INTERVIEW NIGHTWATCH STAR TAC YOURSELF CORP. THIS MAN IS NOT A MACHINE

"Romário never complains about the team, only about himself," says foot-volley pal Wilson Mussauer. "He always blames himself for defeats." Chief among these was his being dismissed from the Brazilian Soccer Team, prior to the '98 World Cup. In 1999, fully recovered from the trauma, the striker announces that this will be the best year in his career. Things are off with a good start as Guanabara Cup champion and Brazilian Team member. He dreams of playing the 2000 Olympics while sending out positive vibrations through the T-shirts he flashes after scoring goals. Personal marketing? Yourself Corp.? "I only do what I think I have to, and I try to do things my way ", he answers. "Even if one does good things, there's always a jerk who thinks they are wrong. I've turned down offers to make 500 thousand reais in two weeks. That's not my turf." Though all he does is talk about the Olympics, his plans seem to go beyond that. "Will I be O.K. in three years?" he asks Flamengo's fitness coach, Helvécio Pessoa. Let's put our math on and find out what Romário thinks. He thinks of playing the next World Cup. He is doing his share: everyone is early for practice and he shows up in the nick of time; everybody jogs for warm-up and he's not even in the field; every players practicing fundamentals and he kids at going for the ball. He only becomes part of the group when game practice begins. When it ends, at that moment when every player is equal and all are sweaty, one notices a sort of cult. At least half a dozen players slowly approach the striker in silent reverence. No one knows how Romário will be in 2002. But there will always be room for the legend.

more stories in English