WORLD CUP USA ’94 / QUARTERFINALS : Spotlight : BLAME IT ON RIO

Brazil’s Romario, who will play against the Netherlands in today’s quarterfinals, is not fondly remembered by Dutch soccer fans, who watched him play for five years with PSV Eindhoven before he moved on to Barcelona.

Repelled by the cold weather in the Netherlands, he frequently went AWOL so he could spend time at home in Rio de Janeiro. He never ran out of excuses. On one occasion, he invited Brazilian newspapers to his home to photograph him in bed, where he said he had been ordered by doctors after having been bitten by an insect.