"Romario achieved in 1994 what Maradona managed in 1986: he won the World Cup on his own" said Mario Zagallo, Brazil's coach, shortly after the victory.

Ten years on at the ripe old age of 38 Romario, playing for Fluminense, scored his 900th 'official' goal before promising to continue until he reached a thousand.

Romario's life began in Villa Pena, a poor suburb of Rio de Janeiro, where the future champion's only source of income came from washing the windscreens of cars as they waited at traffic lights.

Vasco da Gama saw first hand the skills of Romario when he scored four goals against them they reached for the chequebook to sign him up.

Called up to the Brazil team for the 1988 Olympics he was the competition's top scorer in Seoul, attracting the interest of some of Europe's biggest clubs and he was snapped up by PSV Eindhoven of the Netherlands.

A broken leg ruled him out of the 1990 World Cup, but four years later he was at the height of his powers, helping Barcelona to the Spanish title and picking up the award as the Liga's top scorer with 30 goals.

The signs were good as he arrived at the 1994 World Cup venue in the US with another exquisite talent: Bebeto.

Famous for his close-range toe-pokes Romario scored in all three group matches, the quarter-finals and the semi-finals, but even he was unable to ignite a dull final against Italy, which Brazil eventually won on penalties.

The journey that made him as much revered a player as Maradona in the previous World Cup began in the first round group game against Russia when he got ahead of his marker to score a typical goal off a corner. In the next match against the African's from Cameroon he kept up his scoring notching the first goal in Brazil's 3-1 triumph. Although they tied against Sweden 1-1 it was who else but Romario who got the crucial equaliser for the Brazilians. And the goal itself was a treat to watch as he cleverly duped two men through speed and angle of running and poked it past the Swedish goalie. Although he did not score in the second round match it was his guile and inimitable partnership with Bebeto that led to the latter's goal to sink USA.

He was back to his imperious best against the Dutch where he and Bebeto kept up their unspoken understanding by getting their teams first two goals. But it was left to veteran Branco to sew up the points with a low free-kick.

The win saw Brazil march on the semifinals and it was here where Romario again shone, and got the goal that secured the match in the 80th minute off a Jorginho cross.

The final against Italy was to pit two players who had captured the imagination more than anyone else: Roberto Baggio and Romario.

But both players failed to show the kind of form that they had displayed for most of the tournament as a poor final emerged.

But it was Romario who came out on top as he netted his penalty in the shoot-out, albeit off the upright. And it was left to Roberto Baggio to heartbreakingly seal his reputation as the Italian sent his penalty into orbit.

A hero had fallen, but another was born.

However , it was 1994 that defined Romario.

He was deprived of a chance to defend the title at France '98 after again injuring his leg.

He was however recalled to the national squad in August, 2000 and helped Brazil qualify for the 2002 World Cup only to be controversially left out for the tournament itself.

In 2002, he returned to Fluminense before spending three profitable months on loan with Al Sad in Qatar with whom he earned 1.5 million dollars.

He initially announced his retirement in December 2004 but his first big club Vasco da Gama tempted him to sign a new deal in 2005 and his dream of hitting 1000 goals is still alive.

Romario also competed at the world beach soccer championships in 2005, bagging six goals in his home town of Rio as Brazil finished third.