|
Once hailed as the "best forward in the world"
Ronaldo has been soccer's forgotten man in recent years,
the victim of a string of injuries and two knee operations
that threatened to end his career very prematurely.
After disappearing from the international scene in
1999, Ronaldo returned to Brazil's first team in the
run-up to this year's tournament.
His rehabilitation has been difficult, and he has yet
to fully regain the form that gave him his nickname,
"The Phenomenon," but the signs so far in
2002 have been encouraging that he can be an offensive
force at the World Cup, even as the Brazilian team has
controversially shifted its tactics away from the "beautiful
game."
"I'm very ambitious," Ronaldo said. "I
feel better and better, and each practice I try to do
a little more and get into condition."
The striker made his international debut when he was
just 18 years old, replacing Bebeto in a match against
Brazil's bitterest rival, Argentina and was hailed as
his nation's greatest talent since Pele. The rest of
the soccer world agreed, and Ronaldo was barely 20 when
he won the first of two straight FIFA Player of the
Year awards in 1996.
He played his first professional game when he was just
14 and began playing in Brazil's first division when
he was 16.
In 1994 Ronaldo left Brazil to play in Holland and
was an immediate sensation, ending his first season
with PSV Eindhoven as the nation's top scorer.
But what most thought would be Ronaldo's greatest moment
soured in 1998, when Brazil went into the World Cup
as the defending champion and overwhelming favourite
with Ronaldo their most charismatic star. As Brazil
lost in the World Cup final to France, controversy swirled
around Ronaldo. Originally left off the team's roster
for the match, he was mysteriously added back into the
line-up just minutes before the game.
Why he was left off the roster in the first place remains
a mystery. It has been variously reported that he suffered
from an upset stomach, an ankle injury, and, more ominously,
there was talk he was poisoned. Brazil's team doctor
later said Ronaldo had to be taken to hospital after
he suffered convulsions in his sleep, leading team officials
to believe he wouldn't be able to play.
Ronaldo performed poorly during the game, and his star
was eclipsed by France's Zidane, who scored twice, as
France unseated Brazil as the world's leading soccer
power.
In soccer-mad Brazil a congressional inquiry asked
Ronaldo to testify about his sub-par performance in
the game.
As Ronaldo goes, so goes Brazil. The entire team has
been in a state of disarray and turned in a succession
of bafflingly mediocre performances in the months leading
up to the World Cup. But the mystique of Ronald might
explain why Scolari ignored the advice of doctors and
much of the Brazilian media in naming him to the World
Cup squad ahead of other talented young players waiting
to make their mark.
Even now, Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is resigned
to Ronaldo not being the same player he was five years
ago.
"He can't return to be the player he was in just
two months," Scolari said. "He will play in
the Cup and then in five, six months he will know if
he's back."
So while pundits wait to see whether Brazil can recapture
past glories, Ronaldo is the man in the spotlight, and
he knows it.
"I am persistent and pursue my goals, and my goal
is to play in the World Cup," he said, while admitting
to the added pressure on the Brazilian squad.
"Brazilians will never forget the '98 Cup until
we win another one."
With files from Associated Press
|
[an error occurred while processing this directive]
