TAFFAREL

Brazil

“Is a penalty shootout the most nerve-racking thing a footballer can go through,” a reporter asked Romario?

“For many it can be. But when you have Taffarel in goal it’s like going for a kickaround on the beach,” responded ‘Shortie’ with a cheeky wink.

Taffarel saved penalties as regularly as some players converted them at club level, repelled three against West Germany in the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Seoul 1988 semi-finals and two against the Netherlands in the last four at the 1998 FIFA World Cup France™.

The spot-kick for which the 54-year-old is most esteemed for saving, however, came in front of 94,000-plus at the Rose Bowl. Taffarel flung his 1.82m frame – short for a goalkeeper – south-west to deny Daniele Massaro, while many attribute misses from Franco Baresi and Roberto Baggio in the same shootout to his fearsome reputation.

In part two of our interview with the Brazil great, he tells FIFA.com about that USA 1994 conquest, willing Carlos Alberto Parreira to give in and recall Romario, what went wrong at Italy 1990 and France 1998, a 17-year-old Ronaldo and being a penalty-saving specialist.