Rio De Janeiro, Brazil ? Brazil’s World Cup victory led President Fernando Henrique Cardoso to declare Tuesday an optional holiday allowing banks, businesses and schools to choose whether they want to stay open.

The national team is scheduled to arrive in Brasilia from Japan on Tuesday morning and, after a meeting with the president, will head to Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.

Ronaldo

Even though the team is not home yet, Brazilians on Monday continued celebrating the 2-0 win against Germany in the finals.

“Pentacampeao,” or five-time champion, was splashed across the front page of most major newspapers along with pictures of stars such as Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Cafu hugging their trophy.

The victory surprised Brazilians, who until a few weeks ago had all but lost faith in the national team.

“I couldn’t stop crying after the game, they (the players) brought us much joy,” cab driver Ulisses Costa Ribeiro said.

The victory also silenced the bitter criticism of coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who many fans hated as much for his workmanlike approach to soccer as his failure to call up Vasco striker Romario for the Cup.

Romario said on Jovem Pan radio that Scolari “should remain as coach of the national team,” and he held no grudge for not being included on the roster.

“He (Scolari) faced a lot of difficulties and put up with a lot of pressure especially for not putting me on the team,” Romario said. “But he defended his own ideas and at all times was coherent, and this is one of the qualities of a winner.”

There was abundant praise for Ronaldo, who scored the two goals against Germany that gave Brazil its unprecedented fifth World Cup win. The goals tied Brazilian soccer legend Pele for third-most career goals in Cup history.

Globo television featured a pair of newborn twins dressed in tiny yellow national team jerseys who were named Ronaldo and Rivaldo after the team’s two leading scorers.

The win did little to boost the country’s ailing economy, with the currency dropping about six centavos to trade at about 2.86 to the dollar, and the Sao Paulo stock exchange shed 2.21 percent by mid-afternoon.

“It had a negative impact,” said John Carioba of the Indusval brokerage house. “In the past, winning the World Cup generally gave stocks a boost but not this time.”