KOENIGSTEIN, Germany -- Something has gone right for Ronaldo.
The struggling Brazilian star has been cleared to start in Sunday's game
against Australia after yet another health scare. Ronaldo was taken to a
Frankfurt hospital complaining of dizziness on Wednesday, was given some
medication and went back to the team hotel.
Brazil team doctor Jose Luiz Runco said Thursday that Ronaldo was examined as
a precaution, and coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said the striker will be in the
lineup for the match in Munich.
"He's confirmed (to start)," Parreira said, adding that "there was nothing
wrong" with Ronaldo.
But not much has been positive for the hero of the 2002 World Cup
championship squad.
Ronaldo has twice had serious knee injuries that have sidelined him for
several months at a time. After a series of injuries with Real Madrid earlier in
the year, Ronaldo arrived for Brazil's training camp admittedly overweight and
not in form. Even the Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, got
involved in the weight controversy.
In Brazil's last warmup match before its World Cup debut, against New Zealand
in Switzerland, Ronaldo was forced to leave the field because of blisters caused
by defective shoes. A couple of days later he missed practice because of the
respiratory infection.
Then came the "Is he fat?" controversy, followed by such a mediocre
performance in Brazil's 1-0 win over Croatia to start defense of its title that
Ronaldo was replaced with 21 minutes remaining.
Then the dizziness.
Runco said Ronaldo was taken to a medical clinic after feeling dizzy for the
second time in less than a week. The doctor said Ronaldo also complained of
dizziness when he suffered the respiratory infection last week.
"After he told us he felt dizzy, which had already happened, we decided to
investigate," Runco said.
The player underwent an endoscopy, blood tests and several scans, Runco said,
adding all results showed the striker was fine.
Runco also said he could not rule out stress as the cause of Ronaldo's latest
problem.
"I felt an indisposition on my day off and the doctor took me to the hospital
for a series of examinations," Ronaldo said Thursday. "There was nothing
abnormal and it gave us the tranquility we needed. I'm feeling much better
today."
He went through a stretching session at the team's base outside Frankfurt and
was put through some running drills in the afternoon.
He wasn't making any excuses for his poor showing against Croatia.
"I'm aware that it wasn't the performance I would've liked for the opener,"
Ronaldo said. "But the important thing was that we won the match, now it's try
to improve to get better for the next match."
Still, he could find himself benched again if he doesn't improve -- Brazil
isn't exactly lacking for scoring threats to replace him.
Ronaldo was with Brazil when it won the title in 1994 and 2002, and he could
join Pele as the only player on three World Cup-winning squads. Pele played on
Brazil's teams in 1958, 1962 and 1970.
Ronaldo came close to a third title in 1998, but he had unexplained
convulsions in the hours leading up to the final. He played poorly, and Brazil
lost 3-0 to host France.
