Maracana for a game against
Botafogo.

Romario's statistics, however, are surrounded by scepticism. "O
Rei" Pele himself - who scored 1,289 goals throughout his career and
scored his 1,000th goal at Maracana in 1969, at the age of 29 when he
was in his prime - has made it clear that he has doubts about the
number that Romario claims to have scored.

"I hope he gets to 1,000 goals, and I also hope they have
all been attributed to him," Pele said recently, making no effort to
disguise a certain irony.

"A thousand goals? No way!" the Brazilian sports magazine Placar
said in turn in a recent headline.

Placar published a feature in which it claimed that Romario is
more than 100 goals short of the historic mark he claims to
be about to reach. Indeed, both PSV Eindhoven and Barcelona have cut
down the number of goals that the striker claims to have scored for
them in his prime.

In the face of generalized scepticism, Romario himself admitted
recently some "nuances" in his accounts. He explained that he
included goals scored in his childhood and youth, as well as friendly
games.

However, the enthusiasm of the player's numerous fans has barely
diminished, and they are all set to celebrate the conquest with their
idol.

"Believers" claim that Romario has not been the only player to
include "unofficial" goals in his statistics, and they recall that
Pele himself counted the goals that he scored in a game against an
army team during the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil 1964-85.

FIFA wants to distance itself from the controversy and will not
validate Romario's mark.

"FIFA only carries an account of the goals scored by male and
female players in competitions organized by FIFA," a spokesman for
football's ruling body told Deutsche Presse-Agentur, dpa.

But Romario - who had set himself the 1,000-goal mark as a
precondition for retirement - seems to have won at least the battle
of the media.

Reporters in Brazil and abroad are following closely his march on
the historic mark. And whenever and wherever he attains it, there
will be a party.

Indeed, doubts around the real number of goals scored by Romario
do not hide the fact that he is one of the greatest heroes in the
history of Brazilian football, and that many experts consider him the
perfect player within the small box.

"In truth, that mark of the thousand goals registered by Romario
God knows is of little importance. Although it is a round and
expressive number, it is not even a historic record since
(Arthur) Friedenreich, (Ferenc) Puskas, Pele and Eusebio went far
beyond the 1,000-goal mark before him," said veteran Brazilian
commentator Alberto Helena Jr.

"The really important thing is Romario and his goal-scoring gift,
that unique ability to transform the rival box into a magic circle
where he hides from the enemy to emerge, suddenly, for a date with
the ball and with the net," the analyst explained.

Brazil national coach Dunga - who as a player won the 1994 World
Cup in the United States alongside Romario - is another one of the
strikers fans, and hopes he can attain the desired mark.

"It would be something to crown and close in great style a
victorious career. I am cheering for Romario to get to 1,000
goals. At Maracana, in a special box ... it would be really good,"
Dunga told Brazilian media.

© 2006 - dpa German Press Agency

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