After a life that was dynamite, Roberto, idol of Vasco, dies at 68

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Nothing happened little by little in the life of Carlos Roberto de Oliveira. It was always a surprise, an explosion. Like Dynamite.

The greatest scorer in the history of Vasco (622 goals), top scorer in the Brazilian Championship (190 goals) and a member of the Brazilian national team in two World Cups (1978 and 1982) shouldn’t even have been a football player.

The scorer who marked the season in national football between the 1970s and 1980s died this Sunday (8), at 68, as a result of bowel cancer. The disease was diagnosed at the end of 2021.

At the age of seven, the boy who would go down in history as Roberto Dinamite was diagnosed with a tumor in his left thigh. He stayed three months without getting out of bed. He had another problem with the same leg and had two surgeries by the time he was 12.

Doctors doubted that he would be able to return to the sport he practiced every day in the field next to his home, on Ilha do Governador, Rio de Janeiro.

Two years after leg surgery, at 14, he entered Vasco’s youth team under the nickname Calu. Of his 20 years as a professional athlete, 18 were spent in São Januário. When the club won the national title for the first time, in 1974, Roberto once and for all consolidated his name as one of the main strikers in the country.

He was the tournament’s top scorer that year, with 16 goals. He would repeat the feat two decades later in 1984.

The nickname came about because of the now extinct Jornal dos Sports. Before the match against Internacional, in the 1971 Brasileiro, the diary wrote about what would be the second appearance of the then 17-year-old boy, with the headline: “Vasco scales dynamite boy”. He scored a goal in the match and the publication printed the following day: “Dynamite boy exploded.”

He was the star of the team in the 1977, 1982 and 1987 Rio titles. He shared the attack with Romário in the 1988 victory and was part of the squad in 1992.

“There were several title games, but I think my main moment was none of those. It was against Corinthians”, he opined.

The reference is to the match against alvinegro from São Paulo for the 1980 Brasileiro. After just over six frustrating months at Barcelona (ESP) and discarded by Argentine coach Helenio Herrera, he was close to returning to Brazil, but to play with Zico at Flamengo. At the last minute, Vasco presented a proposal and he decided to return home.

The re-launch, against Corinthians, ended with a 5-2 defeat. Roberto scored five times.

After that, except on loan to Portuguesa (1989) and Campo Grande (1991), he spent his entire career at Vasco, the same club where he would later become president twice, between 2008 and 2014. In the first election, he defeated the group he led by Eurico Miranda (1944-2019), who dominated Vasco politics since the 1980s.

He sat in the chair because of his condition as an idol for the fans, but he had an administration with ups and downs on the field and full of financial problems. In his first year as president, the team was relegated to Série B for the first time in its history. He was champion of the 2011 Copa do Brasil.

Dinamite already had, also thanks to his fame in football, political experience. He was councilor in Rio de Janeiro between 1993 and 1994, state deputy between 1995 and 2015.

Not even the administrative problems in São Januário frustrated him as much as his passages in the Brazilian national team. He always believed he could have shown more at World Cups. He started as a substitute for Reinaldo in the tournament in Argentina, in 1978. He scored against Austria the goal to qualify for the second phase and never left the team.

Four years later, in Spain, he did not enter the field. In the five matches played by Brazil he was substitute for Serginho Chulapa.

“I think I could have helped the team more,” he always said.

Over the years and the loss of physical power, he improved even more one that was already one of his main virtues: the free kicks. He became one of the best scorers in national football of all time.

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