Slavenik
07-02-2002, 02:08 PM
OPINION Innocent nature endangers Ronaldo
Monday 1st July 2002
by Simon Kuper
Eight years ago, a 17-year-old innocent arrived in Holland with his mother and then girlfriend to play for PSV Eindhoven.
The club went on a pre-season tour of Mexico, where Ronaldo and his Brazilian pal Vampeta made friends with another 17-year-old innocent, PSV's new winger Boudewijn Zenden.
"One day Ronaldo came into my hotel room and tried to wrestle with me," Zenden told me years later. "Of course, in seconds I had his arm around his back and he was saying: 'Ow, ow, please stop!'" Zenden is a black belt in judo.
"A few minutes later he came back with Vampeta. 'Dos Brasileiros, two Brazilians!' they shouted. "So I put their arms around their backs again and they were shouting: 'Ow, ow, let go!'"
Ronaldo was a simpleton from Rio. Of course he was a brilliant footballer - Phillip Cocu, another team-mate in that talented PSV side, told me he sometimes clasped his head in wonder at the things Ronaldo did at training sessions - but he was also a normal, slightly immature teenager.
He listened to rap music (which he prefers to samba), bought endless new designer clothes and enjoyed the first of what would prove a string of blonde girlfriends.
Growing up with buck teeth, he had had little success with girls, which is one reason he found time to become a great footballer.
Life was nice and quiet then. Ronaldo was barely known in Brazil, where he had only played a few months as a professional footballer, and fame in the Netherlands is a relative thing.
A Dutchman named Frans Oosterwijk, who wrote a marvellous biography of the 18-year-old Ronaldo, reckons the moment he became an icon was when he bounced and raced his way past virtually the entire Santiago de Compostela side to score one of the goals of the 1990s for Barcelona.
Ronaldo was then 20 years old.
After that everyone exploited him. Ronaldo is a nice guy who is bad at saying no. If anyone asked, he would get into a plane to play a meaningless friendly or launch some product.
In 1997 he played more than 70 matches. When he was injured, he played anyway. When he read a newspaper article predicting his breakdown, he burst into tears. He was great before he could handle it.
If he had a panic attack on the afternoon of the 1998 World Cup final, it was probably not because he is afraid of big matches. It was the daily drip of pressure, which that day overflowed. After that, his body finally rebelled. For four years, he barely played.
He probably needed the injuries. The only escape from being Ronaldo - or "Ronaldinho" as they still call him in Brazil - was to stop playing football.
He ran his laps alone at Appiano Gentile, Internazionale's training ground, and built up his body in the gym.
People continued to take a piece of him: he popped up promoting Portugal's bid to host Euro 2004 and a friend of mine doing unrelated business with Inter's owner Massimo Moratti was introduced to Ronaldo. However, he seems to have struck a deal with Inter to save his body.
When he re-entered the game, it was on his own terms, believes Oosterwijk. The Dutchman visited Ronaldo at Inter last year and again early this year.
Later he emailed me: "Ronaldo didn't say it explicitly, but I always felt he was fooling everyone. For him only one thing was important: the World Cup. He had to be present there, to shine, make Brazil world champion, equal Romario, take revenge for 1998, etc etc.
"I think that the last two years he consciously hid himself (with Inter's approval, I think; I can't judge how that game works. I do know that Nike and his agent Martins and Pitta are directing it, as ever.) All his so-called 'returns to football' had no meaning."
The real return came three months ago in the Brazilian provincial city of Fortaleza, in a friendly for Brazil against Yugoslavia. It was Ronaldo's first international since October 1999.
Brazil won 1-0 thanks to a goal by Luizao. "I haven't scored yet, but I'm saving my goals for the World Cup," Ronaldo said. The fans were not so sure, chanting abuse at Big Phil Scolari for ignoring their favourite Romario.
When the final ended yesterday, Ronaldo was in tears by the dugout. He had done it. But for the rest of his life he will have to protect himself against the vultures hacking at his flesh.
Not an hour after the final, a Brazilian journalist told him: "We are not interested in the past, only in the future." Didn't Ronaldo want to win an Olympic gold? What about the next World Cup?
"I don't want to feel any pressure now about the future," Ronaldo answered in his quiet way. "I don't want to think. I don't want anything except to celebrate. Thank you very much."
And he walked off to the team bus, where everyone was waiting for him. He is learning to say no.
On the road to the stadium in Yokohama, a Ronaldo double - bucktoothed, round-faced, shaven-headed, wearing the Brazilian No 9 shirt - was posing for photographs with passers-by. Ronaldo might consider using the double in real life, too.
