Last week, after I cleared customs and immigration at Rio de Janeiro's Galeao International Airport, a familiar face greeted me in the arrivals hall. The electric, buck-toothed smile of Ronaldinho beamed from every newsstand in the building. It was a sight to see. But my smile soon faded when I saw the former two-time FIFA World Player of the Year in action on the pitch later in the week.
For me, Ronaldinho will always be an ambassador of Joga Bonito. And on my first visit to the land of the Beautiful Game, his image was wallpapered across Rio like that of some oppressive, cult-of-personality despot who couldn't care less for diplomacy. The reason: He had just led Flamengo to the Rio state title the previous Sunday. I've read in many publications and online sites in recent years that the various Brazilian state championships are killing Brazil's domestic game and should be scrapped. I wouldn't tell that to a Flamengo fan.
And there are lots of them. More than one of the Rio locals proudly told me that there are 35 million Flamengo fans in Brazil. And in Rio, they all hang black and red flags out their apartment windows, plant them on their rooftops, and don replica jerseys to do the grocery shopping. Brazilian soccer is every bit as fanatical as I hoped it would be.
And I was really hoping that, against all odds, Ronaldinho might have recaptured his magic back in Brazil. I loved watching the young Ronaldinho Gaucho (as Brazilians still tend to call him) play at the 2002 World Cup. I attended three Brazil games in person at that tournament, and there really is nothing in sports quite like a samba-style Brazil team in full flow, dancing and dazzling its way through a game. And no one embodied the delight of that more than Selecao's No. 11.
The 2002 World Cup proved a launching pad for a brilliant period for Ronaldinho that resulted in his winning FIFA World Player of the Year honors in 2004 and 2005 and a UEFA Champions League title with Barcelona in 2006. But at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, everything went south for then-world champion Brazil and its best player, Ronaldinho. Somewhere along the highway to soccer immortality, the former Gremio starlet took an exit ramp no one saw coming.
After seeing all the hullabaloo surrounding the Rio state championship win with Flamengo, I was hoping one of my all-time favorite players was somehow ready to reboot his action-hero status and take aim at the 2014 World Cup. However, after watching him play in Flamengo's 2-1 home loss to Ceara in the Copa do Brasil quarterfinal first leg in Rio last Thursday night, it's hard to imagine he will be part of the World Cup carnivale when it heads back to Brazil three years from now.
Granted, it was only his second game back after injury, and the entire team looked like the state championship hangover was in play that evening. But captain Ronaldinho didn't do much to lift his team. In the classic manner of the aging superstar, he had about two good 15-minutes shifts in him and did a lot of strolling around in between. Yes, there was the odd delightful shimmy, and a superb free kick that produced a highlight-reel save from Fernando Henrique in the Ceara goal, but that was pretty much it. And the Flamengo fans weren't too thrilled.
The stands were half-full Thursday night (the 10 p.m. kickoff and playing in Botafogo's stadium while the Maracana is being renovated probably didn't help attendance), but the drum-beat decibel level still approached 11, and in the second-half, so did the booing for Ronaldinho.
One game doesn't make a season, and certainly not a career. And though Ronaldinho is clearly in decline, his superb pass in the return leg in Ceara on Wednesday night to set up Flamengo's first goal in what would be a 2-2 tie demonstrates that the great man still has powers. But alas, not enough to be a serious contender for a Brazil place in 2014.
Everyone down in Rio wants that Brazil team to play like it's 1982. But me, I'd just settle for Ronaldinho playing like it's 2002.