Over your career, which opponent did you find most difficult to mark? I wanted to be the best footballer I could be and also in the best shape possible. Secondly, I always tried to improve my physical fitness. When you have the pleasure of being out on the pitch, running is easy. How did you have so much energy and stamina?įirstly, it’s a great pleasure to play football. You were nicknamed ‘Il Pendolino’ in Italy. And playing in such a great team will help him grow. He’s technically brilliant, he has so much quality. If he keeps playing the way he has been he will be regarded as one of the best players in the world. He’s a sensational player, a rare talent. Trent Alexander-Arnold is being compared to you.
In midfield you always have a sight of goal, you’re always participating in all the plays. Maybe I’d have been the best player in the world, but maybe I wouldn’t have had as good a career as I did as a fullback.
(laughs) It’s impossible to know! It would be interesting to know. How do you think your career would have gone had you stayed in that position? You played as an attacking midfielder earlier in your career. He’s one of the greatest players ever, a one-off. Ronaldo had an incredible capacity to recover from injury. Did you honestly believe he could do what he did in the Far East? Ronaldo had barely played for two years before Korea/Japan 2002. I think it would have been five wins apiece. We were both strong all over and had game-changing players.
We were both in great form at that World Cup. I think France would have won five and we’d have won five. France got the better of Brazil in the 1998 Final, but what do you think would have been the outcome if you’d played ten times? Two extraordinary players who went so well together. (Gasps) One of the greatest double acts in football history. Romario and Ronaldo exceptionally scored 34 goals between them for Brazil in 1997, firing them to the Copa America and FIFA Confederations Cup titles. Aldair and Marcio Santos played really well too, Romario and Bebeto scored the goals, but for me Taffarel was incredible. He played really well throughout the tournament and he saved a penalty in the World Cup Final, so for me he was the most important. I think how we played as a team made us world champions. Who did you think was Brazil’s most important player at that World Cup?īrazil played well. Some went out for dinner, others to a bar. Some were with their family, others with their friends. We went back to the hotel and everyone celebrated. There was immense happiness, the sensation of work being accomplished, of being a champion. How did it feel to become a world champion? I had prepared myself mentally and physically to play in the World Cup Final in case something happened. What went through your head when Carlos Alberto Parreira summoned you from the bench?įIFA.com: While I was sad for Jorginho, at the same time I was really happy to have the opportunity to play in the Final of the World Cup. You’d only made two short substitute appearances at USA 1994 before you were thrown on to mark Roberto Donadoni 21 minutes into the Final. Indeed Cafu, the only man to have appeared in the FIFA World Cup™ Final thrice, hiker of the Trophy at Korea/Japan 2002 and Brazil’s most-capped player, today celebrates turning 50.įIFA.com caught up with the exhilarating, inexhaustible former right-wingback to discuss the likes of Romario, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Zinedine Zidane, Neymar and Trent Alexander-Arnold, coaching aspirations and what he would have become had he remained an attacking midfielder.
‘The Express Train’ has reached the half-century stop on the birthday track.