I still remember when the proposal came to go to Celta de Vigo. I had been called up for a tournament in the United States, which is like a Confederations Cup nowadays. Among the teams were Brazil, USA, England and Germany. I had been called up since 92 and it was a great time for Vasco too. I had a good participation in the games and we left for Ecuador to compete in the Copa América. Upon my return, interest from the Spanish team appeared and I was in doubt, because it was a team competing for relegation, that is, it was not a top club or an average one at the time.
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It ended up that what weighed on my decision to go was the financial side, it would be better for me. I signed a three-year contract and arrived straight into pre-season. At the beginning everything was going well, but there is that adaptation, and precisely at a club that had the mentality of not falling, I couldn’t take off. I was leaving a team that was competing at the top of the championship and wearing the national team’s shirt. Consequently I started to waver, I found myself playing and taking turns on the bench, and that was already in 93, on the eve of the 94 World Cup.
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When it arrives in November of that year, the team plays a friendly match in Germany, in Cologne, and I am called up. After the match, Carlos Alberto Parreira, the cycle coach, called me in the hotel lobby, during my departure, he was on my way to Madrid, to give me a touch.
I remember him saying “Why don’t you go back to Brazil? It makes it easier for us to observe you and increases your possibilities”.
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Not that this would guarantee that he would go to the World Cup the following year, but it would increase the chance of going. In January 94, I entered into an agreement with Celta and came to Vasco, to compete for the third State Championship. There was already a base that I knew, and they even brought Dener and Ricardo Rocha, he was great. I return holding on to these expectations.
The plan ended up not working, I got injured at the beginning of the Carioca Championship. Furthermore, there were many good players in the position, it was very competitive.
The person who ended up making the list was Mazinho. He hadn’t even been called up, didn’t participate in the Copa América, and was only called up again at the end of the Qualifiers. It was really a blow. Just imagine, at the time you were being considered for a World Cup and you were out due to an injury. It was very difficult. Despite being unhappy abroad, I return to Brazil a lot because of the possibility of going to the World Cup. What player doesn’t want to have that on their resume, right?
I believe that if there was a list of 30, I would be among the possible candidates. I would really like to have played in the 94 World Cup, and then, when time passes, we end up realizing that we missed it.
I respected Zagallo, who was the technical coordinator, a lot because of how he treated me. As for Parreira, I had less access, but I always found him to be a super professional with me, a very intelligent person, and I am very grateful for them giving me chances. They called me for the first time in 1992, and every participation was great, especially this tournament in the USA, where I still score goals, even though it’s not my specialty.
I’m still going to the 1993 Copa América. I also felt important because in the penalty shootout against Argentina, I took the fifth, decisive penalty. There I understood all the confidence they acquired in me, since I wasn’t even a penalty taker. So much so that in 93, during an examination with Dr. Luiz Medeiros, who was the team’s doctor – at the time Brazil wasn’t doing so well in the qualifiers – he told me that my name came up to be one of the solutions.
I wasn’t that player who had a guaranteed place, I was in that dispute and if there was an opening it could happen. I understand that, I’m not upset because I consider it unfair.
I won the State Trial with Vasco, but my loan ended and I would have to return to Spain. I didn’t want to return, I really didn’t adapt to the team’s rhythm. At Celta it was like that, play, then don’t play. I got really upset, including with the players, I remember a match against Valencia where at lunch they were talking and joking: “How much are we going to lose today?” A mentality that I didn’t accept, if you go into the game thinking you’re going to lose, you’ll already be defeated. It was a not so happy decision, but I don’t regret it, everything is experience, and it’s part of it. I ended up not continuing with my trip to Celta. It didn’t last a year, I stayed for around eight to nine months.
At that moment I would have to return, and Corinthians made me an offer that compensated for what I earned in Spain, and I ended up staying in Brazil for good. I had a good campaign in the 94 Brazilian Championship for the team.
I don’t carry frustration, I don’t have that feeling that this was missing. It was a solid career, in which I achieved everything I should have.
* In a statement to reporter Lucas Guimarães
