France Magnifique
He was ready to be anointed, having long ago been appointed heir to Pele as God’s Great Gift to Soccer, Brazil, Nike and Pirelli Tires.
The last necessary accessory, the World Cup trophy, was his for the taking, a mere 90 minutes of exercise away, when everything about the World Cup came tumbling down on him.
Sixty minutes before Sunday’s World Cup final kicked off, Ronaldo was not in the starting lineup for Brazil. A vague medical report said something about him not being fit.
Forty-five minutes later, Ronaldo was back in the starting lineup. A vague medical report said something about him being fit enough after all.
Fifteen minutes later, Ronaldo walked onto the Stade de France turf along with his 10 Brazil teammates and 11 French opponents, and then he looked up at the 80,000 screaming, chanting, rocking fans and then he blinked hard and then he swallowed hard.
And then he disappeared.
Statistics show that Ronaldo played 90 minutes for Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final against France.
The naked eye begs to differ.
That couldn’t have been the World’s greatest soccer player, shuffling idly around the midfield circle, jogging halfheartedly after through passes sent his way, coughing the ball up at the slightest hint of a French connection, wasting his only real scoring chance of the match--a point-blank gimme from five yards out--by knocking the ball, lamely, right into the chest of France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez.
Brazil suffered its worst World Cup defeat, a 3-0 shocker that will probably stop clocks in Rio, because Ronaldo wasn’t Ronaldo--no, just another scared 21-year-old kid with a fluttery stomach, it turns out.
Brazil being emotionally unequipped to actually form the words RONALDO CHOKES, the “official reasons” given for his off- off- off- off-day ranged from lies to the ridiculous.
It was his ankle, that was the vaguely written prematch medical explanation.
It was his calf, that was the word on the France 98 computerized information system.
It was his knee, that was what Ronaldo was claiming all week in practice.
It was an upset stomach, that was what the Brazil team doctor reported after the match.
Or was it just a third-degree case of sweaty palms?
That was what Ronaldo’s Brazil teammate and roommate Roberto Carlos indicated, with Brazil Coach Mario Zagallo seconding the motion during an explosive postmatch session with the Brazilian media.
“I think it was emotional,” Carlos said. “Ronaldo made an effort to play, but he was down.
“At about four o’clock in the afternoon, he suddenly got ill. It was like a malaise had come over him. It was strange. He’s 21 years old, he gets millionaire contracts. It was obvious that this could happen to him.
“Unfortunately, it happened on the day of the World Cup final.”
Lidio Toledo, the Brazil team doctor, worded it this way:
“Regarding the health of Ronaldo, he wasn’t feeling well this afternoon, and now he’s better.
“What happened to him?
“Quite simply, he felt faint. And after that, he went to rest. I stress that he is feeling better.”
Zagallo, his face flushed beet red as he braved the mixed zone one final time, admitted that “we had a very big trauma. Ronaldo should not have played the game. He had a problem. The whole team felt down about it . . .
“This made us inward-looking and inhibited in our play because the players had been upset that the first start list did not carry Ronaldo’s name. Throughout the game, I was wondering whether or not to take him off.”
An angry voice from the back of the room rang out: “So why didn’t you take him off?”
Zagallo returned fire, shouting and punctuating each sentence with finger jabs toward his interrogator.
“I’m trying to explain!” Zagallo shot back. “I’m the coach! Don’t second-guess me!
“He played because he played. I have the morality and the personality to come up [and answer questions]. I am man enough. You owe me a lot.”
With that, Zagallo stormed away from the microphone and out of the room.
It was difficult to determine who was more upset by the evening’s developments.
Zagallo, who will probably be fired as Brazil’s coach for failing to back up his prematch boast that “we can’t go home without the World Cup”?
Or Nike, which just spent $360 million on a 10-year marketing deal with the Brazilian national team, building the package around the charisma, talents--and until Sunday--poise under pressure of its famed striker, Ronaldo?
Now, it’s back to the drawing board for Nike, to design a new and appropriate soccer shoe for the 1998-99 sales season.
The Ronaldo model.
Made of clay.
