Ex-Palmeiras, Júnior reveals crying before facing United in the World Cup

Former left-back palm trees and the Brazilian national team, Juniorparticipated in this week’s ESPN Resenha, and commented on several unpublished stories of his career, such as the anxiety he experienced before the World Cup final, against Manchester Unitedin 1999. The program will air on Friday (16th), at 10 pm, with a presentation by André Plihal and appearances by Loving It is djalminhain addition to the presence of Rubens Cardoso.

When talking about the subject, the former player spoke about the team’s preparation, which lasted two weeks in Japan, and with videos showing how the rival, Manchester United played. Despite this, the weight of scoring the best rival athlete, david beckhamfell on Junior, who did not handle the pressure very well.

“We arrived there (in Japan) two weeks earlier to adapt, then every day Felipão showed United’s moves and only had goals with crosses and assists from Beckham. Then he started talking to me that I was going to tag him. But in tactical training I wasn’t able to reach my teammate to cover and close the cross. Then I was in the room and I started to have a crying fit, I was really pissed at Felipão“, said.

In the moment of despair, the defender went to seek help from his companions, so that they could reassure him. Upon hitting the first quarter he saw, César Sampaio appeared, who managed to help his colleague, so that he was more confident in his performance in the big decision that would happen.

“I knocked on the first room in the hotel and César Sampaio came out to help me. He and Cléber started saying that I was “tied up”, they started to pray over my legs, they called Zinho to pray together and everything. Then, after I calmed down for a while, we started talking about tactics, right? I said I wouldn’t be able to cover the guy. Sampaio told me he was going to cover for me, but in the end he didn’t cover for me, right? United scored (laughs)”, he concluded.

Despite Palmeiras’ good performance, United won the match 1-0. Júnior, however, would return to Japan twice more to be world champion. The first in 2002, with the Brazilian National Team. And, in 2005, it was with the São Paulo face another English team, this time the Liverpool.