Kahn spills, Ronaldo kills, Brazil thrills

A Ronaldo double gave irresistible Brazil a 2-0 win over Germany in the World Cup final on Sunday, confirming the five-time winners from Sou...

A Ronaldo double gave irresistible Brazil a 2-0 win over Germany in the World Cup final on Sunday, confirming the five-time winners from South America as the greatest soccer nation in the world.

Watched by an estimated 1.5 billion television audience, almost certainly the biggest in history, Ronaldo cracked the meanest defence in the tournament after 67 and 79 minutes to claim the top scorer’s golden boot with eight goals in all. The result, achieved in drizzling Japanese rain, was a personal triumph for the bustling Brazilian striker and he greeted it glassy-eyed, with tears of joy gushing down his cheeks. ‘‘Today God reserved this for me and the Brazilian team,’’ said the striker who four years ago suffered a mysterious convulsion before the final against France — and played dreadfully in their 3-0 defeat. But at Yokohama’s International Stadium, the world witnessed once again the instinctive goalscoring ability that had brought the 25-year-old two world player of the year awards early in his career.

Ronaldo, a half-moon of brown hair sprouting from the front of his otherwise shaven skull, gleefully buried a rebound after Germany’s previously outstanding goalkeeper Oliver Kahn fumbled a drive by Rivaldo to put Brazil in front. Ronaldo then curled in the clincher from the edge of the penalty area after being set up by the excellent Kleberson to decide what was, amazingly, the first World Cup finals match between the two most successful teams in the tournament’s history. Brazil’s fifth triumph added to their 1958, 1962, 1970 and 1994 World Cup victories. No other nation has won it more than three times and Brazil remain the only country to win soccer’s ultimate prize outside their own continent. It also provided a fairytale ending to an unpredictable tournament that featured upsets galore and plenty of controversy.

Brazil’s ability to raise their game on the biggest of occasions was nothing new, however. After over three years of fitness problems, Ronaldo is now on a par with Brazil’s greatest striker Pele as scorer of 12 goals in World Cup tournaments and he will surely surpass that total, health permitting, at the next World Cup in Germany. His eight-goal tally also marked the first time a World Cup top scorer had finished with as many since Gerd Mueller of West Germany scored 12 in 1970.

Brazil’s triumph also vindicated the no-nonsense methods of their coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who Brazilian newspaper reports said has decided to quit.

The South Americans stumbled through qualifying but finished the tournament as top scorers with 18 goals in seven matches. Their captain Cafu also became the first player to appear in three World Cup finals. He played as a substitute in the 1994 penalty shootout win over Italy and also in the 1998 defeat by France.

(Reuters)