From: Lléo 
Subject: Roberto Dinamite
Date: 26 January 2002 22:35

Just wanted to talk a little about this great player.

aka Carlos Roberto de Oliveira. Got his Dinamite nickname after his debut at
the Maracană, way back in 1971 (the Brasilian league's first edition), when
he stormed through Internacional's defense and hammered it in, Der Bomber
style, for a 2-0 win for Vasco. Headline next day: "Dynamite kid explodes
the Maracană", and history's back to its path...

I am very unlucky to have only seen the dawn of his career. Roberto's debut
in Vasco was an away match against Bahia, which we lost 0-2. 11 days later
he entered in the aforementioned Maracană match, where he scored the first
of his 617 goals for Vasco over 20 years, in 1022 games (no one played more
than him for Vasco). Roberto Dinamite is also the top goalscorer in the
history of the Campeonato Brasileiro, having scored 190 goals (181 for Vasco
and 9 in a brief spell at Portuguesa), and of the Rio state league. He was,
without interruptions, from 1973 to 1985 the team's top goalscorer.

Roberto was physically strong, had excellent positional sense, was a great
header, adding to this a powerful shot and the well known "killer instinct".
He was the main piece of some of Vasco's most unforgettable moments at the
Maracană. One of his favourite victims was Botafogo, funnily enough the team
he rooted for as a kid. His goal in a state league match in 1974, where he
received the ball from a corner kick, gave a hat over a defender and
volleyed it in at the last minute, is held as one of the most beautiful ones
in the history of the stadium. Another great moment was when he flopped at
Barcelona and returned to Vasco in 1980 (Flamengo tried to get in the way -
they deny it, of course, but they KNEW the lad was good ;)), for a league
match against Corinthians. Flamengo had played the preliminary match and
they stayed at the stadium, joining the Corintianos to root against Vasco.
The bandwagoners had to eat their words as Roberto scored them all in a
sound 5-2 beating. Beautiful. What a return home!

His honours with Vasco include the national championship of 1974, where he
was the top goalscorer, and five RJ state leagues (77, 82, 87, 88 and 92).
In 67 derbies played against Flamengo, he scored 27 goals, being the top
goalscorer in the derby history.

At the national team, Roberto played 39 matches and scored 26 goals. He was
called up for two World Cups. In 1978 he was the team top goalscorer with
three goals. In 1982, Tele Santana criminally left him at the subs bench,
watching Serginho waste goal after goal against Italy & cia.

Roberto's last season at Vasco saw the team winning the 1992 state league
undefeated, and a certain Edmundo coming up from the youth ranks... He
eventually played a farewell match in 1993 against Deportivo La Coruña, when
even Zico came in to play, for once in his life with Vasco's shirt. The
no.9, that is, because the 10 already had an owner.

More info on this great player's career at:

http://www.futbrasil.com/personalidades/pb018.html

Although it's in Portuguese.

--
Lléo