South American Player of the Year. This was the year of Maradona rivals or, if you like, doubles. Attacking midfielders were voted best in South America. Claudio Borghi (Argentina and Argentinos Juniors) was 3rd. Enzo Francescoli (Uruguay and River Plate), the best player in 1984, was now 2nd.
Julio Cesar Romero (Paraguay and Fluminense) was voted number 1.
Romerito rivaled Maradona from their earlier days – both were born in 1960 and appeared internationally at the same time, but combination of circumstances kept Romerito in relative obscurity. As a Paraguayan, he was a bit under the international radar – Europeans had difficulty keeping an eye on him.
Moving to USA and playing for Cosmos (New York) put him further out of sight – the reputation of NASL as something like retirement home for famous veterans diminished the interest in him and over their the focus was on familiar big names – like Cruijff – and not that much on him. One can argue that the failure of NASL restored his reputation.
In his second season with Fluminense (Rio de Janeiro), Romero was back on track – already the big star of the club. Was it his best season is debatable, but he also played for Paraguay and the national team qualified for the 1986 World Cup finals with his help. At the age of 25, Romero was at his prime as a player and his talent was fully recognized. Unfortunately, like Borghi, he never achieved the world fame of Francescoli.
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