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'I'm very sorry' Edmundo's career takes another turn with penalty miss
Posted: Saturday January 15, 2000 10:29 AM
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -- Edmundo wrote another chapter in his amazing career on Friday, when his penalty shootout miss cost Vasco da Gama the chance to win FIFA's first Club World Championship. Only one week ago, his goal in the team's 3-1 first-round win over European champion Manchester United was being hailed as the best in the tournament. His changing fortunes in the competition were symbolic of his entire career, which has been a story of brilliance on the field interspersed with acts of indiscipline. The 29-year-old is one of the most talented players in the world but has wrecked his career through his adventures with drunken chimpanzees, brushes with the law and even problems caused by toilet doors. Edmundo has broken the goalscoring record for the Brazilian championship, won three Brazilian championship titles with two different clubs, one Copa America with his country and scored goals of stunning brilliance. But the same player had received over one dozen red cards in his career. He currently has a four-and-a-half year jail sentence hanging over his head for his part in a fatal car crash in 1995. Edmundo spent one night in prison, sleeping on a mattress on a concrete floor, last year but was released pending a second appeal into the sentence, likely to be heard sometime this year. Shortly before that, he angered environmentalists when he was caught on film feeding beer to a chimpanzee during his son's first birthday party. Edmundo had hired an entire circus for the party, including two elephants that proved too big to get into his back garden. In the Club World Championship, he was asked to team up with former friend Romario, with whom he had fallen out over a toilet door. Romario had decorated the doors in a bar he owns with huge cartoons of Edmundo and a former girlfriend. Edmundo, not seeing the funny side, asked him to remove them, Romario refused and the two fell out. Edmundo returned to Vasco in July after an unhappy 18 months with Italy's Fiorentina, during which he suffered from constant homesickness and fell out with his teammates. He also infuriated the fans by persuading the club president to allow him ten days off as his team were challenging for the Italian title, to allow him to take part in Rio de Janeiro's carnival. Other incidents included a week under hotel arrest in Ecuador for smashing a television camera at the end of a match and allegations of racism after comments about a referee who sent him off during a game in northeastern Brazil. Such behavior has resulted in him being ignored by Brazil's national team since Wanderley Luxemburgo, a man who places a huge emphasis on discipline, took over as coach 18 months ago. His future at Vasco is also uncertain. Edmundo is being linked with Palmeiras, the club where he spent two hugely successful years. On Friday, he merely wanted to apologize to Vasco supporters after the team lost 4-3 on penalties to Corinthians. "I'm very sorry," he said.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
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