Ronaldo, Brazil Roll to a Victory
The fat man sang Tuesday, but that doesn’t mean it’s all over.
Defending champion Brazil, powered by goals from Ronaldo, Adriano and Ze Roberto, swept into the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup with a fault-free 3-0 victory Tuesday over Ghana in a game in which the South Americans seldom had to move into a higher gear.
Tuesday’s goal was Ronaldo’s third in four games at Germany ’06 and it made him the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history with 15, but it has been difficult to tell whether he is on a roll because of the roll that’s on him.
Even Brazil’s president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, involved himself in the national debate over whether the country’s star striker was “fat.” He then apologized, especially after Ronaldo mentioned the politician’s fondness for a drink now and then.
The Brazilian media were less forgiving. After the three-time FIFA world player of the year had looked slow and ponderous in Brazil’s 1-0 opening victory over Croatia, former Brazil World Cup player Tostao, writing in a Sao Paulo newspaper, called Ronaldo “slow and weird.”
Ronaldo, who has experienced problems with dizziness and blisters while at the tournament, was marginally better the next time out, setting up one goal in Brazil’s 2-0 win over Australia.
In the world champions’ third game, against Japan, he scored twice in a 4-1 rout, thereby surpassing Pele as Brazil’s all-time World Cup scorer and tying Germany’s Gerd “Der Bomber” Mueller for the world record. “Ronaldo is back,” trumpeted Brazil Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira.
Well, yes and no.
The focus was still on his fitness, if not his flab. “I knew I arrived at a level below my teammates, and that I would have to work really hard to reach them,” Ronaldo said.
On Tuesday, in front of 65,000 on an afternoon of watery sunshine and light drizzle, it took Ronaldo only five minutes to make the world record his own.
Timing his run to perfection, Ronaldo ran onto a through pass from Kaka, faked out Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson with a nifty move and slipped the ball into the net just as defender John Pantsil arrived on the scene.
“I sensed that I had to trick the goalkeeper somehow,” Ronaldo said. “I thought it would complicate things if I kept the ball too long, so I decided to do that dribble.”
Germany’s Mueller set the record of 14 goals at the 1970 and 1974 World Cups. Ronaldo has scored 15 goals in the 1998, 2002 and 2006 tournaments after being a member of the victorious 1994 team in the U.S. as a 17-year-old who never left the bench.
“I want to increase the record, but the main goal is winning the title,” Ronaldo said.
Parreira had resisted calls to bench Ronaldo and kept starting him because he believed in the striker.
“We never had doubts over Ronaldo,” he said. “He is a special player and a player for big moments. He is going to be key . . . I am sure of that.”
Ghana, playing a good brand of soccer and matching the Brazilians in willingness to attack, came very close to tying the score in the 41st minute when a downward header by John Mensah off a corner kick hit the feet of Brazil goalkeeper Dida standing on the goal line.
The lost chance proved costly. One minute into stoppage time at the end of the half, the South Americans doubled their lead, a surging run by Lucio sparking a sweeping move that saw Adriano bundle the ball into the net.
The Ghanaians appealed in vain for an offside call, and Coach Ratomir Dujkovic was so incensed when none was given that he confronted Slovakian referee Michel Lubos as the teams came off the field at the half.
“I said it would be better for us if he put on a yellow [Brazil] jersey,” said Dujkovic, who was then banished to the stands by Lubos.
Ghana kept attacking in the second 45 minutes, but its excellent approach work was ruined by poor finishing. Of 18 shots Ghana took, only seven were on target. Brazil, meanwhile, put 10 of 11 on target.
“The score does not reflect the course of the match because we enjoyed more possession than Brazil and created more good chances,” Dujkovic said, “but it does show the difference in quality.
“They have world-class players who need half a chance to score, while my team has to carve out a hatful of chances to find the back of the net.”
Ghana, which had ousted the U.S. from the tournament, never did.
The only second-half goal came on a breakaway by Brazil midfielder Ze Roberto, who beat Ghana goalkeeper Kingson to a loose ball and tucked it into the net.
Ze Roberto celebrated even more than Ronaldo had at this piece of good fortune, but it remained the striker’s day.
Brazil will play France in the quarterfinals on Saturday.
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Ronaldo vs. U.S.
The United States had plenty of trouble scoring goals in this year’s World Cup, but Brazil’s Ronaldo, despite questions about his fitness, doesn’t seem to have any problems. How they compare over the last three World Cups:
*--* RONALDO UNITED STATES Games Goals Year Games Goals 7 4 1998 3 1 7 8 2002 5 7 4 3 2006 3 2 18 15 Totals 11 10
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Note: U.S. goals scored by Brian McBride (3), Landon Donovan (2), John O’Brien, Clint Mathis, Clint Dempsey and own goals by Portugal and Italy.
Source: FIFA
