unbelievable. You know, sometimes I don't like Ronaldo's attitude and work ethic but would I have left him off the squad? He came into this WC with numerous injuries, unfit, personal problems, etc... Should he have been left off the squad since we had Adriano, Rivaldo, Fred, Ronaldinho, Nilmar, Robinho all available as forwards? In 1998 there was not one Brazilian who was a better scorer than Romario, let alone enough to keep him off the squad. If you don't like a player, that's fine. But footballistically, don't make silly arguments or excuses. There is absolutely no sensical reason to have left him out of 98. The man would not be godfather to my children, but don't diminish his greatness on the pitch. I mean Ronaldo came into the past two WC's recovering from injuries not fit to play 90 minutes and people still have the nerves to justify Romario's exclusion in 98. Even in 2002, he should have been on that squad. I was never in love with Maradona but I'll give him his credit. come on. Every one was considering Brazilian Football as archaic and ineffective until 94. You would think the guy deserves some gratitude.
well, assuming that 99.99% of the people would say Pele was the best, naming the thread "Is Zico the greatest player ever?" would be pretty stupid, as well as me, and another 500000000000000000000000 people believing Pele was better so thats that, because basically no one would talk about Zico... ... So yeah, Ill take your answer as a yes. Agreed...
I tell you who was absolutely brilliant - whose enjoys less than legendary status cos of 'failing' in the Copas of 1986 and 1990 - Careca. Brilliant I thought. Seemed to have everything. Am I wrong?
nope you are not wrong m8! careca was amazing.hey diego maradona, in napoli gets most of the credit but i think careca was just as important for their success and if zico had careca in wc86[correct if i am wrong] the selecao wins! infact zico needed a healthy careca!
zico win 4 brazilian championship, the most difficult championship to win in the world. please don't try to compare others championships here, for example champions league, CL is for spice girls and other tv stars, the 70's 80's brasileirão is for great players of all time: roberto dinamite, falcão, zico, tostão, rivelino, paulo cesar caju, dario, sócrates, junior, serginho chulapa,
Saying we would have won 98 with Romario is purely hypothetical. I don't like the guy because he is not professional and a primadonna. And that's a fact. When he cried on national TV asking Felipao to be in 02, all I could think of is that it was his own damn fault.
Wow, a sensible Vasco fan. Props to you. Some of the people here that are talking down the Brasileirao in the 80's know nothing about it. They think it was just like our current day league where the Europeans still bought all the good players that came from it. That clearly shows that they have NO idea what they are talking about..
Ha, just look at what is going on today between him and Vasco. Apparently, he wants to return. (a rumor I heard, could be false) Everything is always on his terms!
Just read a report today that he is unhappy at Miami FC...figures. He says he feels ignored and he is not the center of attention.
Yep, typical Romario. Didn't somebody here say that they wanted him on the coaching staff? What a nightmare that would be!
You really think I'm nuts. Pretend for a second, that you have nothing against Romario as a person. Pretend he was a nice guy. Now, do you really think it would be nuts to include Brazil's top scorer (correct me if I'm wrong) in the NT. Seriously. We had Luisao (or something, some tall awkward guy that kept coming in for Ronaldo) on that team. Some people were asking for Nilmar to be on this 2006 team. Do me that favor. Give me an unemotional assessment of the man's contribution and due credit on the field. Try.
OK. Fair enough. Here is one. In 02 he was 36 years old. All he could do is stay up front playing in a 5m space waiting to score goals. Because if he tries to run, guess what ? He will pull a hamstring or a groin because he doesn't practice. How hard do you think it would have been to shut him down. I think in 06 it has been proven (with Ronaldo) that no team that wants to win can have a static forward. Oh, and by the way, I am sure if he was on the team, he wouldn't have accepted the bench. Another point is that his attitude affects the team's union. He is not a team player and thinks everybody needs to play for him. In 98, he might have helped the team. But he was already not nearly as explosive and good as 94. He was already in the oba, oba of his career. Didn't he get injured before the WC playing a futvolei match in Copacabana ? What people don't realize, is that we lost to France in 98 (like 06) in the midfield. Having Romario up front, isolated waiting for the ball, would have probably done nothing. In 94, as uncreative as the team was, we dominated the midfield in every single game. Anyways, this is pretty off-topic. I love what he did in 94. I never liked his attitude. But if I thought he would have helped the Selecao in 98 and 02, I would have no problem in admitting that he should have been on the team.
Enough of Romario. As for Zico ..... You should all check out Zico at youtube.com Search for Zico, watch and be amazed. It's only a small fraction of his talent, but enough for anyone to understand how great he was. 1 - Pele 2 - Garrincha 3 - Zico And for all of you that think you know so much: If someone made a poll all across Brazil, Ronaldo wouldn't make top 5.
Thats because they haven't saw much of him since he went to Europe. Had he stayed, we might be talking different Ronaldo. I've come to a conclusion that Brasil fans rank their player differently and i respect that. However, some of those players are never rated highly outside of the Brazilian boards except for Pele and Garrinca. Zico to some extent. I'm sure FIFA will rank Ronaldo higher than you guys do. He left his marks on the football pitch and the whole World knows that.
Ok. I'll take that. Using your reasoning (about Romario in 98), however, Ronaldo shouldn't have been on this team and probably not even in 02. Maybe even Rivaldo shouldn't have been on the team in 02 since he looked like he was on a little decline as well. I guess I'll finish by saying that Romario was never given the chance to cement his legacy (partly b/c of his own attitude), but if he had the chance he probably would have dwarfed Zico's and Ronaldo's accomplishments. I guess we won't know. I personally would take him any day in his prime. Any day.
celito lets just forgive and forget! lets forget his character and think of how much of a great player the man was! hey nobody is perfect well i sorry only 0ne person in here who is perfect and thats celito
Ronaldooooooooo try to understand, never in the history of soccer we have a champiomship like brazilian champiomship in early years. the fact of we lost the 74/78/82 WC is a shell above our players, in international soccer. but they still the best players,and t que was top 4 in 74/78 and top 8 in 82 with one of the best soccer demonstration ever. before you say anything about him, try to investigate the libertadores da america and the brazilian champiomship, the players of this age. Ronaldo can be compared with Roberto Dinamite, a great scorer, with some skills (but dinamite was better with dead ball and with head). Even romario was better than ronaldo. Zico don't be the best after pelé, but is top 5 brazilian offensive players ever. and ronaldo don't. greetings.
agreed 100% on that statement! hey Celito what do you think of Sidis assessment that romario was better than ronaldo. it will be interesting to hear you respond to this
So now you're rating the brasilian championship back then, higher than European clubs trophies, WC and Copa America? I hope your'e not cuz it would be ridiculous. As i mentioned before, you guys have watched many of these players Zico etc live or on T.V, more than have you seen Ronaldo cuz they played in Brasil. So of course you'll be biased. I also find it odd, that you guys throw Ronaldo's awsome achievements out of the window, like they're nothing or irrelevant in this discussion. Ronaldo has won 2 Copa Americas, a World Cup and second place finish in 98. He was top scorer in 02 with 8 goals (a feature nobody has done in football history) and was top scorer in 97 copa america as well. He also won the UEFA Championship, La liga and couple of clubs trophies. Add to that, nominated 5 times for WPOY in 9 tries. He also won 3 world player of the year award, 2 D ballon', and is top World Cup goal scorer of all-time with 15 goals. And he still has 4 more years in him and a possible WC appearence to add to his resume. All this is being ignored in this discussion. This is just sad.