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Maradona Downplays Ronaldo’s Historic Rise to Top Glory
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Maradona
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TOKYO,
July 1 (IslamOnline & News agencies) – Former Argentinean
football star Diego Armando Maradona, standing almost alone Monday,
said that the World Cup was mediocre, Germany was a shadow of its
former self and Rivaldo or Roberto Carlos was the tournament's best
player, not seven-goal hero Ronaldo.
"This
tournament was mediocre and the final was not a great final," he
told a news conference Monday, July 1, 2002, the day after Ronaldo's
two goals powered Brazil to a 2-0 win over Germany for a record fifth
World Cup, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"Germany
was one of the worst Germanys I have seen in my life. Brazil was a
handful of individuals. It was not a team," said the 41-year-old
hero of Argentina's 1986 World Cup triumph.
Despite
most pundits hailing the return of Brazilian flair and proclaiming
Ronaldo the star of the tournament, Maradona had other ideas.
"If
I were to choose the best two players, they are Rivaldo and Roberto
Carlos," he said.
"The
man who gave Brazil the trophy is obviously Ronaldo, but he was not
the best man because his knee was hurting so he could not perform well
technically.
"But
we should give him the trophy for the passion and the heart he had for
this tournament," Maradona said. "If Ronaldo's knee is
healed, he could probably and easily be the best man for the next
tournament.
"If
we need to consider Ronaldo as the best player because of the
marketing problems, advertising problems and sponsor problems, it is
okay. But he was not fit."
However,
the Samba star Ronaldo was not just 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 am going to
celebrate a lot, and I know that 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.
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Ronaldo
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That
destination floated well above the clouds during the long months of
surgery and painful recuperation.
But
on Sunday, June 30, 2002, 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
seven goals in seven matches the highest individual haul at the finals
for 28 years.
His
12 World Cup goals - counting 1998 - also took him level with a
certain Edson Arantes do Nascimento - because Pele also managed to
make it a round dozen.
"Slowly,
slowly I am starting to understand what has happened," said
Ronaldo. "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 kickoff. 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.
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