May 26, 2006 USL Toronto Lynx vs Miami FC (from Toronto Star)
One for the school kids
Brazil's Romario, on a slick pitch in Etobicoke, leads Miami to 1-0 win
May 27, 2006. 08:21 AM
DAVE FESCHUK
Standing in the pre-game drizzle at Etobicoke's Centennial Stadium yesterday, Romario, the World Cup legend turned minor-league striker, was approached from behind by one of the game officials.
The 40-year-old Brazilian, who had been happily accepting payments of pre-game respects in the form of sparse cheers from the bleachers, turned as if to greet an admirer. But the official wasn't looking for an autograph or a photo, as some members of the opposing team, the Toronto Lynx, later would. The official motioned matter-of-factly to the old star's ears and Romario, shaking his head a little, removed the chunky gold-and-diamond ear studs.
For a man who has gone from the world's biggest athletic stage to the tiniest of minor leagues in the span of a dozen years — for a man who led Brazil to the 1994 World Cup and now calls the United Soccer League's Miami FC his team — it had to be a humbling comedown.
But Romario betrayed no bitterness. There he stood yesterday, 1994's world footballer of the year, in a stadium that amounted to an open field flanked by a single concrete grandstand. There he stood, preparing to play in front of a crowd of schoolchildren who provided the audience for a day away from reading and writing and arithmetic.
And there he played, all 90 minutes, in a 1-0 win for the visitors. Such is the price of unrelenting obsession. Though he is long past his world-beating prime, Romario is prolonging his decorated career in pursuit of joining Pele, his countryman and the game's living deity, as the only men to score 1,000-plus goals. Pele is recognized by independent observers for scoring some 1,279 times. Going into yesterday's game, Romario had scored, by his own count, 959 goals. And though Romario's own count is a highly arguable tally, his passion is harder to deny. "That's what I live for, goals," he has said.
Considering he could have presumably been lying on a beach yesterday, considering he has said his two favourite places in the world are the seaside and the nightclub dance floor, his presence was in itself worth noting. And though he's balding in the back and paunchy in the front, Romario still managed to imbue the match with a moment of magic.
Career goal No.960 — and depending on your insistence on statistical diligence, you may or may not insert the asterisk here — came after Toronto defender Andres Arango slipped on the slick pitch and ceded an in-tight shot to the greying master, who buried the ball in the top-right corner in the 19th minute. The smattering of die-hard fans came away awestruck.
"It means a lot," said Mississauga's Clinton Fernandes, 23, whose parents hail from Brazil. "He is soccer itself."
Said a grey-haired man from Brazil who claimed to speak no English: "Romario? Beautiful."
For large chunks of the game, Romario was as much a foreman as a forward, directing his underlings with stern waves of his hands. Only occasionally did he break into what could have been considered a sprint. Mostly, he loped, or loafed.
His genius, you might argue, has been in his lifelong avoidance of toil — and his indulgence of self. Not long ago he froze some of his sperm in test tubes before a vasectomy, just in case he wanted to continue sowing seeds for a squad made up of 11 children of his own. He has had four wives and six kids to date, the youngest a 1-year-old daughter with Down syndrome. Last year, upon scoring what would turn out to be his last goal for his national team, he removed his jersey to reveal a T-shirt that read: "My daughter has Down's and she's a princess."
Yesterday he offered no message, bypassing the post-game cameras without a word. Perhaps he was still stinging from that incident in the 35th minute, when a gaggle of schoolkids started chanting for a player whose name was not Brazilian.
"We want David!" they hollered. "We want David!"
The object of their affection was David DiPlacido, the Lynx veteran from Brampton who has never known World Cup glory and who, after the game was long over, stood near the parking lot where the Miami bus was idling, chuckling at the hilarity of it all. Romario was talking on a cell phone behind tinted windows while DiPlacido was still being hounded for his signature from the kids he had taught at soccer camp.
"It's funny," DiPlacido said, "but I don't think they know who Romario is."
And they didn't.
.
.