Romario + Bebeto = victory An unlikely bromance at USA 94
The Selecao’s ‘ Diabolical Duo’ went into the 1994 World Cup battling reports about a bitter feud, but devastating on- field exploits confirmed their status as football’s finest odd couple
As far as acts of pettiness go, refusing to sit next to two of your team- mates on the plane ride to a World Cup is right up there. If Bebeto and Muller didn’t know Romario quite so well, they might have been offended. This was, after all, the same chap who once married his 17- year- old girlfriend on a football pitch for live television, and had more recently served a four- match suspension at Barcelona for clocking Sevilla midfielder Diego Simeone.
Ahead of USA 94, the free- scoring frontman had also asked coach Carlos Alberto Parreira to drop Muller in favour of old pal Edmundo, only to be rebuffed. But Romario’s own memory required a refresh: it was nearly him stranded out in the cold.
In December 1992, Parreira had called up the striker for a friendly with Germany, yet left him on the bench. “I wouldn’t have come if I knew I wasn’t playing,” said Romario, resulting in his Selecao exclusion for more than nine months.
When that return came in September 1993, Brazil needed him. Parreira had vowed not to summon Romario for their must- win qualifier at home to Uruguay, but an injury crisis forced his hand at the last minute. The hosts won 2- 0 in front of 101,533 fans at the Maracana – and guess who bagged both goals?
“It was the most important day of my entire career,” the forward admitted years later.
Assisting his opening goal that evening was Jose Roberto Gama de Oliveira – aka Bebeto – whose clean- cut personality could hardly have been more different to the party boy he first
called his strike partner at the 1988 Olympics. For Brazil, however, such opposites attracted.
Romario and Bebeto joined forces at senior level for Brazil’s victorious 1989 Copa America, at which the latter’s little size four boots struck a competition- high six goals. But a miserable Italia 90 for both men meant they shared only 75 minutes of World Cup football heading into USA 94 ( Bebeto playing a mere eight of those).
There were other, unfortunate, similarities. In June 1994, days before Brazil’s first World Cup match, Bebeto’s pregnant wife was robbed at gunpoint in an apparent attempt to kidnap his brother. A month earlier, Romario’s father had been held hostage for nearly a week ( but given a TV to see his son play). Police were allegedly tipped off by a fellow criminal concerned about the Selecao’s chances in America.
Brazil hadn’t won the trophy since Mexico 70, but the spotlight still shone on their forwards’ supposedly strained relationship. In 1992- 93, Bebeto topped La Liga’s goal chart with 29 for Deportivo La Coruna, but the following season ended in despair. Not only did Barcelona new boy Romario pinch the Pichichi award off him, but Bebeto’s unwillingness to take the ( saved) last- minute penalty that would have won the title for Depor meant Barça snatched it instead. After plane- gate, the media smelled tension.
“People always pitted me against Romario, even before 1994,” Bebeto told Fourfourtwo.
“But we’ve always been friends – very different lifestyles, but we’re friends. Ahead of the World Cup, he said we should walk off the pitch with his hand on my shoulder, so they’d stop saying bulls** t about us. And we did.”
Once Brazil had started their World Cup bid against Russia in Stanford, however, there was no need for unnecessary dramatics. Romario poked home Bebeto’s corner midway through the first half, then won the penalty which Rai dispatched for a 2- 0 victory. The Selecao were on their way… and didn’t stop.
Cameroon were swatted aside 3- 0 in match two – Romario and Bebeto both grabbed goals – before the former completed his run of group strikes in a 1- 1 draw against Sweden.
“I felt I had to run a little for Romario, but he was a genius inside the box so I didn’t mind,” explained Bebeto. His strike partner later said, “Whenever Brazil worked on tactics in training, Bebeto and I didn’t have to participate much – we already knew each other so well.”
Next up was a last- 16 showdown against the hosts. Conditions were sweltering, and made worse by Leonardo’s 43rd- minute sending- off for elbowing Tab Ramos. Brazil’s inconsolable left- back was reassured by Bebeto during the interval that he would score the winning goal for him. And he did – calmly stroking the ball home on 72 minutes after Romario’s scamper from the centre circle. The duo embraced, with a smitten Bebeto telling his team- mate, “I love you.” The New York Times, licking their wounds, hailed the devastating Selecao double act as “Lethal Weapon I and II”.
The Netherlands proved much more stubborn than expected in the last eight, where Brazil went 2- 0 up after 63 minutes in one of the most iconic moments of World Cup history. After Bebeto had squared for Romario to convert the opener, assister turned scorer by beating a dire offside trap and rounding future Chelsea goalkeeper
Ed de Goey. There followed the baby- rocking celebration to mark the birth of Bebeto’s third child, Mattheus – himself a player and now at Sporting – with Romario and Mazinho joining in ( far left). “It’s something I’d thought of before the match,” Bebeto told FFT. “Everywhere I go, all over the world, fans want to talk about it.”
But the Dutch didn’t lack courage. They got a goal back 120 seconds later and drew level after 76 minutes, only for Branco to belt home a piledriver free- kick.
“I hope Bebeto comes up with another baby this week so we keep winning,” joked Romario.
Through to the semis and a second meeting with Sweden, both Selecao strikers turned up at the pre- match press conference.
“The only thing we have in common is that we score goals,” shrugged Romario. “Bebeto is a much more free- flowing player than I am. For 90 minutes, he’s always concentrating on what’s going on – my strength is that a lot of people think I’m asleep.
“We are different people. Bebeto is a family type, stay at home. I’m a street cat. I respect him a lot, and he knows how much I like him. Nothing that is said is going to affect anything we do on the field.”
He was right. The entertaining Swedes were sapped in Pasadena’s Rose Bowl and lost their skipper Jonas Thern to a second- half red card. Brazil’s pressure eventually told as the contest approached 80 minutes – although not in the predictable sense, as 5ft 6in Romario nodded in Jorginho’s cross to set up a final with Italy.
The Azzurri – semi- finalists on home soil four years previous – had limped into the knockout stages after losing to the Republic of Ireland, then edged out Nigeria, Spain and Bulgaria en route to Pasadena. In a cautious finale, Bebeto and Romario squandered chances, and Mauro Silva’s fierce drive was fumbled onto a post by keeper Gianluca Pagliuca, meaning a penalty shootout would settle it. When Parreira asked for volunteers, Romario stepped up.
“I was nervous, only because I’d never taken one for the national team,” he admitted to FFT.
“I never practised penalties.” But after Franco Baresi and Marcio Santos exchanged misses, Romario followed Demetrio Albertini by finding the net. Alberigo Evani and Branco succeeded; Daniele Massaro failed. With Roberto Baggio needing to score, Bebeto’s head was spinning.
“I wasn’t paying attention to his penalty – all I was thinking about was how to score the final kick,” he revealed. To his relief, he wasn’t required: Baggio’s spot- kick remains in orbit. Brazil were kings for the first time in 24 years, powered by Golden Ball winner Romario – soon to be FIFA World Player of the Year – and his “perfect partner”. Earlier this year, Bebeto and Romario were reunited by
Globo Esporte to re- watch the moment of triumph, each weeping while they relived the joy. Different people from the same world, brought together by a special kind of love.
“WHENEVER BRAZIL WORKED ON TACTICS IN TRAINING, WE DIDN’T DO MUCH – WE KNEW EACH OTHER SO WELL”