Dunga slams Brazil staff

Brazil's captain, Dunga, yesterday criticised football officials for over-ruling team doctors and including Ronaldo in the starting line-up for the World Cup final.

Medical staff in the Brazil team believed that the striker should not be in the side after he suffered a convulsion hours before the match.

But officials of the Brazilian football federation (CBF) insisted that he play.

Dunga conceded the CBF had good intentions to protect their top striker, but believed it all ended in yet more heartbreak as the Brazilians crashed to defeat.

"In principle they were protecting the man before the player. But really only the doctors should have had a say," said Dunga.

Dunga admitted that, just minutes before the final was due to start, arguments had raged among the players as to whether Ronaldo should start.

"Some players were more favourable to Ronaldinho playing, while others were more cautious," said Dunga. "Initially I was against his inclusion but Leonardo was in favour. But there are differences of opinion even in a family of four, so it's normal this should be the case in a group of 60 people."

But Dunga reiterated that whatever the players thought, the doctors should have made the final decision.

Meanwhile, Brazilian legend Pele yesterday admitted that he almost did `a Ronaldo' when he suffered an attack of nerves before the 1970 World Cup final against Italy in Mexico City.

Pele said that he had felt sick just minutes before the Italy game but managed to recover his composure.

"Just thinking about the fact that it was my last World Cup de Mundo and about how we had failed in England in 1966, I was crying my eyes out when the bus took us to the stadium. So what happened to Ronaldinho doesn't surprise me," Pele told the Jornal do Brasil.

"I just couldn't stop crying. When I got onto the pitch and saw all the Brazilian flags I said to myself: `I am going to kill these Italians. Nobody in the world is going to take this one away from us.'