Ronaldinho: Rise in one world cup, fall in another
- Rashel Ahamed
- November 5, 2024
- Sports
- Barcelona, Confedaration cup, Copa America, Fifa World cup, Fifa world player of the year, Maradona, Romario, Ronaldinho, Zidane
- 0 Comments
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It wasn’t very unexpected. Rather, it would have been a surprise if Romario got a chance in the Brazil team of the 2002 World Cup. The 35-year-old Romario was also in the plans of then-Brazilian coach Scolari after scoring 3 and 4 goals against Bolivia and Venezuela respectively in two consecutive World Cup qualifying matches.
But Scolari missed the Copa America due to an eye operation, and Romario’s omission was expected. In the end, the general public of Brazil, the selectors, even after the request of the president, did not take Romario into the team and put their trust in a young man. His name is Ronaldinho.
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For Ronaldinho, the 2002 World Cup wasn’t the first time he donned the Brazil jersey. He also played in the 1999 Copa América winning team and scored a goal in the tournament. However, he didn’t get a chance to play in the match.
He first got the opportunity in the 1999 Confederations Cup. In that tournament, Rivaldo, Ronaldo and many senior players were rested, so he was included in the team as a key player and he used the opportunity very well. He scored in every match until the final and scored a hat-trick in the semi-final. The only goal was missing in the final, which is probably why Brazil lost the final to host Mexico. Ronaldinho was named the tournament’s top scorer and best player.
But even then, replacing Romario in the context of that time in a major tournament like the World Cup was not an easy thing. Ronaldo has just returned from injury. He did not play badly in the World Cup matches, scoring from a penalty in their second match against China. Both Ronaldo and Rivaldo, however, failed to live up to the hype.
It didn’t take him long to focus. Many people perform, but the player who can match himself on the team’s most needed day, he is definitely special. That day came in the quarter-finals. They defeated Costa Rica, China and Turkey in the group stage and Belgium in the second round, but the main obstacle came against England in the quarter-finals. According to the media, the match was the undisputed final of the tournament. The England team is represented by members of the golden generation. The likes of Paul Scholes, David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ashley Cole, Rio Ferdinand or Michael Owen were in the English team at that time.
England took the lead in the 23rd minute through Michael Owen. Brazil’s fans are naturally worried about being eliminated from the tournament. Rivaldo was the first to offer hope. He scored the equaliser for Brazil in the first half. However, the goal was scored by Rivaldo, but it was Ronaldinho who was the architect of it, knocking out defenders with great speed from the middle and putting the English goalkeeper in one-to-one position with Rivaldo on a perfect pass. Rivaldo had no problem scoring from the spot.
But the work that Dinho did after that brought the entire spotlight on him. Brazil got a free kick in the 50th minute. Dinho fooled the English keeper David Seaman from about 40 yards away and scored such a goal that it was recognized as one of the best goals of the tournament and Brazil got a ticket to the next round. He was named to the World Cup All-Star Team with 2 goals and 2 assists. A new superstar is born.
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It was a great performance for Brazil in the World Cup, but it was not a performance for Ronaldinho as a central player. As Ronaldo and Rivaldo were the main players in the attack, Ronaldinho was mainly the supporting player. For Barcelona, it was a chance to prove himself at one of Europe’s top clubs.
When Ronaldinho joined Barcelona, the club was going through a very difficult period. They won the league in 1998-99. In the next four seasons, the league positions were 2nd, 4th, 4th and 6th respectively. The new Barcelona president Juan Laporta’s election promise was to bring in David Beckham. However,
he lost to the rival club Real Madrid that battle and brought Ronaldinho to the team.
The club is in a bad situation, it is definitely a big challenge for a young player like Ronaldinho to get the team back in orbit. Ronaldinho quickly adapted by joining the team. Unfortunately, he missed the first few games of the season due to injury. When he returned from injury midway through the season, Barcelona were 12th in the league. At the end of the season, he led Barcelona to the second position. Although he did not win a club title, he won the FIFA World Player of the Year award for his individual performances.
The following season, he led Barcelona to their first league win since 1999. Barcelona got off to a good start in the Champions League that season, but were eliminated by Chelsea 5-4 in the second leg. Ronaldinho scored both goals in a 4-2 loss in the second leg. Although Barcelona were eliminated in the second round, Dinho scored the maximum 4 goals for the team.
Ronaldinho also won the Confederations Cup for Brazil in the same season, beating Argentina, and was named man of the match in the final. He also won the FIFA World Player of the Year award. Ronaldinho had a great 2005-06 season with Barcelona. They won the league title for the second time. He also scored two goals in a 3-0 win at Real Madrid, the second in Barca’s history after Maradona. Ronaldinho was the key player behind the defeat of the star-studded team consisting of Casillas, Roberto Carlos, Zidane, Beckham, Raul, Robinho, Ronaldo.
Ronaldinho was also brilliant in the Champions League. Barcelona have won the Champions League only once, in 1991-92. The statistics are enough to prove how much Ronaldo was able to win the Champions League after 14 years. He was the tournament’s top assist-giver (4) and second-highest goal scorer (7).
After a great season, Ronaldinho went to play for Brazil in the World Cup.
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Since 1991, Ronaldo has been the only player other than Ronaldinho to win the award twice in a row. However, none of them managed to win three times. He went to the 2006 World Cup to make that possibility a reality. With a team like Barcelona and a team like Real Madrid, it was not going to be very difficult to beat the rest with a strong Brazil. After achieving top success at club level, Ronaldinho went to the World Cup mainly to become the best of all time.
One of the main reasons why Pele or Maradona are ahead in the race for the best of all time is to win the World Cup. Ronaldinho has already won it in the previous World Cup, but still the drawback is that it was not won as a central player. When Pele or Maradona won the World Cup, the team plan was arranged around them. Ronaldinho got that opportunity in the 2006 World Cup. Ronaldinho became the first player to win three consecutive FIFA World Player of the Year awards and lead Brazil to their sixth World Cup title.
However, Ronaldinho was a super flop in the World Cup. He didn’t score a single goal in the entire tournament. The team was eliminated in the quarter-finals against France. How bad the World Cup has been for Ronaldinho can be understood from one piece of information. Cannavaro of Italy won the title that year, and Zinedine Zidane of France, who had not won a club title that season, was second. Despite winning the club’s highest-profile title, the UEFA Champions League, Ronaldinho was third on the list.
Ronaldinho has been on a downward spiral since the World Cup.
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Despite scoring 21 goals in the 2006-07 season, Ronaldinho failed to lead Barcelona to the league title. “At the end of the season, Real and Barcelona were level on points, but Real won the title due to a” “head-to-head” “advantage according to the tournament bylaws.” At the end of the season, Dinho failed to be in the top three of the FIFA Player of the Year.
He went to AC Milan in the 2008-09 season but did not return to his best form. He later moved to the Brazilian national team. There, he won the Copa Libertadores with Atletico Mineiro, but never made it to the top three of the FIFA World Cup or the FIFA Pro XI. The form was so poor that the 30-year-old did not even make Brazil’s World Cup squad at the 2010 World Cup.
The rise of Ronaldinho in the 2002 World Cup began with the 2006 World Cup.
However, in the last few seasons, Ronaldinho has shown so much magic to the whole world that experts are always talking about him. Ronaldinho’s inability to surpass Pele-Maradona as the greatest of all time is never blamed on his lack of skill or talent, it is blamed on his laziness.
At least if he could have played his best in the 2006 World Cup, he would have been at the top of the all-time list. The regret of not being able to do that is not only his own, but also that of the supporters.
