Romario asks government to sack national coach

ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA – DECEMBER 01: Romario of Adelaide United celebrates a goal during the round 15 Hyundai A-League match between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory at Hindmarsh Stadium December 1, 2006 in Adelaide, Australia.

Rio de Janeiro, Sep 21 – Brazilian legend Romario has called on the country’s president Dilma Rousseff to force the removal of national football coach Mano Menezes.

The 1994 World Cup-winning striker has led a campaign to oust Menezes since Brazil’s 1-2 loss to Mexico in the Olympic final at London’s Wembley Stadium last month, reports Xinhua.

He stepped up his criticism after a late Neymar penalty gave Brazil a 2-1 victory in their international friendly against Argentina in the Brazilian city of Goiania Wednesday night.

“Another horrible game by Brazil,” Romario said on his Facebook page.

“If we continue with this team Brazil will not even get beyond the group stage of the World Cup. President, are you going to do something about it? How long are we going to keep embarrassing ourselves?”

Romario was particularly critical of Menezes’ decision to wait until the 68th minute to introduce the team’s leading Olympic goal scorer Leandro Damiao.

He added Argentina’s team “was one of the worst of all time”.

“The coach is weak, fearful and he doesn’t select the players that he should,” the former Barcelona star said.

The president of Brazil’s football confederation (CBF) Jose Maria Marin last month declared his support for Menezes and ruled out the possibility of a new coach being appointed before the end of the year.