World Cup - Romario: FIFA 'are taking the p*** in Brazil'

Former Brazil forward Romario has described FIFA as "the real president of Brazil" and said the money spent on stadiums for the 2014 World Cup could have been used to build thousands of new schools.

Romario, who spearheaded Brazil's attack when they won the 1994 World Cup and is now a congressman, said Brazil had spent more than twice as much on hosting the World Cup as Germany did in 2006 and South Africa four years later.

"That is taking the piss," he said in a video posted the web sites of several Brazilian newspapers. "It's taking the piss with our money, with the public's money, it's a lack of respect, a lack of scruples."

Romario, who appeared unshaven and wearing a sleeveless top, said the money spent on stadiums so far was enough to provide "8,000 new schools, 39,000 school buses or 28,000 sports courts in the whole country".

Brazil has been hit by a wave of nationwide protests as it stages the eight-team Confederations Cup, which is considered a dry run for next year's World Cup. The amount of money spent on stadiums is among the protestors' many grievances.

The World Cup will be staged in 12 stadiums, either built from scratch or completely refurbished. Brazil is spending around 28 billion reais (£8.1 billion) on the event.

"The money spent on the Mane Garrincha stadium in Brasilia could be used to build 150,000 houses for low income families," said Romario, who said he was speaking as "Romario the Brazilian" rather than as a footballer or politician.

"But no, we spent 1.5 billion reais on a stadium. Is it beautiful? Yes. Is it practical? Not really. But another thing is that after the Confederations Cup, some things will have to be re-done, because they didn't work out, and a few new things will have to be added for the World Cup."

"The real president of our country is FIFA," he added. "FIFA comes to our country and sets up a state within a state.

"FIFA will make a profit of four billion reais which should provide one billion in tax, but they will not pay anything. They come, set up the circus, they don't spend anything and they take everything with them."
Brazil's Congress has passed a bill which exempts FIFA from paying tax on profits in Brazil. It was one of the conditions FIFA made when Brazil was awarded the right to stage the event.

"Since Brazil was awarded the World Cup in 2007, things have gone off the rails," Romario added.
"The budgets that were made for stadiums, airports and urban mobility were all wrong, and it's the people who pay the bill."

 

(Yahoo! Sport)

Romario, The Hero Is Talking.

Brazil has 190 million individuals. They had over 6000 registered football clubs at different leagues and levels. They boast of 16 million registered football professionals of whom about 10 000 play football outside Brazil. They do not have a single man who has international experience to coach Brazil. International experience? They must be joking.

People who coached Brazil before, like Mario Zagallo, Carlos Alberto Parreira, the list is long, either do not want to do it again or they are now too old. How do you explain failure to so many people when you have so much resources to fight your cause?

The international experience part given in the difficulty the Brazilian Football Association becomes a laughable point given that they fired Dunga. Brazil gave the job to Dunga knowing he had no coaching experience at all (NB omission of INTERNATIONAL here). Dunga won qualification and came to the 2010 FIFA World Cup playing international football which the South Americans cried was unBrazilian. If they want an internationally experienced coach, none is better than Dunga at the moment.

Brazil can only have a Brazilian coach who plays the Brazilian way, only locally. I believe also, he needs to select a locally based squad. These players will do it the original Samba way. For the record, Dunga  won Copa America title, the Confederation Cup and topped the standings of the South American qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup finals.

Romario, who combined well with Bebeto back in the days, believes the 1994 World Cup winning captain, Dunga was unfairly treated. One of my favourite players of all time, one of the greatest goalscorers in the history of the game was in Singapore where he opened the Brazilian Football Exhibition.

He said, "Everyone criticised Dunga, but actually, he wasn't wrong. That's how football is played nowadays. Teams are now very organised in a European-style. But as the next World Cup is in Brazil, and with a lot of renewal and young players coming through in our national squad, and with the home support of the Brazilians, we will play much better."

I always mention my amazing first hand experience watching the man play at the twilight of his career, that Romario, who scored 55 times in 70 international games and a thousand other goals, he roamed the 18 yard box for 90 minutes and only touched the ball 4 times, in November 1999, and he scored a hat-trick.

Mano Menezes has since been appointed Brazil coach and is expected to unearth to the world a new generation of players like Neymar and Ganso from Santos.

Romario de Souza, who played at the Zimbabwe National Sports Stadium in the late 198os with PSV Eindhoven against Racing Sports Club of Argentina in an international charity match has a team he calls America and is running for a seat in the Brazilian Parliament.

Romario, The Hero Is Talking.

Brazil has 190 million individuals. They had over 6000 registered football clubs at different leagues and levels. They boast of 16 million registered football professionals of whom about 10 000 play football outside Brazil. They do not have a single man who has international experience to coach Brazil. International experience? They must be joking.

People who coached Brazil before, like Mario Zagallo, Carlos Alberto Parreira, the list is long, either do not want to do it again or they are now too old. How do you explain failure to so many people when you have so much resources to fight your cause?

The international experience part given in the difficulty the Brazilian Football Association becomes a laughable point given that they fired Dunga. Brazil gave the job to Dunga knowing he had no coaching experience at all (NB omission of INTERNATIONAL here). Dunga won qualification and came to the 2010 FIFA World Cup playing international football which the South Americans cried was unBrazilian. If they want an internationally experienced coach, none is better than Dunga at the moment.

Brazil can only have a Brazilian coach who plays the Brazilian way, only locally. I believe also, he needs to select a locally based squad. These players will do it the original Samba way. For the record, Dunga  won Copa America title, the Confederation Cup and topped the standings of the South American qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup finals.

Romario, who combined well with Bebeto back in the days, believes the 1994 World Cup winning captain, Dunga was unfairly treated. One of my favourite players of all time, one of the greatest goalscorers in the history of the game was in Singapore where he opened the Brazilian Football Exhibition.

He said, "Everyone criticised Dunga, but actually, he wasn't wrong. That's how football is played nowadays. Teams are now very organised in a European-style. But as the next World Cup is in Brazil, and with a lot of renewal and young players coming through in our national squad, and with the home support of the Brazilians, we will play much better."

I always mention my amazing first hand experience watching the man play at the twilight of his career, that Romario, who scored 55 times in 70 international games and a thousand other goals, he roamed the 18 yard box for 90 minutes and only touched the ball 4 times, in November 1999, and he scored a hat-trick.

Mano Menezes has since been appointed Brazil coach and is expected to unearth to the world a new generation of players like Neymar and Ganso from Santos.

Romario de Souza, who played at the Zimbabwe National Sports Stadium in the late 198os with PSV Eindhoven against Racing Sports Club of Argentina in an international charity match has a team he calls America and is running for a seat in the Brazilian Parliament.