The problem with Ronaldo, as his teammate Ronaldinho had ventured before the game, was that he needed to play with more happiness.
However, the grimace on the face of the Real Madrid striker spoke louder of petulance. He snarled, he sulked and — but only momentarily — smirked; Ronaldo knew that a repeat of the dispirited performance against Croatia could make the game his last in a Brazil shirt. The consensus in the Brazilian media was that coach Carlos Alberto Parreira was willing to give him one last chance: not just to prove that he was fit, but that he had a positive attitude too.
Though he never threatened to set the night on fire, the 71 minutes Ronaldo spent on the pitch against Australia went a little way towards explaining why he might still have some role to play in the rest of this World Cup.
The highlight was his assist for the opening goal, receiving Ronaldinho’s through ball and side footing a perfectly timed square pass to Adriano, who scored. Otherwise there were a few neat moves, including a dribble through the Australian defence and a speculative shot that went just over the crossbar.
Yet the suspicion remains that it may not have been enough. Ronaldo still does not look fully fit and his sharpness, in the manner of all fading greats, is simply not what it was. His runs at the defence looked unthreatening and after 35 minutes, in what was possibly his best chance, he received a chip from Kaka a few metres from the goal, fluffed it and fell over.
But the worst indictment of Ronaldo’s contribution was what happened when he was substituted for his club-mate Robinho. Just as against Croatia, the team immediately looked more like Brazil: the attacks became more fluent and the crowd chanted in earnest.
Robinho is struggling to overcome the impression that he might just be another Denilson — the brilliant but ultimately ineffective dribbler who was a substitute in the 1998 tournament.
Robinho is a more versatile player, but it is unlikely he will be trusted enough to make the starting line-up. More worrying for Ronaldo was Parreira’s decision to put on Lyon’s Fred for the last few minutes. Was this a tactical move or — as seems more likely — wanting to give Fred a taste of the game because he sees him as a more effective plan B?
When Fred scored — from a move that he created — he won with ease the competition for hugest smile of the game, a grin wide enough for a lottery winner. He may well have won a place in the starting XI too. His delight even eclipsed that of Adriano, who became a father for the first time last Friday and even had time, according to the informative Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) website, to buy a laptop to see pictures of his baby.
But for Ronaldo it was mostly misery. There are some situations he creates himself — his tempers with the media, his complicated love life — but sometimes things just happen to him. Last Saturday morning one of Brazil’s most popular comedians, Bussunda, died of a heart attack in Munich. He was following the national team for the country’s best-loved comedy show, Casseta & Planeta.
Bussunda’s most-recently broadcast sketch was an impersonation of Ronaldo — he played the character Ronaldo Fofómeno, a play on Ronaldo’s nickname, the Phenomenon, and the word fofo, or soft. The 43-year-old Bussunda was overweight and possibly the only person who could tease the striker about his extra pounds and make him laugh.
In a statement to the press, the CBF said Ronaldo was incredibly sad to hear of the death of the man who imitated him ”to perfection”. Ronaldo’s ”friends” were apparently far from happy with the way the condolence was phrased.
Yet even when deep in the doldrums Ronaldo continues to receive huge affection from fans. Before the match began he was the only Brazil player to have his name chanted in unison.
And at first he seemed to feed off the love. Within two minutes Ronaldo showed a piece of skill from his manual, more classy than anything he had produced in the entire Croatia game. Juggling the ball on his leg, he flicked over his head for Kaka to shoot just wide of the post.
Adriano, another who had been poor against Croatia, was also more in evidence, dropping back frequently to help out in defence, but Australia were stubborn and no matter how many wonderful tricks or runs made by Ronaldinho and Kaka, the front line of the magic quartet was again lacking penetration, adding fuel to speculation that these most individual of talents are having a hard time gelling.
Ronaldo made more of an impact for his childish attitude. He was lucky to escape a card for shoving Mark Viduka while waiting for Ronaldinho to take a free-kick and later did receive a yellow for continuing play — and scoring a goal — after the ref blew his whistle.
His contorted, anger-filled face could be the image he leaves behind in this World Cup, a travesty for so gifted a player who has yet to reach his 30th birthday. — Â