The Bocker.com

On Wednesday, Ronaldo, suffered tore ligaments in his right knee in a match for AC Milan. It is possible that this injury might end one of the best and most interesting soccer careers ever. Here is a nice video compilation of O Fenomenoo at his best.

Ronaldo was the first soccer player I loved to watch, mostly because he played like a bull. At 12, I wanted his Brazil 9 Jersey so badly, because Ronaldo played striker like running back. He combined slick dribble and fakeouts with out and out power to get the ball to the net. In addition to scoring lots of sick goals, he also sports one of the best haircuts in soccer history and had sported a fabulous track record with the girlies.

I always felt as though the soccer press and punditry was out to get this guy whenever possible. Again, I am a relative soccer outsider, but people inside soccer criticized him heavily for Brazil’s disappointing 1998 World Cup Final lost to France (the mystery circumstances around this game deserve its own post), wrote him off after two devastating knee injuries in 1999 and 2000 and blamed him for the failure of the Galaticos era at Real Madrid and Brazil’s 2006 World Cup disappointment.

It seems as though Ronaldo’s early career successes set the standard too high:

-over 150 goals during his first four Euro Club seasons
-FIFA World Player of the Year 1996 and 1997
-World Cup Champ (1994), Runnerup (199

and when injuries prevented him from continuing at this level, the experts had no other recourse but to bash the guy.

Instead of wondering what should have been with Ronaldo’s career, the incredible successes and his resolve facing injury are what should be focussed on. Somehow, after twice blowing out his knee, Ronaldo managed to return in 2002 to have one of the best World Cup’s of all-time, scoring 8 goals and winning the Cup for Brazil. He also again won player of the year in 2002, becoming the first 3-time winner of this honor.

And in the 2006 World Cup, when everyone killed Brazil for choosing him for the team, he still managed 3 goals, leading the team and giving him an all-time World Cup record of 15. Anyone who thinks that a 3-goal scorer is to blame for a World Cup flameout is a fool. Here are all 15 of Ronaldo’s World Cup goals.

Lastly, Ronaldo utilized his scoring prowess on the pitch to help him score off as well (that means with the ladies). While one could argue that any soccer player can get great action, Ronaldo was not an attractive man, yet he pulled top class womens, such as the selection found below.

If Wednesday’s knee injury marks the end of Ronaldo’s career, I say here here for the best striker I’ve ever seen play.