Ronaldo El Fenomeno

Talent is the gift of God. People born with them are gifted. They are blessed with the gifts that we witness in the nature in form of wind, water, fire, earth, trees, stars, flowers, rain, storm, volcano, ocean, mountains and many more. A God-gifted talent tends to possess the speed of the wind, power as the volcano, determination as the mountain, patience as an Oak Tree, smoothness as the river, a big heart as the Ocean and a dash of wildness, intelligence and beauty as the wildflowers and trees.

Such individuals are born once in a generation. The world is yet to be blessed with another Leonardo Da Vinci or William Shakespeare or Albert Einstein. We have still not witnessed another Michael Jackson or Beethoven. Neither would we witness another Marlon Brando  nor, Charlie Chaplin. Nor, would we witness another Pele, Garrincha or Diego Maradona and of course, we would not witness a striker as prolific and deadly as Ronaldo Nazario aka El Fenomeno.    

We are living in the era of Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi – the craze about them is huge. With the emergence of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, the hype of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi is expected to increase more and more in the coming days, it may even cross the limits of soberness and logic to undermine the legends of the past.

In the ever-changing world – it's not unexpected for Cristiano Ronaldo to replace El Fenomeno in the coming days, but to establish himself as the real Ronaldo – Cristiano has a lot to prove as El Fenomeno was not just about scoring goals – rather it was about how he scored them, under what circumstances he scored them, and how impactful has he been for club and country during his tenure as the best player in the world.

To be honest – I have no intention to compare El Fenomeno with Cristiano Ronaldo – neither do I wish to compare the great man with Messi as talents like El Fenomeno are beyond comparison like Pele and Maradona.

If you are a footballer from Brazil, your greatness will be judged by the ability to perform on the Greatest Show on Earth – the FIFA World Cup. If you cannot lift the World Cup Trophy, you will be reduced to a  Zizinho, Zico or Socrates. Since the era of Pele ended in 1970, Brazil was left without a major international trophy until Romario broke the jinx in 1989 by winning the Copa America and five years later he would break the World Cup jinx in the United States of America.

A 17-year-old Ronaldo was part of that squad – he could realize how important it is for a nation like Brazil to win the trophy. Immediately, he started to shine for Brazil and in 1998 it was supposed to be his swan song but Zinedine Zidane had the last laugh. on that night in Paris. Then came the tragic injury that threatened his career like Marco van Basten of Holland.

But Ronaldo was a different breed. He had the determination of a mountain that stands tall amid every natural catastrophe. In 2002, it would be the World Cup of Ronaldo. His eight goals and individual brilliance throughout the tournament helped the Selecao win the title for the fifth time. He was half-fit even when the ball rolled but Ronaldo accumulated all his talent and focus to achieve greatness.

A young Ronaldo was a treat for the eyes - his athleticism was at the level that one witnesses once in a generation, and he exploited that to great effect in combination with a vast amount of tricks – elastico, step-over, roulette, fake runs and son.

His tricks were not for entertainment, but to dictate the terms on the pitch even when the chances of a goal are lesser. This made him a threat in a 1vs.1 situation no matter where he was on the pitch, particularly in the half-spaces where he could use his balance to absorb contact and still maintain solo runs into the dangerous areas. Even in crowded areas where the defender was able to get a touch on the ball, more times than not, he would still somehow come out of it with possession.

 Whenever he had possession of the ball and was facing an opponent who was quickly trying to dispossess him, his ability to quickly shift the ball between his feet made it so tackle attempts by the opponent often missed which allowed him to get to his top gear extremely quickly.

Ronaldo was not just an o-ball threat, but he was well-rounded with his off-ball movement as well.

His elite burst made him deadly like a cyclone in open space - but his unique physical features also made him equally adept at quickly changing directions after executing 1 and 2 combinations and spinning away from his marker.

He could make curling runs from either half-space into the middle at top speed, or from one half-space to the opposite. It was not uncommon to see him shift multiple directions on a defender’s blindside if the defender turned his back before receiving the final ball in the box. It even got to the point where Ronaldo carried so much gravity that his movement could create space for his teammates to exploit.

Even after adding size to his frame to adjust to European football, Ronaldo still wasn’t someone who had an overpowering physique. Rather, he would rely on the functional strength that he had to operate in more congested spaces.

Injuries and Thyroid disorders reduced intensity of Ronaldo by the age of 25 - but his effectiveness remained which was built on short bursts, the ability to move to the ideal places, exploit the half-spaces as much as possible, building up plays by dropping deeper and use the long-range shots to the maximum.

Ronaldo went from being a striker who could create his own shot off the dribble and engage his teammates to create shots for him at various levels. Being strong on both feet had helped him to master the ability to get shots off despite defenders having a greater chance of being able to disrupt his rhythm.

The man adapted to the situations whenever it was required by the age of 29 what El Fenomeno had achieved, many footballers can only dream of.

Certainly, Ronaldo is a once-in-a-generation player – and in my opinion, he is the greatest striker in history. 

In 2006  –  era of Ronaldo El Fenomeno ended. 

To this day, Brazil has yet to unleash the beauty and the beast on the pitch. The disappointment in South Africa only indicated how much talent and temperament the current players need to unleash yet another golden era for Brazil.

Thank You

Faisal Caesar