Qatar 2022: The story of Ronaldinho's 2002 World Cup with Brazil | OneFootball

No Ronaldo, who missed the entirety of the campaign through injury, six defeats on their travels, four different head coaches across the span of their 18 fixtures, and their berth in South Korea and Japan not secured until the very final round of games, Brazil’s path to qualification for the 2002 World Cup finals was one which was fraught with self-inflicted obstacles.

Heavily reliant upon the efforts of Rivaldo and Romário throughout, with each change of head coach came what appeared to be another scattergun approach to trying to find the right combination of players.

From Vanderlei Luxemburgo, through Candinho, and Émerson Leão, then finally on to Luiz Felipe Scolari, Ronaldinho drifted in and out of the thinking of the first three, before eventually finding a belated welcoming embrace from Scolari, who was eager to jettison the magnetically talented, yet often problematic Romário.

Ronaldinho had appeared in just six of Brazil’s 18 qualifiers and hadn’t exactly hit the type of levels of performance that had been expected of him.

Added to this, he had effectively been ostracised by the recently appointed Scolari from Brazil’s squad for the 2001 Copa América, due to an unseemly contractual dispute as the player attempted to gain his freedom from Grêmio, in order to make an privately agreed switch to Paris Saint-Germain.

So much promise had been on display from Ronaldinho just a couple of years earlier, when in his late teens he had spent 1999 bouncing from one international assignment to another, through multiple age groups.

Within one calendar year Ronaldinho had represented Brazil at the South American Youth Championship, the FIFA World Youth Championship, the Copa América, and the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Having been one of the brightest stars of the first two tournaments, when it came to moving up to senior levels for the latter two, he swiftly went from compelling curveball at the Copa América, to a global sensation at the Confederations Cup.

The 2002 World Cup qualifiers should have been his stage to dominate, but he hadn’t exactly followed the plotted script.

Having made an explosive start to his time in Paris, and with Brazil’s World Cup qualification left hanging until the final round of games, Ronaldinho was recalled by Scolari for the last game, against Venezuela, in São Luís.

Climbing from the bench to play the last 23 minutes, Ronaldinho was basically there to act as insurance against an unthinkable calamity, in which a 3-0 victory soothed all fears.

On one hand the outcome brought great relief, but on the other it didn’t spare the ignominy of finishing the qualification campaign behind first time qualifiers, Ecuador, as well as ended up an unacceptable 13 points behind Argentina.

Ronaldinho’s fight to make Brazil’s 2002 World Cup squad

As World Cup year began, Ronaldinho remained at best on the periphery of Scolari’s plans, at worst completely out of them.

Friendlies against Bolivia, Saudi Arabia, and Iceland took place without him, and he was only handed his World Cup audition in late-March against Yugoslavia, in Fortaleza.

It might have been a late run, but Ronaldinho did enough to keep his place in the Brazil team for their last two warm up games, against Portugal, and Malaysia, scoring a draw earning penalty in the former, linking impressively with Rivaldo and the returning Ronaldo in the latter.

After a chaotic qualification, suddenly and subtly, Brazil had the making of a team pulling together. Now the pressure was off Rivaldo, as Ronaldo’s return to fitness and Ronaldinho’s late run to prominence turned a one-man-band into a wonderfully expressive collective.

Scolari had successfully drawn a line in the sand, separating the dysfunctional nature of qualification from the mission ahead of his team in the finals.

If Rivaldo brought consistency, and Ronaldo brought an unstoppable magic, Ronaldinho was responsible for the unpredictable and the esoteric.

As spectacular as his more proven teammates were, Rivaldo and Ronaldo were steeped in the Brazil of old, whereas Ronaldinho was pure, unrestrainable energy.

In many respects, even if they were impossible to contain, Rivaldo and Ronaldo were readable, while Ronaldinho wasn’t.

Not only did his opponents and teammates not know what he was going to do next, but arguably even he himself was completely unaware of where his next move would take him.

Rivaldo and Ronaldo were smooth, polished, and hypnotic with it, and as a contrast, Ronaldinho was rough, raw, and awe-inspiring.

Ronaldinho at the 2002 World Cup

It was a risk to let Ronaldinho loose on the 2002 World Cup, especially as there were no shortage of outstanding attacking options at Scolari’s disposal that would have offered greater discipline.

Denílson – once the most expensive player in the world – was joined in the shadows by Edílson, Luizão, and a refined prodigy by the name of Kaká.

The chemistry between Rivaldo, Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho was too powerful to ignore, however, deployed in what was nominally a 3-4-3 formation.

None of this meant that Ronaldinho wasn’t immune to a degree of game-management from Scolari though.

In Brazil’s opening game, against Turkey, he was replaced for the final 23 minutes by Denílson, when the outcome was delicately poised at 1-1, before a late winner was procured by a Rivaldo penalty.

Keeping his place in the starting line-up against China, Ronaldinho was withdrawn at half-time, seemingly as punishment for usurping Rivaldo for penalty duties just before the interval. Again, his replacement was Denílson, but the Real Betis man failed to grasp the opportunity to impress Scolari.

With Brazil already through to the knockout stages, Scolari rang several changes for their final group game, against Costa Rica, with Ronaldinho among those to sit the game out.

Edílson was given his chance to shine, but on an afternoon where Brazil allowed their opponents to claw their way back to 3-2, from 3-0 down, before eventually going down 5-2, he lasted less than an hour, before being replaced by the more workmanlike Kléberson.

Ronaldinho was back in the team for the last-16 encounter with Belgium, in Kobe.

Scolari’s faith was rewarded as Brazil’s number 11 put in a skilful, yet grown-up performance, in which he supplied Ronaldo with a golden opportunity to open the scoring in the opening minutes and did eventually lay on the assist from which Rivaldo finally broke the deadlock midway through the second half.

Against England, in the quarter-finals, Ronaldinho ran the entire spectrum of possibilities.

A game in which his speculative winning free kick eluded the embarrassed David Seaman, and was ended with a red card seven minutes later, it falls under the radar just how magical he was across the 57 minutes he graced the pitch, in Shizouka.

Danny Mills: How England got Ronaldinho sent off

Ronaldinho’s red card came after a crunching tackle on Mills and the former Leeds United defender previously revealed Paul Scholes’ on-pitch tactic to ensure the Brazilian was sent off.

Mills said, per The Mirror: “He came in, it was a late challenge, he caught me, I went down and I was about to get up and Scholesy came over and tapped me and said ‘stay down, ref has got a card out, stay down’.

“He pulled a red card out, it was never a red card, he caught me slightly, it was a booking at worst.

What did I do wrong? It was a foul, I was on the floor, all he said was to stay down, I didn’t roll around squirming and squealing, I just stayed dead still.”

Cheeky, very cheeky.

Without Ronaldinho for the semi-final, against Turkey, most of the endeavour was supplied by Roberto Carlos and Cafu, in Saitama.

Again, stage fright got the better of Edílson who put in a clumsy performance. Ronaldo scored the only goal.

In Yokohama, the final was arguably won the night before the game, when Rivaldo, Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho lit-up an otherwise grey and rainy training session with a skills session of their own making, a spontaneous display of extraordinary beauty at the International Stadium.

Ronaldinho’s best work in the final came during a stalemate of a first half, where the rewards came when he was better shackled by Germany in the second half.

Ronaldo stole the headlines, but Ronaldinho’s selflessness helped created the space for Rivaldo to carve the chances.

The Three Rs had written their names in World Cup iconography, within a glory that might well have eluded Brazil had it not been for Ronaldinho’s contribution.