Roni was hiding himself and waiting for the WC:rolleyes: What do you think on this article?
Monday 1st July 2002
by Simon Kuper
Eight years ago, a 17-year-old innocent arrived in Holland with his mother and then girlfriend to play for PSV Eindhoven.
The club went on a pre-season tour of Mexico, where Ronaldo and his Brazilian pal Vampeta made friends with another 17-year-old innocent, PSV's new winger Boudewijn Zenden.
"One day Ronaldo came into my hotel room and tried to wrestle with me," Zenden told me years later. "Of course, in seconds I had his arm around his back and he was saying: 'Ow, ow, please stop!'" Zenden is a black belt in judo.
"A few minutes later he came back with Vampeta. 'Dos Brasileiros, two Brazilians!' they shouted. "So I put their arms around their backs again and they were shouting: 'Ow, ow, let go!'"
Ronaldo was a simpleton from Rio. Of course he was a brilliant footballer - Phillip Cocu, another team-mate in that talented PSV side, told me he sometimes clasped his head in wonder at the things Ronaldo did at training sessions - but he was also a normal, slightly immature teenager.
He listened to rap music (which he prefers to samba), bought endless new designer clothes and enjoyed the first of what would prove a string of blonde girlfriends.
Growing up with buck teeth, he had had little success with girls, which is one reason he found time to become a great footballer.
Life was nice and quiet then. Ronaldo was barely known in Brazil, where he had only played a few months as a professional footballer, and fame in the Netherlands is a relative thing.
A Dutchman named Frans Oosterwijk, who wrote a marvellous biography of the 18-year-old Ronaldo, reckons the moment he became an icon was when he bounced and raced his way past virtually the entire Santiago de Compostela side to score one of the goals of the 1990s for Barcelona.
Ronaldo was then 20 years old.
After that everyone exploited him. Ronaldo is a nice guy who is bad at saying no. If anyone asked, he would get into a plane to play a meaningless friendly or launch some product.
In 1997 he played more than 70 matches. When he was injured, he played anyway. When he read a newspaper article predicting his breakdown, he burst into tears. He was great before he could handle it.
If he had a panic attack on the afternoon of the 1998 World Cup final, it was probably not because he is afraid of big matches. It was the daily drip of pressure, which that day overflowed. After that, his body finally rebelled. For four years, he barely played.
He probably needed the injuries. The only escape from being Ronaldo - or "Ronaldinho" as they still call him in Brazil - was to stop playing football.
He ran his laps alone at Appiano Gentile, Internazionale's training ground, and built up his body in the gym.
People continued to take a piece of him: he popped up promoting Portugal's bid to host Euro 2004 and a friend of mine doing unrelated business with Inter's owner Massimo Moratti was introduced to Ronaldo. However, he seems to have struck a deal with Inter to save his body.
When he re-entered the game, it was on his own terms, believes Oosterwijk. The Dutchman visited Ronaldo at Inter last year and again early this year.
Later he emailed me: "Ronaldo didn't say it explicitly, but I always felt he was fooling everyone. For him only one thing was important: the World Cup. He had to be present there, to shine, make Brazil world champion, equal Romario, take revenge for 1998, etc etc.
"I think that the last two years he consciously hid himself (with Inter's approval, I think; I can't judge how that game works. I do know that Nike and his agent Martins and Pitta are directing it, as ever.) All his so-called 'returns to football' had no meaning."
The real return came three months ago in the Brazilian provincial city of Fortaleza, in a friendly for Brazil against Yugoslavia. It was Ronaldo's first international since October 1999.
Brazil won 1-0 thanks to a goal by Luizao. "I haven't scored yet, but I'm saving my goals for the World Cup," Ronaldo said. The fans were not so sure, chanting abuse at Big Phil Scolari for ignoring their favourite Romario.
When the final ended yesterday, Ronaldo was in tears by the dugout. He had done it. But for the rest of his life he will have to protect himself against the vultures hacking at his flesh.
Not an hour after the final, a Brazilian journalist told him: "We are not interested in the past, only in the future." Didn't Ronaldo want to win an Olympic gold? What about the next World Cup?
"I don't want to feel any pressure now about the future," Ronaldo answered in his quiet way. "I don't want to think. I don't want anything except to celebrate. Thank you very much."
And he walked off to the team bus, where everyone was waiting for him. He is learning to say no.
On the road to the stadium in Yokohama, a Ronaldo double - bucktoothed, round-faced, shaven-headed, wearing the Brazilian No 9 shirt - was posing for photographs with passers-by. Ronaldo might consider using the double in real life, too.
Roni was hiding himself and waiting for the WC:rolleyes: What do you think on this article?