Skip navigation

Ronaldinho fails to shine in Cup — again

Reigning world player of year goal-less in five games with Brazil

Super Bowl slide shows
Image: Giants fans cheer at the Super Bowl victory parade in New York City.
EPA
  Giant victory party
See images of fans packing the Manhattan streets to celebrate the New York Giants’ Super Bowl win.
Image: Tom Coughlin and Madison Hedgecock
AP
  Super Bowl XLII
Take a visual tour of the scene before, during and after the New York Giants' Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots.
Fans wait for the start of the NFL's Super Bowl XLII football game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants in Glendale
Reuters
High-def views of University of Phoenix Stadium
Experience high-def interactive pictures of the site of Super Bowl XLII
Image: Quarterback Tom Brady
Win McNamee / Reuters
  A man named Brady
Take a visual tour of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s life, both on and off the field.
Image: Tony Romo
  Hot QBs, hot times
See images of NFL quarterback stars such as Tom Brady, Tony Romo, who are as popular off the field as they are on.
Looking ahead to South Africa
Image:
AP
Teams of the 2010 World Cup
Shots of every country heading to South Africa, from Brazil to the United States
Image: Portugal's Ronaldo runs with the ball during their 2010 World Cup qualifying soccer match against Hungary at Luz stadium in Lisbon
Reuters
How they got to South Africa
Take a visual tour of how countries like Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal squad qualified for the 2010 World Cup
Slide show
Image: David Beckham visits Sierra Leone
Life of Becks
Top images of the life on and off the soccer field for England superstar David Beckham.

more photos

Slideshow
  Just for kicks
Take a look at soccer wives and girlfriends from all over the world.
updated 7:51 p.m. ET July 1, 2006

FRANKFURT, Germany - The Ronaldinho who left the World Cup on Saturday looked nothing like the two-time FIFA Player of the Year who attracted all the attention coming into the tournament.

The Brazilian playmaker failed to impress or to score, a streak that continued Saturday against France, which eliminated Brazil 1-0 in the quarterfinals.

Ronaldinho called the elimination one of the greatest disappointments of his career.

Story continues below ↓
advertisement | your ad here

“The Olympics and (the World Cup) are competitions that are very important and every player would like to do well in them,” he said. “It’s very sad when we can’t.”

Ronaldinho played on Brazil’s team that was eliminated by Cameroon in the 2000 Olympics.

He was a member of the squad that won Brazil’s fifth title at the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. He played five matches and scored two goals, including a spectacular free kick against England in the quarterfinals.

He also led Brazil to titles in the 1999 Copa America and the 2000 pre-Olympic tournament, as well as in last year’s Confederations Cup in Germany.

But this World Cup he was far from the star who led FC Barcelona to the Spanish league and Champions League titles this season.

Ronaldinho’s last goal came May 6 with Barcelona. The midfielder was held scoreless in three warmup matches in which Brazil outscored its opponents — Swiss club FC Lucerne, Fluminense’s under-20 squad and New Zealand — 25-1.

Though he has 29 goals in 70 caps, Ronaldinho says his main role with the national team “is to help the other players score goals.”

He did that twice in Brazil’s 4-1 win over Japan last week.

On Saturday, he made no impact.

© 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

  MORE FROM SOCCER  
  
Soccer Section Front
 
Add Soccer headlines to your news reader:
 

Sponsored links