Romario still hopeful of going to World Cup

Veteran striker Romario hit his 16th goal of the Brazilian championship on Thursday and then said he was still hopeful of going to the World Cup.

The 35-year-old scored from a free kick in Vasco da Gama's 2-0 win over Gremio as a full programme of matches went ahead just one day after Brazil's World Cup qualifier against Venezuela.

Brazil won 3-0 on Wednesday night to finally make sure of their place in Japan and South Korea after a stuttering campaign.

"As long as I'm still playing, I will always have this intention," he said. "I've said this all along and I'm not going to give up now."

Romario is the championship's second topscorer, one behind Ponte Preta striker Washington, but has been repeatedly overlooked by Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

The former Barcelona and PSV Eindhoven striker was Brazil's hero when they won the 1994 World Cup but was axed on the eve of the 1998 tournament because of injury. Romario later insisted he would have been fit enough to play.

His last game for Brazil was against Uruguay in July when they lost 1-0. Although he only played in four of the 18 qualifiers, he was Brazil's joint topscorer with eight goals.

RELEGATION ZONE

Vasco's win took the defending champions up to 15th in the table with three games left. They need a top eight finish to make the quarter-finals.

Flamengo, Brazil's biggest club, stayed in the relegation zone after losing 3-1 to Sao Paulo.

Incredibly, Edilson played for Flamengo just 16 hours after taking part in the Brazil match in Sao Luis, a four-hour flight away.

Flamengo's veteran coach Mario Zagallo, who led Brazil at the 1970 and 1998 World Cups, refused to give up the ghost. "As long as we win two of our last three, we will stay up," he said.

Palmeiras dropped out of the top eight after losing their fourth successive game since Marcio Araujo took over as coach, this time going down 2-1 to Atletico Mineiro.

Araujo replaced Celso Roth, who was sacked with the team in fifth place because the club were not happy with results.

Sao Caetano, runners-up last year, beat Guarani 2-0 to stay top.