By Sports Reporter/Doha
In 2003, Al Sadd signed 36-year-old Romario on a lucrative contract. It was a move that ended in bitterness as the Brazilian legend ended up playing just three matches without registering his name on the score sheet even once.
Fast forward to the present and Qatar football now has another Romario. But obviously it would be scandalously audacious for Romario Ricardo Silva to go by his first name, made so famous by Brazil’s third-highest goal-getter after Pele and Romario.
Thus we have Romarinho, a 24-year-old trying to climb the echelons of professional football with Qatar’s El Jaish as his first foreign club after leaving Corinthians last year.
Romarinho, who resembles Romario in appearance and style, has made a good impression so far with El Jaish with his striking prowess, and yesterday he gave yet another example of it with a match-winning performance against Qatar Sports Club in the Emir Cup semi-finals.
The diminutive forward struck the winning goal in second half added time as El Jaish won 2-1 to stay on course for their first-ever Emir Cup title when the final is played next Saturday.
In a match that had nothing much to shout about apart from Qatar Sports Club’s only goal – a gem of a volley by Hamdi Harbaoui – it was Romarinho who proved decisive.
El Jaish’s first goal also came thanks to the spadework done by the Brazilian in the 40th minute. A zigzagging run from 45 yards left the Qatar Sports Club defence tackling thin air, but with only goalkeeper Mohamed Mubarak to beat , Romarinho could only watch agonisingly as the ball hit the far post.
Luckily for El Jaish, the ball rebounded to Abdelqader Ilyas lurking inside the box and the forward scored with a measured left-footed shot.
Five minutes earlier, Harbaoui had shown he possessed the flexibility of a contortionist as he volleyed a high pass from Abdulla al-Dayani past a hapless El Jiash goalkeeper Ahmed Sofyan.
El Jaish were hampered by the fact that three of their key players—Wagner Ribeiro, Wessam Rizq and Mohamed Methnani — had off days. They struggled to move the ball forward, leaving Romarinho and Ilyas up front to fend for themselves.
Romarihno could have settled the match midway through the second half but goalkeeper Mubarak brought off a good save on a header.
With the referee adding five minutes to the match, it became a desperate scramble by both teams keen on avoiding the lottery of the penalties, but Qatar Sports Club neglected their defence and ended up paying the ultimate price.
With less than two minutes to go, forward Mohamed Muntari found himself perfectly positioned to collect a long pass, and after a well-timed run on the left crossed to Romarinho, who scored home without much difficulty.
El Jaish’s Romarinho (right) scored the winner to help his team beat Qatar SC in Emir Cup semi-finals. PicTUREs: Anas Khalid
