Romario to Play Again, at the Age of 43

Seems that Romario can’t stop playing football. The striker, who graced the likes of PSV, Barcelona and, er, Miami FC during his 23 year career, hung up his boots at the grand old age of 42 last April with an (alleged) total of 1,003 goals.

We waved goodbye to the great man on The Offside last year, and did our best to ignore the less glorious later years and focus on the 1994 World Cup winner, Golden Ball and World Player of the Year version.

But now Romario is planning to unhang those shooting boots for a brief comeback – but still a comeback – with América Football Club in the Brazilian second division, at the rather worrying age of 43.

Cynics might suggest this comeback is related to Romario’s recent arrest for failure to make child support payments to his ex-wife. Let’s hope not. Since Romario is involved with the management of América, it’s more likely his appearance on the field is designed to help the club’s bottom line. But the optimist in me hopes that Romario’s stated reason is the real one:

“I’ll play for a few minutes in one or two matches for America. It’s a way I’ve found of realising a dream my father had,” the 43-year-old told reporters.

Romario’s late father was apparently a huge América fan, and always wanted his son to wear the shirt.
So, OK, it’s actually quite a nice idea. So go ahead and realize that dream Romario. But then please retire properly after that.

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Category: South America