KEIR RADNEDGE in RIO DE JANEIRO: Romario, former World Cup winner turned politician, has issued a scathing attack on the leadership of the Brazilian football confederation in the wake of Wednesday’s shattering 7-1 World Cup massacre by Germany .

His principle targets were Jose Maria Marin, veteran president of the CBF, and FIFA executive committee member Marco Polo Del Nero who has already been voted into position as president-elect.

“Marin and Del Nero should be in jail. Our football has been deteriorating for years, having the life sucked out of it by being sucked by moguls who . . . sit in their luxury boxes enjoying the millions that go into their bank accounts: a gang of robbers and gangsters.”

Clubs at fault

Romario complained that he had been campaigning for four years “in the wilderness” about the failures of the CBF, “a corrupt institution managing assets of high value market and misusing our national anthem, our national flag, our national colors, and most importantly, our human material, our players “.

However the CBF was alone in responsibility for the failures which were laid bare in the World Cup semi-finals.

Romario said: “The clubs are also responsible for this crisis [with] fraudulent managements and a lack of investment in basic coaching. Great Brazilian clubs are drowning in debt to the banks while billionaires are not paying their taxes.”

While demanding a parliamentary inquiry into the CBF Romario also criticised seven fellow congressmen who, he claimed, had blocked previous demands for an inquiry.

He described Rodrigo Maia, Guilherme Campos, Arnaldo Faria de Sá, José Rocha, Vicente Cândido, Jovair Arantes and Valdivino de Oliveira as members of the “bench of the CBF.”

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