The Ronaldinho who left the World Cup looked nothing like the two-time FIFA Player of the Year who attracted all the attention at the start of the competition.Ronaldinho was held scoreless and failed to impress against France, and Brazil was eliminated from the World Cup after a 1-0 loss in the quarter-finals. He did not score in five matches, extending his scoreless streak with the national team to more than one year.He hasn’t scored since June 2005 against Argentina in the Confederations Cup final, also played in Germany. Ronaldinho was the only member of Brazil’s ’magic quartet’ who didn’t score at the World Cup. He called the elimination to France one of the greatest disappointments of his career. “The Olympics and (the World Cup) are competitions that are very important and every player would like to do well in them. It’s very sad when we can’t,” he said.The midfielder moved forward to attack yesterday after Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira put an end to the ’magic quartet’ scheme, replacing striker Adriano with midfielder Juninho. The change failed to take effect, however, and Brazil and Ronaldinho struggled to create scoring opportunities.“It’s always sad when a team used to winning suffers a fall like this,” Ronaldinho said. “Now it’s time to put our feet on the ground and start thinking about next season.” Ronaldinho was isolated up front, having few chances to touch the ball and spark Brazil’s attack. He even had difficulties to control easy balls at times.In one of the few plays that worked for Ronaldinho, he had a neat one-two with Ronaldo in the 30th, but his teammate’s shot was easily saved by France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. He also set up Robinho with a header in the 81st, but the striker missed the net from inside the penalty area. Ronaldinho threatened more in the second half after Parreira went back to the ’magic quartet’ setup, but still was far from the star who led FC Barcelona to the Spanish league and Champions League titles this season. He had a chance to equalise the match in the 90th, but his free kick shot sailed over the crossbar.Ronaldinho’s last goal was scored on May 6 with Barcelona in the Spanish league. The midfielder was held scoreless in the three warm-up matches in which Brazil outscored its opponents - Swiss club FC Lucerne, Fluminense’s Under-20 squad and New Zealand - 25-1.Ronaldinho, who has 29 goals in 70 matches with the national team, says his main role with Brazil “is to help the other players score goals.” He set up teammates twice in Brazil’s 4-1 win over Japan last week.Ronaldinho 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 quarter-finals.
