Brazilian soccer federation (CBF) President Ricardo Teixeira on Wednesday accused certain national team players of heavy drinking during the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Teixeira said the group, coached at the time by Carlos Alberto Parreira, lacked discipline: “There were players who arrived between 4 and 6 in the morning, drunk,” he told reporters from the Estado de Sao Paulo newspaper. The CBF President didn’t single out any players.
However, he criticized Ronaldo in particular for being out of shape during the competition, although he stopped short of accusing him of drinking. “How can an athlete arrive for a World Cup weighing 98 kilograms [216 pounds]?” he asked, adding that he supported Dunga [Brazil’s current coach] in excluding the 30-year-old from the national team. “How old is Ronaldo today? How old is he going to be in the 2010 World Cup? That’s all I have to say,” Teixeira said. “We need to find another Ronaldo.”
Later, Teixeira implied that he instilled Dunga, a strict disciplinarian, as national team coach as a reaction to the Parreira administration.