The great Ronaldo, hero of Brazilian soccer, announced his retirement today. He’s only 34. And, as a nice article in Slate reprises, what a great career he had, and what pleasure he gave the fans!
Here are some of his career highlights:
And I’ll lift this directly from the piece:
What I loved most about watching Ronaldo was that—quite possibly because of the same vague goofiness that made him into a laughingstock—he never stopped playing like the game was just unbelievable fun. Two of my favorite Ronaldo moments came in games that had nothing, or very little, to do with the grim task of beating the competition. The first is the jaw-dropping goal he scored at a charity match in 2002. He and his Real Madrid teammate Raul pirouette in tandem through the entire defense, Raul plays the final pass just behind Ronaldo, and Ronaldo—casually, as if he did this sort of thing all the time—flips the ball up over his body with his heel, controls it with his chest, and slices it into the back of the net past the diving goalkeeper’s hands.
Here’s that sequence, and it’s one gorgeous goal (read the Slate article for the other “Ronaldo moment”):
Ronaldo scored more goals in World Cup competition than any other player: 15. You can see them all on this video.
Yes, that one was a bit more difficult than Rooney’s bicycle kick. The last camera angle was superb.
Agreed. And the poor fellow’s goofiness – just his teeth nothing to do with him as a person I would say. Really unfortunate to have suffered from injuries & a thyroid problem that has affected his weight.
I remember when Pele was the guy… Man, I’m old… 🙂
Ronaldo might well be the player with most raw talent ever. Too bad injuries have really taken toll of his career, but at his best there has never been someone quite like him when it comes to scoring!
Wow, I was stunned to see this here. I live in the US now, I went through an international high school in Brazil and my interest in physics, chemistry and general science was dwarfed only by my passion for soccer.
Since I was only 9 months younger than Ronaldo I remember vividly watching him break on to the scene (I still have a Cruzeiro number 9 jersey from his 1993 season) and the amazing period that he spearheaded for Brazil from 1995 to 1997.
I was devastated when I took all the money I earned working part-time (after dropping out of college in 1997) to visit France for the 1998 World Cup only to see us lose. In 2002 I felt whole again when I was living on my own for the first time (and had graduated after returning to college in the second half of 1998) and watched Ronaldo return to win that World Cup.
It’s hard to put into words what he means to a kid like me (now 33) but I love that Jerry Coyne focused on how much fun it always looked like Ronaldo was having – when he wasn’t struggling with an injury anyways. It’s amazing that a World Cup MVP (1998) and winner (2002) and record holder (15 goals) will in part be remembered for what could have been if he hadn’t had those awful injuries from 1998-2001
Oh I’ll quibble with SaintStephen though, the goal above is from a pre-season friendly and is nowhere near as tough as a bicycle kick, as spectacular as it is. If you want to see some similar easy-going shows of skill the 1997 World Cup draw exhibition match (where Ronaldo played alongside Batistuta) was amazing, but equally uncompetitive.
Hello Robert!
I didn’t know it was a pre-season “friendly”, so that certainly has to be taken into account.
However…
The cross to Rooney was damn near perfect! I’m a-thinkin’ it was the main reason he chose to attempt the bicycle kick, rather than a more “conventional” play.
The pass to Ronaldo was something he had to “scoop up” with his back foot/heel, and flip it over his head! Not the preferred method for receiving a pass!
(In either case, it’s all good, mate.)
😉
Yeah but… it’s a bicycle kick… it’s once in a lifetime (especially at that level). Anyways, I was just thrilled to see fellow soccer fans among this rational crowd 😀
Ronaldo. What a player. I remember being in Barcelona for a month in September 1996 and that was the first I really knew about “o fenomeno”. Incredible that Barcelona sold him. Much better than the other, younger Ronaldo, I think.
Football (or soccer if you like) can make you think. I mean why do we, the third chimpanzees, find it (and sport in general) so enjoyable? Or, if left-handers are only 10% of the population, then why aren’t the left-hand sides of football teams generally the weak point? You need at least two left-footers normally (2/11 = 18%) and of course many left-footers play in central positions as well.
Are left-footers better at football on average? If they are, why would that be? Gotta be a PhD in that for someone. Maybe it’s already been done.
There are certainly a lot of good left-footed players: off the top of my head, Messi and Maradona.
Then again, they’re both Argentinian. Hang on, are Argentinians better…