Tim Vickery [BBC]
5 Jan 09, 07:25 AM
Last week I wrote about Ronaldo's return to Brazilian football and how Corinthians are taking a gamble on his fitness.
There is no doubt that his signing is a risk, but the club have a special reason for being prepared to run it.
This year Ronaldo will have the number 99 on his back.
It is not because, in the club's white shirt, he will look like a giant ice cream. It is because Corinthians celebrate their centenary in 2010.
Ninety-nine years ago a group of Sao Paulo factory workers, inspired by the visit of the Corinthian Casuals, decided to set up a club.
As their city grew, so did Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, who quickly gained a reputation for the passion of their supporters.
But unilke their local rivals, they have never won the Copa Libertadores, South America's Champions League.
Their dream would be for Ronaldo's goals to help them qualify for next year's competition, when they can crown their centenary by at long last lifting the cup.
Centenaries are big news in South American football. Some of this has to do with internal politics.
Most clubs are associations where the president is elected by the members. Making a big fuss of a centenary and having it coincide with success on the field is a terrific way for a sitting administration to ensure that it wins another mandate come election time.
But it is also true that the South American game is immensely proud of its glorious tradition, and that the present can seem linked to the past with a strength of connection which I am not convinced is to be widely found in England.
For my generation (I was born in 1965) nothing that happened in football before 1966 really counted. And it wasn't mainly because of England winning the World Cup.
It was more to do with glancing at football annuals from the early 60s and thinking that the players, with their Bryl-creamed hair and air of deference, looked so old and quaint.
Younger supporters, of course, have the birth of the English Premiership as their Year Zero. For them, serious football began in 1992.
I once even read on this website that Fabio Capello had 'invented' the holding midfielder when he selected Marcel Desailly there for Milan. As if Nobby Stiles never existed!
Brazil often refers to itself as a country with no memory. And, true, many of the idols of yesteryear complain about being neglected.
But even so, the past lives on in the present. Rene Simoes, who took Jamaica to the 1998 World Cup, is now in charge of Fluminense.
Fans display their new Ronaldo Corinthians shirts
He reports that the club's supporters are constantly reminding him that rivals Flamengo have pulled level on a total of 30 Rio state titles. It is hard to imagine English fans caring so much about a scorecard that dates back to 1906.
It is only a tentative explanation, but perhaps the difference has to do with the power of money to instigate change - money which, in the post-war age, has been much better distributed in the first world than the third.
To take my own family as an example, my parents had to leave education early for economic reasons, and my father lived to 84 without getting further than a quick trip to Dublin. And now one of his sons lives in Brazil and the other in Cambodia.
Such stories are rarer in South America. Social progress is taking place, but it is slower and less inclusive.
The restless pace of first world change is clear just from looking at the faces of footballers in England - from our Bryl-creamed friends of the early 60s, to the long-haired rebels a decade later, through the mass emergence of black players to the contemporary reality of squads assembled from the four corners of the world.
For an Arsenal fan reared on, say, David Price, watching Cesc Fabregas at the Emirates must surely represent a golden age. Why look back? But in South America, why not?
The golden age of its club football lies in the past - and especially the 1940s. The game was exploding, the continent was watching the best football in the world and was building some of the biggest and best stadiums.
Six decades on, those same stadiums are now crumbling and obsolete. The stars who graced them are long gone, and their latter day descendants are enchanting a European audience.
But now Ronaldo has returned. And he will be playing his football in the municipal Pacaembu stadium, built in 1940, which Corinthians still use as their home ground.
Pacaembu has played host to Rivellino and Socrates in their pomp - and also to Garrincha's sad and short-lived attempt to recover from a knee injury in 1966. And so the history goes on.
What chapter will Ronaldo be able to write in the centenary of Corinthians?
Comments on this piece in the space below - other questions on South American football to [email protected], and I'll pick out a couple for next week.
From last week's postbag:
A few months ago I watched Brazil v Bolivia live here in Bolivia. It was awful. 0-0. Usually Brazil will crush Bolivia in Brazil. I remember a few years ago, my son crying when we lost 5-1. My question is are Brazil better than I think or are Bolivia better than they've been in recent history? Or both?
Brian Bates, Sucre (Bolivia)
There are tentative signs of Bolivia improving, but I think the game in question said more about Brazil.
First, there was the venue - the Engenhao stadium in Rio. I did a TV show a week before the game with a defender of the Botafogo club (it's their home ground) and he was saying that it's an excellent venue for teams which are looking to hang on for a 0-0 - a small pitch in bad condition.
Then there are the characteristics of the current Brazil side. They can be absolutely devastating on the counter-attack, but they are really struggling to pass their way through sides who sit back and don't offer them the counter. Trying to put this right is their big challenge in the build-up to the next World Cup.
What happened to the Brazilian Denilson? I'm sure he was at Sao Paolo in the late 90's and then went on to Real Betis for a huge amount. Was it a case of him being over- hyped, or moving on too early to fulfil his potential? Also where's he at now?
Chris O'Neill
He certainly was hyped too early, and I'm as guilty as anyone on this charge.
The Betis move - he was the most expensive player in the world at the time - was a disaster. He was talented, had good acceleration, but he was all left foot - and how many wingers can you think of who can carry a side?
He'd believed all the hype about himself, thought that he was well on the way to being crowned the world's best player, and when he saw that it wasn't going to happen he lost momentum.
He's been all over recently - a spell in Saudi Arabia, a (bad) spell in the US with Dallas. In 2008 he was playing in Brazil for Palmeiras - usually as an impact substitute. But the impact wasn't enough - they are letting him go.
