WORLD CUP USA ‘94: QUARTERFINALS : Branco Is Mr. Destiny for Brazil : Soccer: Replacement for suspended Leonardo gets winning goal after spending first four games on bench.
So this is punishment?
On July 4, at Palo Alto, a Brazilian named Leonardo jarred Tab Ramos of the United States with an elbow to the head.
Americans will remember the call for a stretcher.
In Brazil, however, it might now be remembered as a call to destiny.
In a World Cup chain reaction that set off sirens and sambas, Ramos went down with a concussion, Leonardo went to the bench after FIFA handed him a four-game suspension and Branco, his replacement, went on to make history.
Branco, almost forgotten in Brazilian soccer lore, scored the decisive goal Saturday on a booming, 30-yard free kick in the 81st minute to lift Brazil to a 3-2 quarterfinal victory over the Netherlands at the Cotton Bowl.
Branco, who had not played in nearly a month, almost scored twice, deprived earlier by goalkeeper Ed De Goey, who leaped to deflect another free kick.
On defense, Branco marked Marc Overmars out of the game, sticking to the forward like Dutch Boy paint on plywood.
All because Leonardo whacked Tab Ramos.
“Destiny wanted it to be like this,” a humbled Branco said.
Often, the best coaching decisions are ones thrust upon you.
Carlos Alberto Parreira, scrutinized in Brazil for everything down to his toothpaste choices, was under pressure in Brazil to not play Branco, a two-time World Cup veteran with a bad back.
The 30-year-old Branco, critics suggested, would be a monkey wrench in the Brazilian offense. The vertebrae in Branco’s back, in fact, have eroded to the point that his left leg is slightly shorter than his right.
While the rest of his team prepared for the World Cup, Branco soaked his sacroiliac in the whirlpool under the care of Dr. Lidio Toledo. Since participating in club championship matches in Rio de Janeiro more than 40 days ago, Branco had played one half of soccer--in a June 12 friendly against El Salvador in Fresno.
Leonardo’s suspension made Parreira’s decision to insert Branco an easy one.
True, there were a lot of miles on this Branco, but experience counts in big games and the defender was a veteran of nine World Cup games, in 1986 and 1990.
Branco has always possessed a lively free kick. His bio sheet notes that he is “exceptionally threatening in free-kick situations, having scored from seemingly safe distances outside the box.”
It perfectly described Saturday’s game-winner.
Branco set himself up for the kick by baiting Wim Jonk into a foul, a subtlety teammate Leonardo has not quite mastered.
Then, from well beyond the penalty arc, Branco let go with a left-footed blast that found a hole in the Dutch wall and the upper-right corner of the net.
“I struck the ball with a lot of confidence,” Branco said. “Before I hit the ball, I looked up at the scoreboard and saw there were 10 minutes to go. I got it in my head, it was the right moment.”
With the shot, Branco said, he silenced most of his critics.
“It was a game in which everyone was worried if I was ready to play,” he said.
Overmars could attest to his opponent’s fitness. Branco was not shy in saying he “annihilated” the Dutch forward.
Branco said he was not nervous before the game: “To the contrary, I was very much at peace.”
Of his defensive performance, he said. “I had to mark perhaps Holland’s best player. I don’t think he had anything to do with the game. I thank God I had a great role in the game.”
Admittedly tired, Branco left the game in the 89th minute to a hero’s welcome on the Brazilian bench. Had he been wearing a cap, Branco would have tipped it.
The game over, as the impact of the goal began to set in, Branco allowed himself to cry.
“It was for everything that I had to go through,” he said. “To go from 2-0, to 2-2 and then 3-2, it was a thing of destiny. If one did not cry, one would not have emotions.”
