Factbox of former Brazil striker Romario
RIO DE JANEIRO: Profile of former Brazil striker Romario, who was banned for 120 days on Tuesday after testing positive for the banned masking agent finasteride during a game for Vasco da Gama in October.
* Born in Rio de Janeiro on January 30, 1966.
* Always controversial and outspoken, Romario admitted he disliked training and that he played better after a night on the town. He once labelled Vasco da Gama teammate Edmundo a court jester and described Pele as "a poet when he's quiet". In 1999, he was sacked by Flamengo for spending a night on the town in Caxias do Sul, where he was photographed with the Queen of the Grape Festival, immediately after a loss to Juventude.
* Made 73 appearances for Brazil, scoring 56 goals. His debut was against Ireland in 1987 and his final appearance against Guatemala in October, 2005. He played at the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and scored five goals in 1994 to help Brazil win its fourth World Cup. He was dropped on the eve of the 1998 World Cup because of injury and overlooked for 2002 by coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, despite public calls for him to be picked.
* Made professional debut for Vasco da Gama against Coritiba in the Brazilian championship in June, 1985. He also played for PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona and Valencia, had three more stints with Vasco and played for its Rio de Janeiro rival Flamengo and Fluminense. In the last few years of his career he briefly played for Al Saad in Qatar, Miami FC in the United States and Adelaide United in Australia.
* Scored what he claimed to be his 1,000th goal from a penalty in the 3-1 win over Sport Recife in a Brazilian championship match in May. Seventy-seven of Romario's goals were scored at the youth team level, including seven when he was playing for Olaria as a 13-year-old in the infants category. Another 172 were scored in matches not normally termed as competitive.
Agencies
(China Daily 12/20/2007 page24)
