The Poetry of Romario and Pele

Sometime in the next year it is likely that Romario will score his 1000th career goal and then fade into the sunset or more likely the nightclubs. At least that is what the 41-year-old Vasco de Gama says his plan will be after he joins Pele as the only player to reach the four-digit career goals mark. In some ways it is sad seeing a great player chasing after a record that he doesn’t need to validate his spot in football history. In some ways it is admirable that he can still lace up the boots and go out and score against players who weren’t even born when he scored his first professional goal. In many ways it is entertaining to see how Pele views Romario’s goal scoring pursuit.

The King weighed in on things recently and as is he is wont to do he didn’t exactly hold back any punches, questioning the validity of some of Romario’s goals which may or may not have been scored at the junior level.

“I would like him to score a thousand goals, but to prove his count is correct. For instance, I keep all the reports from my matches and the records of each and every one of the 1282 goals I scored. I suppose Romario also has such documents,” taunted Pelé, not missing the occasion to remind his younger colleague that he scored his 1000th goal at 29, while Romario has yet to achieve such a feat at 41…even by his own calculations.

No we know what fills the pages in that enormous Pele book. It is his goal sheets. Every single one of them.

The Pele and Romario rivalry has certainly been fun to observe over the years. A few years back Romario came up with one of the better lines I’ve ever read from an athlete.

“When Pele’s quiet, he’s a poet,” Romario said. “But he just talks shit.”

I’m going to miss all this when Romario finally hangs up his boots. If only he would stick around to try to score another 283 goals to break Pele’s mark and to continue the battle of the egos.

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Category: South America, World Football

Tags: 1000th Goal, Goal Records, Pele, Romario, South America, World Football

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