Brazil hails teenage sensation Robinho
By Brian Homewood
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Teenage Santos striker Robinho has become the latest name put forward to emulate Pele after his stunning performance in the Brazilian championship final on Sunday.
Robinho capped a remarkable debut season when he inspired Santos to a 3-2 victory against Corinthians to seal a 5-2 aggregate win and their first domestic title since 1984.
The 18-year-old scored the first from the penalty spot after being fouled and then set up two late goals to finally kill off Corinthians.
For years in Brazil bright young players have been hailed as 'the new Pele' but Robinho has stronger credentials than most.
He shares the same slender build that Pele possessed at the same age - and he plays for Santos, the club where Pele spent 17 years of his career and helped turn into arguably the best club side in the world at the time.
Like Pele, Robinho has already shown that he will not be intimidated by threats and aggression from opposing defenders.
After the first leg of the semi-final tie against Gremio, rival goalkeeper Danrlei warned that Robinho - born in the year that Santos last won a domestic title - could end up with a broken leg if he kept making defenders look stupid.
But Robinho, who finished the championship with 10 goals, has kept on taunting defenders, apparently unmoved by what Danrlei claimed to be friendly advice but which many interpreted as a straightforward threat.
'A top-line player, a genius, a rare precious stone who, without exaggerating, reminds us of the King (Pele),' said Cesar Seabra, a columnist in the sports daily Lance.
'His performance yesterday (Sunday) is never to be forgotten.'
O Globo wrote: 'Robinho's artistic football has made him the heir to Pele's thrown at the Vila Belmiro (Santos headquarters).'
GARRINCHA COMPARISONS
Other pundits preferred to compare him to the late Garrincha for his irreverent dribbling skills.
'He upset the Corinthians defence on the right, as if he were Garrincha, taking the ball to the byline and then placing it on Elano's foot for the second goal,' said Fernando Calazans in O Globo.
On Monday, almost every Brazilian news programme showed replays of the incident in which Robinho tormented and provoked his marker Rogerio into giving away the penalty by feinting repeatedly.
He lifted his foot over the ball seven times, twisted his way into the penalty area and went down after receiving the slightest of contacts from Rogerio's arm in what appeared a harsh decision on the Corinthians player.
'It was a move that will go down in history,' said Marcos Augusto Goncalves in Lance.
Santos president Marcelo Teixeira insists the player is staying put at least until the middle of next year, which will make him available as Santos enter the Libertadores Cup -- the South American equivalent of the European Champions League -- for the first time since 1985.
But long-suffering Santos supporters are now wondering when the club's most prized possession is snapped up by one of the big European clubs.
They will also be hoping that, with three sportswear corporations already reported to be chasing him for a sponsorship deal, the trappings of success do not spoil his career.
Coach Emerson Leao, referring to his whole team and not just Robinho, warned after the game: 'Now the difficult part begins, which is to live with success and a full wallet.'
By Brian Homewood
RIO DE JANEIRO, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Teenage Santos striker Robinho has become the latest name put forward to emulate Pele after his stunning performance in the Brazilian championship final on Sunday.
Robinho capped a remarkable debut season when he inspired Santos to a 3-2 victory against Corinthians to seal a 5-2 aggregate win and their first domestic title since 1984.
The 18-year-old scored the first from the penalty spot after being fouled and then set up two late goals to finally kill off Corinthians.
For years in Brazil bright young players have been hailed as 'the new Pele' but Robinho has stronger credentials than most.
He shares the same slender build that Pele possessed at the same age - and he plays for Santos, the club where Pele spent 17 years of his career and helped turn into arguably the best club side in the world at the time.
Like Pele, Robinho has already shown that he will not be intimidated by threats and aggression from opposing defenders.
After the first leg of the semi-final tie against Gremio, rival goalkeeper Danrlei warned that Robinho - born in the year that Santos last won a domestic title - could end up with a broken leg if he kept making defenders look stupid.
But Robinho, who finished the championship with 10 goals, has kept on taunting defenders, apparently unmoved by what Danrlei claimed to be friendly advice but which many interpreted as a straightforward threat.
'A top-line player, a genius, a rare precious stone who, without exaggerating, reminds us of the King (Pele),' said Cesar Seabra, a columnist in the sports daily Lance.
'His performance yesterday (Sunday) is never to be forgotten.'
O Globo wrote: 'Robinho's artistic football has made him the heir to Pele's thrown at the Vila Belmiro (Santos headquarters).'
GARRINCHA COMPARISONS
Other pundits preferred to compare him to the late Garrincha for his irreverent dribbling skills.
'He upset the Corinthians defence on the right, as if he were Garrincha, taking the ball to the byline and then placing it on Elano's foot for the second goal,' said Fernando Calazans in O Globo.
On Monday, almost every Brazilian news programme showed replays of the incident in which Robinho tormented and provoked his marker Rogerio into giving away the penalty by feinting repeatedly.
He lifted his foot over the ball seven times, twisted his way into the penalty area and went down after receiving the slightest of contacts from Rogerio's arm in what appeared a harsh decision on the Corinthians player.
'It was a move that will go down in history,' said Marcos Augusto Goncalves in Lance.
Santos president Marcelo Teixeira insists the player is staying put at least until the middle of next year, which will make him available as Santos enter the Libertadores Cup -- the South American equivalent of the European Champions League -- for the first time since 1985.
But long-suffering Santos supporters are now wondering when the club's most prized possession is snapped up by one of the big European clubs.
They will also be hoping that, with three sportswear corporations already reported to be chasing him for a sponsorship deal, the trappings of success do not spoil his career.
Coach Emerson Leao, referring to his whole team and not just Robinho, warned after the game: 'Now the difficult part begins, which is to live with success and a full wallet.'