Forza Futbol - A better lens into the World's Game. We talk about UEFA Cup, Champions League and International matches, especially when they intersect with teams in Spain and Italy, we talk transfer rumours, gossip and everything else that revolves around the world's greatest game. @ OleOle

Saturday, 23 February 08, 07:34 PM

It’s a shame really. You know him as the fat-nomeno, a caricature of a carioca forward, butt of a thousand Real Madrid jokes, last remnant of a Galactico winter, but those like me who remember 1994, when Brazil won the World Cup against favored Italy, the name Ronaldo still carries weight.

For me, he was the paciest player I have ever seen. At PSV he was, a gangly center forward, just off the shuttle from Brazil, spending two fruitful years in Eindhoven bagging 42 goals in 46 appearances and drawing notice from Barcelona, leaving for the waiting arms of Sir Bobby Robson and big time European football.

We often forget how dominant a forward he really was at his heights. He pulled Brazil almost singlehandedly into the 2002 World Cup, won the Golden Shoe scoring eight goals, and lifting the trophy for the selecao. He was called up for the last 4 World Cups, playing in three, becoming the greatest goal scorer in the history of the World Cup. He trails only Pele and Zico as the greatest international goal scorers in the history of the Brazilian national team. In 11 years playing on the biggest stage, for three of the biggest clubs in the world (Inter Milan, Barcelona and Real Madrid), Ronaldo scored 166 goals.

Despite all the accomplishments, we often note that he never won the Champions League and that his clubs often struggled to win league titles with him. We remember him for the weird soul-patch haircut on his forehead, the weirder chia-pet one for Milan, the epileptic seizures that took him before the 1998 World Cup final against France, and the devastating knee injuries that robbed him of most of his pace, but none of skill and panache on the ball. Instead of remembering him for his perseverance, returning to play for Inter after many had written him off, we call him a mercenary for repaying Moratti’s loyalty by taking Real Madrid’s money and leaving for Spain. We call him an destabilizing force, a poor teammate, undedicated, and the worst of the Galactico policy.

We even remember him more for his personal life, filled with a litany of Brazilian supermodels, television presenters, singers and actresses. We see the fast cars, the easy money, and the high life. We see him slow down, gain weight and we call him lazy. Even the President of Brazil calls him fat and lazy.

We all age and change, but a phenomenon has no business being human, he is constantly compared to the player he was, even if he has a lot left to give. It would be so much easier if he went away, if we could just remember the good times, then he could be a legend one that burned brightly and flamed out, rather than the one who lagged about and overstayed his welcome.

Now he has injured himself again. A twin injury to his first, one in rossoneri compared to one in nerazzurri. We blame Milan labs, or the PSV doctors, or the Brazilians themselves, and again we ignore the player. We continue to ignore the man for the myth. We break down our idols after building them up. Will we be able to appreciate his skill only after he has retired?

I think he still has a great deal to play for and to play towards. Is it in Brazil or in the U.S.? Who knows. Remember, he is younger than Hernan Crespo, David Beckham, Alessandro Del Piero, Clarence Seedorf and Fernando Morientes. He is only slightly older than Thierry Henry and Raul Gonzalez, and he is the same age within days of Francesco Totti. I think he has earned a right to choose for himself.

He is not just a commodity, a manufactured image, a poster on a wall. Nike’s football savior, until they find another one, a younger, slimmer model with rock star good looks, and pretty step-overs, but none of the definition and serene finishing. Despite sharing the same name, and a common language, this new Ronaldo (Cristiano) will never fill the shoes of Ronaldo Luis Nazario da Lima. Ronaldinho before Ronaldinho. O Fenomeno.

Mando from Forza Futbol

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Valencia, my eye.

Monday, 31 December 07, 04:36 PM

Valencia, my eye.

Others have noted that it has been a rough week for former Dutch international Ronald Koeman, Barcelona dream-teamer under Johan Cruyff, and ex-manager of Benfica, PSV Endhoven and current top man at Valencia . I say he hasn’t had a rough enough week.

Since resigning from PSV on October 31, 2007, and accepting the Valencia job after the sudden firing of Quique Sanchez-Flores, he has done practically everything wrong. He arrives 5 days late after being hired, misses the weekend win against Mallorca, fails to get the club organized for a midweek Champions League match against comparative minnows Rosenberg, loses 2-0 at home in the Mestalla, and leaves Trond Henriksen, the Norwegian side’s coach unimpressed, calling the Spanish side’s performance “cowardly”. He then sits on-form winger and Spain international Joaquin for his lack of effort in training after only a few days in charge, benches three of his top players Santiago Canizares, David Albelda and Miguel Angel Angulo for and now even minority ownership at the club are calling his tenure at the club a joke.

