Soccer: Ronaldo at the heart of the Brazilian belief

By JAMES LAWTON

HAMAMATSU - On the brilliantly sunlit football field of the Honda factory it is as though the men in yellow who block England's road to the World Cup final have chased away all traces of shadow, but first Ronaldo, then Rivaldo, admit that it can never be quite true.

"There is always a shadow," says Ronaldo. "We always face exceptional pressure. It is our life as Brazilian players and sometimes it can seem impossible. But other times you feel you can deal with all of it. You feel you can meet the challenge, find something in yourself you haven't shown before, and then of course everyone will love you.

"That is how I feel now before meeting Beckham and Owen and company. This may be the best game of this World Cup. Such a game brings great pressure, but it is the good kind. You can deal with it if you have confidence and I feel strong now. We have been passing around the strength, and all the boys have it. It came on strongly in the game with Belgium. We had some problems in that game but we broke free."

On the surface Brazil have the sheen of restored champions as the street beside the field is choked by a growing cavalcade of Japanese fans. Beckham may be the megastar of first choice in this land, but the aura of Brazil plainly lingers on.

The scene takes you back down the years, to Pele and Garrincha, Gerson and Tostao, and naturally the old stardust attaches itself most strongly to Ronaldo and Rivaldo, who both extravagantly express the trademark flair. But can the guardians of the international game's greatest tradition, who have recently been so frail – they lost an unprecedented six qualifying games – really brush aside England on their way to a fifth World Cup?

Ronaldo, who with five goals so far is tied with Germany's Miroslav Klose in the race for the golden boot, and Rivaldo led the escape into tomorrow's quarter-final in Shizuoka with goals straight from the storehouse of Brazilian fantasy, Ronaldo running like a bullet train through the Belgian defence, Rivaldo killing the ball in mid-air and driving in off a defender's desperate right boot.

"You need that kind of goal," says the bandy, smiling Rivaldo, who deliberately mispronounces the name of "O-ween" when asked to nominate England's most dangerous player. "You need such a goal because there is a danger when so many people doubt you it is too easy to doubt yourself. Every time I go out I know there are many critics just waiting to attack me if I do not show my best for Brazil. Even when I was voted Fifa's player of the year I was still massacred the first time I had a bad match.

"But the kind of goal I scored against Belgium gives you a little time. It lifts the pressure, and though I'm still not completely recovered from injury, I am very encouraged to fight my injury. I can see some light."

Ronaldo and Rivaldo stand almost shoulder to shoulder on the training field touchline and the symbolism of this is not lost on their coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, who knows that the drumbeats of Brazil which filled the stadium in Kobe on Monday night will be replaced by traditional howls of bloodlust if England shake Brazil into a fatal stumble in Shizuoka. "The team has grown strong together in the last few weeks," says the coach. "We haven't always been thinking as one but we are now. England have our respect, but we are very confident."

It is a familiar speech by a Brazilian coach buoyed by his nation's belief that there will always be redemption for "the little gods in yellow." But such a mood ran high in Paris four years ago, before Ronaldo was stricken by a fit on the morning of the World Cup final with France and reached the Stade de France just an hour before the kick-off after undergoing a full body scan. Scolari's predecessor, Mario Zagalo, who had won the great trophy both as a player and a coach, threw his hands up and said, "Ronaldo is Ronaldo. If he wants to play, he plays." Brazil's captain, Dunga, was so incensed by the decision he kicked every ball in anger and was as anonymous as the bleached-out superstar.

Now Ronaldo asserts that he is back to where he was before the black day in Paris, and that there will indeed be redemption, a real one and not some stay of execution from the governor's office It will be a great clearing of doubt rather than temporary relief, he suggests,

"English football is exceptionally strong and when I have played there in club competition I have always had an itchy feeling that it is a real challenge," he says. "We know Beckham and Owen have special talent, but when you have been through the pressure which is normal for a Brazilian player and reached this point in the World Cup you know you can support the belief in yourself – and the team.

"I want to prove that I can produce the best of my football. I want to show all my power, and that in the next few games I can go beyond my best, do the things that I believed I would four years ago. We know England can be good – but we know we can be better. This is always a Brazilian belief."

The belief seems to hold up in the bright mid-afternoon light, though the twilight of doubt was scarcely lifted in the Kobe stadium this week when Belgium harried Brazil's vulnerable defence to the point of breakdown. "We are happy about the way we defended this week," says the captain, Cafu. "The Belgians were very strong and determined but we held them – and then the forwards did their work. England have always been a strong team, but we know they have developed into a different game. They pass the ball more and they have great speed at the front with Owen. We have a challenge, but we know we can beat it."

Juninho, who saw the first shoots of a potentially new England during his stint at Middlesbrough, agrees that the team of Sven Goran Eriksson has a formidable range of options. "Beckham's passing ability is exceptional, and the whole team has strength," says the little midfielder, who may tomorrow start on the bench – the price of being replaced in the second half on Monday by Kleberson, who delivered the killer pass converted by Ronaldo. "England now play more on the floor," adds Juninho, "but we have always done that and still know how to do it."

Roberto Carlos concedes that Beckham has overtaken him in the matter of deadly free-kicks, but, still, he promises an "interesting duel" along their flank. "There will be many duels," he says, "but we are confident that we can win the important ones. We believe this is our time."

But then, whenever did a Brazilian footballer believe it wasn't his time? England, you are reminded all over again, are required not just to beat a team of mesmerising touch and absurdly cavalier defence, but deprive them of their birthright. Under the Japanese sun, the Brazilians show the swagger that is bred by high achievement. But can they sustain it when England fire their heaviest shots in Shizuoka?

Ronaldo, most emphatically, dismisses the doubts, "We are Brazil," he says, "so we believe in ourselves. We feel very strong and confident. We are happy with where we are." Which is, for the moment at least, just a step beyond the shadows.

- INDEPENDENT

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