Brazil have always boasted an incredible strike force and it has led them to success. But as we watch England flop at World Cups, Brazil’s best players stand up to the plate and deliver trophies. Except 2006. If it was England’s golden generation then it was Brazil’s diamond generation. And their incredible team was lead by an in form Adriano, a man who changed the style of football, Ronaldinho and possible the greatest out and out striker to ever play the game, Ronaldo.
Part of me thinks we forget just how good they were. In 343 league games Ronaldo scored 247 goals. An unbelievable record. You can imagine his career if it wasn’t for the injuries and transgender prostitutes. Would we actually be saying that finally Ronaldo is better than Messi? He was so quick and precise and his finishing was ingenious at times, even half fit he was the best striker on the planet. He turned up at the 2006 World Cup, over weight and ravaged by injuries, he still finished with 3 goals and became the highest scoring player at a world cup finals of all time, with 15 goals in 3 tournaments.
The most boring question asked is “Who is better Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo?”well its obviously Messi. Ask me another. “Who is better Messi in 2011/2012 or Ronaldinho in 2004/2005?” Well that’s a little bit harder. Ronaldinho, Messi and Zidane are the best players of the 21st century, but to order them is next to impossible. For me Ronaldinho created a style of football, not seen since players like George Best. He ran at pace, using skill to beat the defenders. His tricks were at times ridiculous and he could score from anywhere, whether it be from 30 yards, a free kick or an overhead kick. And all with a massive smile on his face. But his performances decreased as his love for partying and women increased. The 2006 World Cup was his stage, he was the reigning world player of the year, he could be the hero to deliver Brazil a 6th World Cup. However, his performances didn’t match his reputation and Brazil crashed out, Ronaldinho taking most of the blame.
Alongside Ronaldo and Ronaldinho was Adriano. Big, strong, fast and an excellent finisher. Brazil could almost cope if Ronaldo wasn’t the same player he was 4 years previous, because they had Adriano to lead the line just in case. His last two seasons at Inter Milan he scored 28 and 18 goals respectively and leading up to the World Cup he had scored 25 goals in 36 games for Brazil, so form wasn’t a problem. However, he scored two goals, and only had 5 shots all tournament as Brazil crashed out in the quarter finals against eventual finalists France.
It seems the 2006 World Cup was the start of the downfall of some of the best Brazilian players of that generation. Ronaldinho had a good season after the World cup but after that he could never quite prove why he won the World Player of the year twice in a row. Ronaldo left Real Madrid the season after the World Cup and joined A.C. Milan but once again didn’t look the same player he once was. His incredible pace was gone as was his anticipation. A serious knee injury ended his career in Europe and he returned to Brazil to finish his career.
Adriano’s also never re-discovered his pre-tournament form and returned to Brazil at the age of 27 to what seem like play the rest of his career at and easier level. In the 2010/2011 season he moved back to Italy and signed a three-year deal with Roma, but only seven months later his contract was terminated and he returned to Brazil. After a short stint with Corinthians he is now a free agent at the age of 30.
So the 2006 World Cup wasn’t the tournament where the Brazilian diamonds shone, it was the tournament when they turned back to coal.
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The problem with this team was that it had too many attacking players. Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Kaka, Adriano. They really could have used a Deco type player in their team and dropped Ronaldo. Ronaldo despite his 3 goals looked like he was already in retirement, that’s how bad his movement was. Whenever Robinho came on Brazil looked much more dangerous. Ronaldinho looked lethargic, Kaka went on to have a fantastic season after the World Cup, maybe if he had been the main man Brazil would have won.