The dream is still alive

BRAZIL midfielder Ze Roberto has not forgotten the last time his nation faced France in the World Cup.

It was eight years ago, in the final, and France, inspired by Zinedine Zidane, won 3-0. Ze Roberto, a substitute, played no part in the game. He didn’t complain, and nor did he moan when he was unluckily omitted from Brazil’s 2002 World Cup squad.

Ze Roberto then moved to Bayern Munich and became a mainstay of their double double-winning side. He has also cemented his place in the Brazil starting 11 and has outshone Emerson in their three games together in Germany. In two of Brazil’s four games, Ze Roberto was named Man of the Match: first in the 2-0 win over Australia, when Fifa adjudicator Francisco Maturana said: “He hustled for 90 minutes to help the stars in his team”; and then in Tuesday’s 3-0 win over Ghana. “He was outstanding in attack and defence,” said adjudicator Gyorgy Mezey. “He was always positioned well, he moved around a lot and contributed all over the pitch.”

He topped off the Ghana performance with a late goal, his first in the World Cup, and no more than he deserved with his eight-year history with the competition. The moment he chipped the ball past Richard Kingson and flicked out his left boot to guide it into the empty net was pure joy, “an amazing feeling,” he said — and even more so considering the long and sometimes tortuous route the 31-year-old has taken in his career.

That he even had a career in football is itself a minor miracle considering his upbringing. Jose Roberto da Silva was one of seven children born in Ipiranga in Parana, a poor district in Sao Paolo. Ze Roberto was ten years-old when his father left home and he helped his mother take care of the family. But it was not easy. “There were seven of us at home, and never once did we have enough food in the house,” he told a German magazine.

“When we kids wanted to eat something sweet, we would have to make our own sweets out of sugar on the stove. We had an old gas container leaning against our front door, because we could not afford a new lock. Of course there was no money for football boots, so I became accustomed very early to the feel of the ball with my bare feet. And when I did have shoes, they were always hand-me-downs and far too big.”

Ze Roberto used to play football in the streets with four of his friends, and come home just as darkness fell. His elder brother Robson used to bet with neighbours on the outcome of games, and always backed whatever side Ze Roberto was on to win. His younger brother never understood why he always seemed to have so much money. But his was not a totally innocent youth: with the troubled situation at home, he took matters into his own hands.

“My mother had to care for us all by herself,” Ze Roberto said, “so we had to get by with some harmless shop-lifting at first — stuffing biscuits and oranges or anything that would fit into our trouser pockets. And then you had to turn on the gas so as to disappear from the scene. My speed on the pitch is no doubt indebted to this time.”

Before too long, the shoplifting turned into something more serious. “The older we got, the more foolishness entered our heads. Three of the guys began experimenting with cheap drugs. In the slums you used to sniff glue to get high, but my friends soon wanted more. One day, two of my friends were introduced to the wrong people by a drug dealer and they started to get heavily involved in the drug scene. A short time later I was subjected to the worst experience of my life. My friends were both shot by the police.”

Ze Roberto’s mother stepped in and warned the youngster of the dangerous life that awaited him. He was at a crossroads: a life of crime, or one of football – it was his choice. “She always sent me to play football and she was so right,” said Ze Roberto. “I made my decision to cut my ties with drugs and crime — the first good decision I had made in my youth.”

Ze Roberto was encouraged by her newly-found optimism and followed her religious convictions. They helped him when, after scoring a wonder-goal for Portuguesa as a 21-year-old, he was signed, starry-eyed, by Real Madrid.

“When I was told it was Real Madrid, my jaw hit the floor,” he remembered.

But he struggled in Spain: he missed his then-fiancee Luciana while coach Jupp Heynckes preferred Jose Amavisca in his position. “I was getting ever more frustrated on the bench and my dream was falling to pieces.”

After a year, he cut his losses and moved to Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro to try and win his place in the squad for the 1998 World Cup. He had learnt a valuable lesson. “I made a vow then, never to place a football club above God. In hindsight I’m happy I received this lesson. I returned to Brazil having lost, only for God to have brought me back down to earth.” And he did enough at Flamengo to make it to France 98, although he only played three minutes in the tournament, as a substitute in the 3-2 quarter-final win over Denmark.

He has then followed four-year cycles at German clubs: from 1998 to 2002 he was at Bayer Leverkusen with Michael Ballack, where they were Bundesliga runners-up and Champions League finalists.

After the 2002 World Cup, Ballack and Ze Roberto moved on again, this time to Bayern Munich. The pair won three league and Cup doubles in four years, with two of them coming in the last two seasons. Now, just as Ballack is leaving Bayern to move to Chelsea, Ze Roberto has been tipped to move to Greek champions Olympiacos, where he will link up with Rivaldo.

For now, Ze Roberto is focusing on today’s rematch against France. Boosted by his goal, and clearly happy playing in Germany, his home for the last eight years, Ze Roberto wants to complete his story with a happy ending. “We will be ready for France. The dream is still alive.”