5 Jan 09, 07:25 AM
Last week I wrote about Ronaldo's return to Brazilian football and how Corinthians are taking a gamble on his fitness.
There is no doubt that his signing is a risk, but the club have a special reason for being prepared to run it.
This year Ronaldo will have the number 99 on his back.
It is not because, in the club's white shirt, he will look like a giant ice cream. It is because Corinthians celebrate their centenary in 2010.
Ninety-nine years ago a group of Sao Paulo factory workers, inspired by the visit of the Corinthian Casuals, decided to set up a club.
As their city grew, so did Sport Club Corinthians Paulista, who quickly gained a reputation for the passion of their supporters.
But unilke their local rivals, they have never won the Copa Libertadores, South America's Champions League.
Their dream would be for Ronaldo's goals to help them qualify for next year's competition, when they can crown their centenary by at long last lifting the cup.
Centenaries are big news in South American football. Some of this has to do with internal politics.
Most clubs are associations where the president is elected by the members. Making a big fuss of a centenary and having it coincide with success on the field is a terrific way for a sitting administration to ensure that it wins another mandate come election time.
But it is also true that the South American game is immensely proud of its glorious tradition, and that the present can seem linked to the past with a strength of connection which I am not convinced is to be widely found in England.
For my generation (I was born in 1965) nothing that happened in football before 1966 really counted. And it wasn't mainly because of England winning the World Cup.
It was more to do with glancing at football annuals from the early 60s and thinking that the players, with their Bryl-creamed hair and air of deference, looked so old and quaint.
Younger supporters, of course, have the birth of the English Premiership as their Year Zero. For them, serious football began in 1992.
I once even read on this website that Fabio Capello had 'invented' the holding midfielder when he selected Marcel Desailly there for Milan. As if Nobby Stiles never existed!
Brazil often refers to itself as a country with no memory. And, true, many of the idols of yesteryear complain about being neglected.
But even so, the past lives on in the present. Rene Simoes, who took Jamaica to the 1998 World Cup, is now in charge of Fluminense.
Fans display their new Ronaldo Corinthians shirts
He reports that the club's supporters are constantly reminding him that rivals Flamengo have pulled level on a total of 30 Rio state titles. It is hard to imagine English fans caring so much about a scorecard that dates back to 1906.
It is only a tentative explanation, but perhaps the difference has to do with the power of money to instigate change - money which, in the post-war age, has been much better distributed in the first world than the third.
To take my own family as an example, my parents had to leave education early for economic reasons, and my father lived to 84 without getting further than a quick trip to Dublin. And now one of his sons lives in Brazil and the other in Cambodia.
Such stories are rarer in South America. Social progress is taking place, but it is slower and less inclusive.
The restless pace of first world change is clear just from looking at the faces of footballers in England - from our Bryl-creamed friends of the early 60s, to the long-haired rebels a decade later, through the mass emergence of black players to the contemporary reality of squads assembled from the four corners of the world.
For an Arsenal fan reared on, say, David Price, watching Cesc Fabregas at the Emirates must surely represent a golden age. Why look back? But in South America, why not?
The golden age of its club football lies in the past - and especially the 1940s. The game was exploding, the continent was watching the best football in the world and was building some of the biggest and best stadiums.
Six decades on, those same stadiums are now crumbling and obsolete. The stars who graced them are long gone, and their latter day descendants are enchanting a European audience.
But now Ronaldo has returned. And he will be playing his football in the municipal Pacaembu stadium, built in 1940, which Corinthians still use as their home ground.
Pacaembu has played host to Rivellino and Socrates in their pomp - and also to Garrincha's sad and short-lived attempt to recover from a knee injury in 1966. And so the history goes on.
What chapter will Ronaldo be able to write in the centenary of Corinthians?
Comments on this piece in the space below - other questions on South American football to [email protected], and I'll pick out a couple for next week.
From last week's postbag:
A few months ago I watched Brazil v Bolivia live here in Bolivia. It was awful. 0-0. Usually Brazil will crush Bolivia in Brazil. I remember a few years ago, my son crying when we lost 5-1. My question is are Brazil better than I think or are Bolivia better than they've been in recent history? Or both?
Brian Bates, Sucre (Bolivia)
There are tentative signs of Bolivia improving, but I think the game in question said more about Brazil.
First, there was the venue - the Engenhao stadium in Rio. I did a TV show a week before the game with a defender of the Botafogo club (it's their home ground) and he was saying that it's an excellent venue for teams which are looking to hang on for a 0-0 - a small pitch in bad condition.
Then there are the characteristics of the current Brazil side. They can be absolutely devastating on the counter-attack, but they are really struggling to pass their way through sides who sit back and don't offer them the counter. Trying to put this right is their big challenge in the build-up to the next World Cup.
What happened to the Brazilian Denilson? I'm sure he was at Sao Paolo in the late 90's and then went on to Real Betis for a huge amount. Was it a case of him being over- hyped, or moving on too early to fulfil his potential? Also where's he at now?
Chris O'Neill
He certainly was hyped too early, and I'm as guilty as anyone on this charge.
The Betis move - he was the most expensive player in the world at the time - was a disaster. He was talented, had good acceleration, but he was all left foot - and how many wingers can you think of who can carry a side?
He'd believed all the hype about himself, thought that he was well on the way to being crowned the world's best player, and when he saw that it wasn't going to happen he lost momentum.
He's been all over recently - a spell in Saudi Arabia, a (bad) spell in the US with Dallas. In 2008 he was playing in Brazil for Palmeiras - usually as an impact substitute. But the impact wasn't enough - they are letting him go.