J'Accusao (Brazil Update)

El Fenomeno vs. El Gordo: His Goods, His Bads and His Uglies
By now everybody knows that Ronaldo is the best all-time scorer in World Cup History. I shall repeat the tedious explanation that this record does not remove Just Fontaine's achievement of 13 goals in one tournament. Ronaldo's achievement is over more than one World Cup. Fifteen goals (till now) over three tournaments (18 games). The man kicked off the 2006 campaign as the heavyweight-anchor-johnnie-walker who seemed unable to run for his life let alone running for the ball. Four matches and three goals later his catharsis seems to be on its way to completion. The observant fan will have noticed that his running has not greatly improved and that Brasil still play with the "10 + Ronaldo" philosophy but his sniper-like efficiency is second to none.

One of Ronaldo's most vocal critics has been Ignacio da Lula, Brasil's socialist President. Lula has something in commonm with another Socialist leader I know: the grapevine reports that he has a tendency to find comfort at the bottom of a bottle of spirit. Today's IHT quote of the day comes straight from Ronaldo with reference to Lula:

"Everybody says that I'm fat and he drinks. Since it's a lie that I'm fat then it must also be a lie that he drinks" - Ronaldo.

The Hospital
Robinho missed the Ghana match through injury. The Ghanians top the list of World Cup yellow cards with around 80 fouls committed in their 4 match run. No wonder that both Kaka' and Emerson are suffering from injuries (Kaka's seems to be the worst) and might have to skip the epic battle against the arrogant Franks.

French Supremacy?
French commentators are among the most incompetent I have ever heard. Their statistical knowledge is less than amateurial, their pre-match preparation non-existent and their commentary repetitive. I was amused while watching Brasil - Ghana on M6 (French channel) at the inherent contradictions of the commentary. On the one hand, the commentator was evidently pro-Ghana since he clearly preferred that Les Bleus face the Africans rather than the South Americans in the next round. On the other hand he could not resist a jibe or two at Brasil. He said that it would be good for Brasil to face France so that they could face a team that is not afraid of them and could also get a lesson in football. Arrogant? Moi?

Frankfurt-am-Main
Or something like that. That is where a delegation of Maltese will be next Saturday. I'll be there too. No ground tickets of course. - luck favours the brave, the resourceful and the corrupt and since I fell under none of these categories I will be watching it in one of the big squares on a big screen but happy in the knowledge that should things go well (fingers crossed) we might have a nice time with the Torcida!

And the Beautiful?
Miss Italia nel Mondo 2006 is a Brasilian babe. Augurs well doesn't it?