More problems and controversy for Ronaldo

Ronaldo is in more hot water, which is probably a good thing to help heal his thigh injury which has been revealed to be more serious than initially thought.

It looks like Ronaldo will miss at least another month of action. The AC Milan medics have admitted to getting the diagnosis of his thigh injury somewhat wrong. Earlier Ronaldo's Brazilian doctor, Jose Luis Runco, blasted the medical staff for their diagnosis and treatment. Ronaldo travelled to Antwerp to get a second opinion because his progress had stalled and since received permission to return to Rio de Janeiro to receive treatment there.

It is this very treatment that is stirring up a lot of controversy currently because of the use of gene therapy (which is banned in Italy but a-okay in Brazil! :). The Italian Olympic Committee's anti-doping prosecutor indicated that he may open an investigation on the use of this therapy. The therapy uses a natural protein to stimulate cell proliferation and is called "growth factor" and was initially developed to treat cancer. This could be regarded as doping by the committee and would be yet another blow to Ronaldo getting things back on track! Personally I don't see how using your own blood's proteins to heal yourself could be doping or banned!?

If you're actually interested in the science behind the treatment, see the video below for a good explaination.

Brazil vs Algeria friendly

So Brazil recently defeated Algeria 2-0 in a friendly match. The first half was not a great display by the Selecao but they did have a few shots on goal. The second half was quite a different affair and it was obvious why, the bringing on of Kaka' and Ronaldinho. There's a reason why they've been the most important players at their respective clubs for several seasons now, they make the difference.

The first goal came about from a well directed Ronaldinho corner which Maicon of Inter converted. The second involved Ronaldinho setting up Diego who's deflected shot was calmly placed by Ronaldinho to seal the 2-0 victory. One of Kaka's characteristic blazing runs almost resulted in a goal as he tore past several defenders, cutting across the face of goal, requiring a simple tap in of Vagner Love that just could not keep up. Which brings me to an important point. Vagner Love is a good striker but certainly should be 6th or 7th on the Selecao list of strikers. He did little during the copa america and it continues to show that he does not deserve that number 9 shirt. Ronaldo needs to return, he may be 30 now but he is still clinical and in good shape now (as opposed to how he was at WC06). If anyone doesn't agree that R9 should be back then at least Mancini of Roma who has been on fire over the last couple of seasons. There are many better Brazilian strikers but I'll continue that discussion another time, for now, check out the highlights below. They go for about 9-10 minutes so are quite substantial and well cut-down.

Ronaldo R9 - The original and the best

Okay, first off, I've got nothing against Christiano Ronaldo (I'm half-Portuguese, half-Brazilian so I have loyalties in both camps :) but I got into football during R9's time, when he was unquestionably the best player in the world. He inspired me to start playing soccer (I started quite late) and really got my interested in the world game.

Christiano has got so much going for him, his pace, technique, strength and height. The only thing is the ugly side of his game, that is, the diving, etc. (which he seems to be cutting down on thankfully). But while he was still in primary school, Ronaldo Luis Nazário de Lima was already making a name for himself.

He began his professional career with Cruzeiro as soon as he was old enough to sign up. He didn't last long there before he was snapped up to play at PSV Eindhoven in Holland where he scored 55 goals in 57 appearances, a truly phenomenal statistic a testament to his alias "O Phenomeno". A good striker is one with about 1 goal per 2 games so 1:1 is amazing!

Barca could smell his pure talent and snapped him up for the 96-97 season where he maintained his amazing strike rate with 47 goals in 49 appearances! Moratti was soon pulling money out of his pockets to bring him to Inter where he spent about 5 years before going to Real Madrid where his talent was mostly wasted (at the very least, badly managed). Many Inter fans are sour about how he left the club but to me the problem was Hector Cuper, the worst Inter coach ever. He left him on the bench for the last game of the season which they lost and handed the Scudetto over Juve (I think it was Juve).

Around 1999-2000 he had an injury to his right knee that was almost career ending. He injured it, did rehab for about 3 months before re-injuring it badly almost straight away in his first game back. A dark period indeed for soccer and Inter! Luckily he came back and proved everyone wrong with an amazing performance in the 2002 world cup (after almost two years out!). In WC2006 he became the highest scorer in all the world cups, I sure hope they consider him for WC2010!

He turns 30 in a month (Sept 18th) and so is starting to approach his last remaining years in the game. Personally I feel he still has plenty to give and I think he will make his mark at AC Milan. Even though they are my bitter rivals as an Inter supporter, I do hope he gets the chance to win a champions league medal as it's probably the only thing he hasn't won yet!!!

See below the magic that was/is Ronaldo...



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