Who is he? He substituted Romario in the Coppa America final this summer, scoring one of Brazil's goals in their 3-1 win over host country Bolivia. He has been one of the most prolific goalscorers in Brazilian soccer of the last five seasons and last week scored all six goals for his side Vasco da Gama in a 6-0 first division win. Despite all of that, he is one talented Brazilian you will most probably NOT be seeing at the France '98 World Cup finals next summer.
He is 26-year-old striker Edmundo Alves de Souza Neto, otherwise known as Edmundo or "O Animal" and that goalscoring spree last week earned him an immediate place in the record books as no one, Pele included, had ever scored six goals in a first class Brazilian game.
It is true, all right, that he scored against bottom of the table Uniao Sao Joao. However, this is a player who has scored in much more exalted company.
Edmundo has long attracted the attention of European clubs with Italian side Fiorentina finally taking the plunge for him this summer, splashing out $8 million dollars for him. Just as soon as he has seen out his contract with Vasco Da Gama, sometime in December, he will be Florence-bound, there to form a potentially awesome attacking partnership with Argentine ace Gabriel Batistuta.
Yet, despite all of that, Edmundo "O Animal" is unlikely to be togging out in the famous bright yellow shirt and blue shorts of the World Cup holders when they defend their title next summer in France. When asked about Edmundo last week in the wake of the six goals, Brazil's 67-year-old coach Mario Zagallo was adamant:
"Edmundo can score six, 60 or 600 goals in a single game, but I'll not be calling him into the Brazilian side. The problem is his temperament, in just one moment he can ruin everything. If I take him to the World Cup finals and he were to get himself sent off in the final for hitting an opponent, then the press would murder me. Only if he proved that he had really changed, would I consider calling him up."
That seems to be clear enough, doesn't it. As coach Zagallo puts it, Edmundo "O Animal" has a temperament problem. The Brazilian players Junior Baiano, Sandro and Amaral and the referee Jose Cristaldo dos Santos, to name but four that come to mind, have all been on the wrong end of the Edmundo fists.
The expression "O Animal" has a positive connotation in Portuguese, meaning "force of nature", "the best", "the instinctive one" etc. In Edmundo's case, however, "O Animal" tends to take the rather obvious negative sense it suggests to the English language speaker.
Edmundo's list of soccer and non-soccer related "incidents" tend to make him seem like a latter day Paul Gascoigne - only worse.
During a game in Ecuador, he once smashed into a TV camera and went on to kick the cameraman. That fracas resulted in a week long "house arrest" in his team hotel.
On another occasion, an indignant father of young fan filed a complaint against him after he had kicked the would-be autograph hunter out of his way outside the Vasco da Gama training camp.
On a more serious note, Edmundo also found himself charged with "culpable homicide" or manslaughter following a car accident in which three people died, two of whom had been travelling in his jeep.
Currently, Edmundo is under investigation in relation to another incident involving fisticuffs on a Brazilian beach and also in relation to his alleged use of a racist expression about a referee.
In strictly footballing terms, his most celebrated and recent wrongdoing came in that Coppa America final in July.
Early in the second half, Edmundo gave vent to his frustration at the defensive attentions of the Bolivian Luis Cristaldo by hitting him square on the jaw with a violent punch. The referee missed the incident but "old man" Zagallo on the bench saw it and immediately reacted by taking Edmundo off, telling the media shortly afterwards that he would never again play him in the Brazilian side.
Zagallo's actions and his words both then and last week are to be lauded. Just at the moment, Brazilian soccer has enough problems without Edmundo adding them.
However, one is tempted to speculate on how another less fortunate manager might react, a manager with less talent at his disposal. After all, Zagallo can call on alternative strikers such as Ronaldo (Inter Milan), Romario (Valencia), Paulo Sergio (AS Roma), Adailton (Parma), Jardel (Porto) etc without worrying about Edmundo.
As for the player himself, he has recently been on a "press blackout". Last week, after recording an anti-violence ad for TV - he cannot be all bad, can he? - he fobbed off reporters with the remark:
"I'll talk to you lot again just as soon as you get me back into the Brazilian team."
Even allowing for the powers of the mighty Brazilian sports media, that would appear to be a tall order, just now.
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