RIO DE JANEIRO, April 13 (Xinhua) -- Football club Vascos head coach Renato Gaucho was fired two days after striker Romario failed to hit the 1,000-goal mark, and his team got eliminated from Rio de Janeiro State League.

Gaucho got the news from the clubs Vice President of Football Jose Luis Moreira. The reason for his demission was not officially stated, but it was definitely related to the 4-4 tie with team Botafogo on Wednesday, which culminated in a defeat in the penalty shootouts and in Vascos elimination from the League.

In another match one week before, Vasco had also been eliminated by team Gama from the Brazil Cup. At the time, Gaucho said that the expectations aroused by Romario's quest for his 1,000th goal were deviating the team from their main targets. The comment generated a clearly uneasy atmosphere between the coach and the striker.

Romario was left out of a game, against team Cabofriense, but Vasco was bet once more, which helped prove that the team was going through a bad phase, with or without Romario in the field.

Gaucho coached Vasco for almost two years, when the team was runner-up of the 2005 Brazil Cup and ranked sixth in the Brazilian League. Vasco won 57 games, tied 37 and lost another 30 times under his command.

Gaucho started his career as a striker in Gremio, for which he won an Intercontinental Cup title in 1983. He collected other important titles as a player, such as the 1986 Brazilian League and the 1990 Brazil Cup, both for Flamengo, and also a State League for Fluminense in 1995.

According to sources, he has a meeting with directors of Sao Paulos team Corinthians scheduled for this weekend. The club is inclined to make a proposal to the former coach.