KOBE, Japan, 21 June — Ronaldo and Michael Owen will cross swords today when Brazil take on England for a place in the World Cup semifinals.
Expectations are high on both sides for two strikers whose careers, for better and for worse, have been shaped by their experiences at the last World Cup finals in 1998. Ronaldo arrived in France as the most exciting footballer the world had seen since Diego Maradona.
Brazil duly progressed to the final, only for their hopes to be dashed by the dramatic events just hours before kick-off, when Ronaldo suffered a fit in his hotel room.
The Brazilian decided to go ahead with the game at the Stade St. Denis, though he was only a shadow of his former self and the team slumped to a famous 3-0 defeat to France.
The finals, along with four grueling seasons at Barcelona and PSV Eindhoven had caused intolerable wear and tear on Ronaldo’s knee.
After losing to France, though he led Brazil to the 1999 Copa America title, Ronaldo played just 26 league games over the next three seasons, undergoing two operations and living with the fear that his career could be over.
Undaunted, FIFA’s double World Player of the Year winner told reporters before these finals: “I’m dying to play again.
“This is another challenge to prove wrong the people who didn’t believe I could come back.”
However, Ronaldo has yet to reach the same dazzling heights he attained with a ball at his feet from 1994 to 1998, when his ability to dribble at astonishing pace wrought havoc in defenses across Europe.
Though he has scored five goals in his four games, taking his career total to 42 in 61 appearances, Ronaldo has mainly dealt in tap-ins and was even credited with an own goal by a Costa Rican defender.
Owen, three years Ronaldo’s junior at 22, has a dramatically different memory of the 1998 finals.
While the entire footballing world had been waiting for Ronaldo to set the World Cup alight, few had heard of an English teenager from Chester until he raced through the Argentina defense to score one of the goals of the tournament.
Owen has not looked back since that moment at St. Etienne and although his career has frequently been checked by hamstring injuries — and he is currently nursing a groin problem — they have been nothing like the woes suffered by his Brazilian counterpart.