The club have backtracked from their humiliating treatment of the three, they have released a statement that the 3 have only been dropped not ostracized, but everything out of the club is stating that this is only the beginning of the Koeman Revolution. Baraja, Vicente and even David Villa are on the outs, and young starlets like Boca Juniors midfielder Ever Banega and Ajax striker Klaus-Jan Huntelaar are rumoured coming into the squad for the January transfer window.

Is he crazy? This is a club that was top four as little as two months ago. Was there a lack of quality on the side? Sure, some like Angulo and Vicente were often injured and Canizares is riding on fumes, but this is a Champions League level team with proven strikers like Villa to play off of Morientes who still has a few years left, Timo Hildebrand was being groomed as Santi’s replacement and it had a proven spine built by a Champions League winning coach in Rafa Benitez. You can’t change a club’s heart in 3 weeks and then expect the rest to play for you. You can’t expect players who have thrived playing one way, and fit them into an outdated mix of Rinus Michel’s, Johann Cruyff’s, and Louis Van Gaal’s least creative tendencies.

Ronald Koeman was a fantastic player, a defender in the libero mold, who ran the famous Barcelona dream-team of Cruyff to the 1992 European Cup final. Since his retirement, he has commanded Dutch side Vitesse Arnheim to a UEFA Cup berth in 2001, took Ajax to the Champions League quarter finals before losing to AC Milan, but spent the next 3 years grinding out wins and ruining the legendary Dutch side’s fortunes, where he was ultimately fired after a 2004 loss to Auxerre in the UEFA Cup. He was hired to replace Giovanni Trappatoni at Benfica in 2005 but couldn’t get the Portuguese champs to more than a third place finish in the league, lost out in the League Cup to a soon-to-be relegated side, and won their only trophy in the Superliga which pits the League and Cup winners from the previous years. To add insult to injury, he left Benfica for while the Portuguese squad were still in contention for the Champions League that without him lost only to eventual champs Barcelona in the quarter finals. He then leads PSV to a dominant first half, but allows both Ajax and AZ Alkmaar to cut the lead until by the penultimate match all 3 teams were tied at 72 points. In the final game, Alkmaar loses, Ajax beats Willem II, but PSV wins on goal differential against (hold it), Ronald Koeman’s old squad Vitesse Arnheim.

Tintin was the wrong choice to turn the fortunes of a struggling champ like Valencia around. The numbers don’t lie. He lucked into a young squad at Ajax led by Zlatan Ibrahimovich, Van der Vaart and Christian Chivu, destroyed a Benfica that had been brought back to prominence by Il Trap, and finally replaced Gus Hiddink at PSV only to turn them into a dour, ill-conceived squad that eat Arsenal by an aggregate score of 2-1 over two legs, but then were held goalless and thoroughly dominated by eventual finalists Liverpool.

What will his time at Valencia be remembered for? If his past is any indication, he is living a charmed life, because few have done so little after being given so much.

Mando from FF

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WAGS of Madrid: The Forward Line

Saturday, 20 October 07, 11:04 PM

The last bits of the La Liga Season went by without incident, Real Madrid won the league after a long spell outside the promised land, and the trophy stable is full once more with silverware. Oh, and speaking of stables, this weeks column is on Rutgerus Johannes Martinius van Nistelrooy, RVN for short in this column, and the multi-million pound signing for the Merengues, straight from the Old Trafford glue farm.

I went into the research for this week with an open mind, looking for my usual brand of scandal, outrage, and infidelity. Surprisingly, the modern footballer isn’t always as shallow and self-serving as we expect him or her to be. Our boy Ruud is just that kind of fellow.

He married a certain filly, Leontine Slaats, in 2004 after a courtship measuring practically half his life. He was playing for a small club at the time called Den Bosch and he came under the radar of Tottenham Hotspur, and the race was on to sign him, but since “kak” in any language is easily translated, he waited before going to England and transferred to PSV Eindhoven instead. He did meet his childhood sweetheart there before leaving for greener pastures.

I won’t get much into what happened at PSV or Man U, needless to say he met psychotic Irishmen and drunken Scotsmen, and most of those were in the stands, but after having seen his friend Becks leave for Madrid, he decided (or was pushed out of the starting blocks by his wayward owner) to leave for the sunny shores of landlocked Madrid, where his talents as a goal poacher would be ignored and ridiculed for some reason, but he would have the last laugh as his goals would lead to a La Liga championship for the santeros.

I wish I had more dirt on his wife, but they live a quiet life with daughter Moa, they run charitable functions, and they seem like a genuine couple who love and respect each other. Oh well, maybe Robinho has trick up his sleave?

Mando of FF

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O FENOMENO

Valencia, my eye.

Valencia, my eye.

WAGS of Madrid: The Forward Line