Al-Ahram Weekly | Sports

		4 - 10 July 2002 Issue No. 593 Sports	Current issue Previous issue Site map
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Ronaldo probably cannot do much better than two goals in a World Cup final -- although Brazilian fans will demand a repeat four years from now

Ronaldo's two strikes on Sunday against Germany, the 2006 hosts, completed an amazing journey which few dreamed was really possible.
The Brazilian's eight goals in seven matches saw him take his World Cup tally to 12 -- counting 1998 -- equalling that of his hero Pele. It also consigned to history the disaster of 1998, when he suffered a fit before the final but played anyway as Brazil suffered a traumatic loss.
For the moment Ronaldo is happy to bask in the personal and collective glory of Sunday's win but was already talking about new targets soon after Brazil's win, with Gerd Muller's all- time record of 14 World Cup goals in his sights.
"None of what I have achieved would have been possible without the team. It is a team achievement," Ronaldo said. "I know there are new objectives. New goals are going to come. I am a very ambitious person and I will go for it."

Ronaldo set out as a virtual cripple, his knees seemingly wrecked from repeated surgery and his mind beset by memories of Brazil's final thrashing by France in 1998 at the Stade de France. His destination was the very summit of the game, not just to win a World Cup but to present Brazil with the golden trophy for the fifth time.
That destination floated well above the clouds during the long months of surgery and painful recuperation.
But on Sunday, Ronaldo Luiz Nazario da Lima scaled that distant peak. And he did so with Brazilian aplomb.
Disciplinarian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari called on his squad to blend the sublime with the determined and Ronaldo had both qualities in spades, his eight goals in seven matches the highest individual haul at the finals for 28 years.
"Slowly, slowly I am starting to understand what has happened," said Ronaldo, who declared Sunday's exploits even better than sex.
"It will take time but I am so happy right now," he said.
"Even in my wildest dreams I had never imagined that something like this could happen."
It was light years from the 1998 final, when Ronaldo suffered a convulsion hours before the kick-off. He played the 90 minutes but nobody really noticed the man who was twice voted world player of the year before he was 21.
Recurring knee injuries and the psychological problems of that final meant four years in purgatory and cast a question mark over whether he would ever reach his old heights again.
After a five-month break following long- overdue knee surgery at the end of 1999, Ronaldo broke down again only minutes into his comeback match, the Italian Cup final.
Three muscle injuries further hampered his comeback but he never gave up.
Inspired by words of advice and encouragement from Pele, who was also written off when he missed the 1966 World Cup finals through injury, Ronaldo finally returned to the national team last March, three years after his last game for his country.
In the meantime Brazil had struggled even to reach the level of ordinary in an abysmal and only just successful qualifying campaign.
In Asia, Ronaldo finished every match with aching legs. But the aches and pains were a small price to pay for his two drives beyond Oliver Kahn and into the German net.
"Just to be here is such a huge step for me. Even if I was not a world champion I would still be very happy," he said as he savoured his triumph.
"Having the World Cup in my hands is one of the most wonderful moments anyone could have. But everything that has happened for me would not have happened if it had not been for the team. No individual achievement can count for more than what we have done together," says the star whose knees still bear the scars of the surgeon's knife.
"I am going to celebrate this achievement but I know that new goals and new objectives will emerge," said Ronaldo, who, having taken his international tally to 45 goals in 64 internationals, is now joint third-top scorer in the history of the finals along with Pele.
If he reappears and scores three goals in the 2006 finals -- he will still be only 29 -- he will overtake Muller's landmark total of 14.
Another famous German thinks he will make it if he pulls on canary yellow for one more World Cup adventure. "You cannot shut this kind of player out for 90 minutes," former Germany coach Franz Beckenbauer said after Sunday's final.
Beckenbauer's compatriots have reaped the full force of Ronaldo's desire to scale his World Cup peak. But as the 2006 organiser, Beckenbauer wants the world's brightest star to come out one more time to thrill planet football -- even if the Germans are once again cast in the role of victim.

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