The record breaking Ronaldo

So much for a player said to be tubby and unfit. Media pundits were lambasting him for being overweight and me included had questioned his lack of mobility in Brazil’s first game against Croatia.

In the second match against Australia, he once again looked rather heavy with his first touches being almost comical. I had said that he deserved to be dropped.

But then Ronaldo has come into this World Cup as his country’s modern day World Cup talisman. He has always performed well whenever he pulled in the yellow jersey of Brazil – the exception being the fateful night in Paris in 1998 when he looked totally absent-minded in a match that was won by France.

Ronaldo was an unused squad member in the1994 tournament. Even then he had a high reputation as a goal poacher. The 1998 World Cup was supposed to be his World Cup. He scored four goals before a mysterious illness robbed him of his usual game in the final.

Then came the 2002 World Cup and this was definitely his tournament. He scored eight goals and silenced all doubters who said he would not be able to perform at the highest level as he was just returning from serious injuries. More importantly he laid the ghost of the 1998 final by scoring two in this one to win the World Cup for Brazil for a record fifth time.

Ronaldo was again injured and lacked match fitness coming into the World Cup this year and once again there were murmurs if he could play to his own high standards. The first two games somehow vindicated these doubting armchair critics – including me

But then, hey, we are talking about Ronaldo. In the third game against Japan, suddenly there were some signs of the old predator who struck fear in the opposite defence. Still most of us were unconvinced as he continued to lack the old speed and trickery.

He went on to score two goals against the Asian team. The first saw him surpass the great Pele as Brazil’s highest World Cup scorer with 13 goals. Then he scored a second beauty – this time it saw him equaling Gerd Muller’s record of 14 goals.

On Tuesday, the so-called unfit and fat Ronaldo inscribed his name into football's history books by scoring a record-breaking 15th World Cup goal against Ghana. Now he is the one with the record. And he scored that record-breaking goal in a trademark manner, with the step-overs and sudden burst of speed and all.

Not bad, I think, for a star who is supposed to be in the spotlight for his weight and lack of fitness. I have always liked Ronaldo and am happy for him for his amazing goal-scoring record but still think he didn’t look as sharp as he should!

Come on now, I am sure many will still agree with me that he does look flabby, still has a bad first touch and looks disoriented at times.

But then, to score three goals in World Cup matches with all these going against him, and in the process breaking the record, is not a small matter.

And he wants more. He says: "More, more and more. I want to keep scoring, as I still have much left to give.”

I just can’t help thinking if he could have broken the record much sooner in this World Cup if he had been fitter, or on the number of goals he will go on to accumulate in the coming matches.

While we ponder on this, here is a list of the goals which Ronaldo had scored in the World Cups since 1998, and still counting.