WORLD CUP USA ’94 / QUARTERFINALS : Brazil’s Leonardo Suspended From Tournament : Penalty: He is also fined about $8,000 for violent elbow against Ramos.
In the most severe penalty of World Cup ‘94, Brazilian defender Leonardo was suspended for four games Wednesday for elbowing Tab Ramos of the United States, who suffered a broken bone in his head.
In Dana Point, Ramos, speaking for the first time since Monday’s incident, said: “I thought I was going to die.”
The disciplinary committee of FIFA, soccer’s governing body, fined Leonardo about $8,000.
The committee also suspended two players ejected from second-round matches Tuesday--Gianfranco Zola of Italy for two games and Emil Kremenliev of Bulgaria for one. Kremenliev’s penalty was less severe because his red card was a combination of two yellows in the same match. Zola was punished for intentionally fouling a Nigerian defender although he did not cause any harm.
Also suspended for one match in the next CONCACAF tournament were Fernando Clavijo of the United States and Luis Garcia of Mexico, for accumulated yellow cards.
But the biggest penalty was levied against Leonardo, who threw a right elbow into the left side of Ramos’ head as the two tangled for a ball near the sidelines in the first half of Brazil’s 1-0 second-round victory.
Leonardo later apologized and said he did not intentionally hurt Ramos, who is expected to be sidelined for up to six months. Leonardo visited Ramos at the Stanford Medical Center.
“He was saying he did not really mean to hit me in the head,” Ramos said. “I know he’s not a dirty player at all. I realized from watching the replay that it looks like a dirty play, and he did throw the elbow at me, but I don’t think he ever thought he would hit me in the head with it. It was just kind of a movement to get me away from him because I was pulling his shirt.”
But the disciplinary committee, which viewed the incident from all angles on a video, was unmoved by the motive.
Brazil, which plays Netherlands in the quarterfinals Saturday at the Cotton Bowl, can appeal the decision.
If Brazil fails to advance past the Netherlands, or loses in the semifinals, Leonardo’s suspension would be completed in the next sanctioned South American tournament.
Ramos, a 27-year-old midfielder from Hillside, N.J., was still reeling from the blow Wednesday,
“I just wanted to keep my eyes open, because I thought I had to fight it to come back,” he said. “I mean that’s how bad it was.”
Ramos dropped to the field and lost consciousness for several seconds after being hit. Doctors said there was a small amount of bleeding around the brain.
“I heard this noise in my head that was like a train going through, and all I thought was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to die right here,’ ” Ramos said. “It was really bad, and within 10 seconds I recovered a little bit, but I had a lot of pain in my head.”
