YOKOHAMA, June 30: Ronaldo, the flop of the 1998 World Cup final, scored two goals to steer Brazil to a record fifth world title with a 2-0 win over Germany on Sunday.

His deadly marksmanship also earned him a place alongside Pele in the history of the finals.

After failing to live up to expectations in Brazil’s 3-0 defeat by France four years ago, Ronaldo gave a master class in poaching goals on a humid Japanese night in front of an estimated worldwide television audience of 1.5 billion people.

The first clash between the two most successful nations in the 72-year-old history of the World Cup finished with Brazil extending their record of triumphs in the tournament to five after previous victories in 1958, 1962, 1970 and 1994.

It was a remarkable change of fortunes for Ronaldo who had a fit shortly before the 1998 final and has since had a series of leg injuries and undergone two operations.

“The goal crowned my work and the work of the whole team. I worked for 2 years trying to recover from that injury and today God reserved this for me and the Brazilian team. I am very happy,” he said.

Ronaldo’s first goal on 67 minutes matched Gerd Mueller, who scored 14 goals in the prestigious tournament, in his prime. The Brazilian poached a loose ball after Germany goalkeeper and captain Oliver Kahn had spilled a Rivaldo drive.

Kahn, who had let in just one goal in the whole tournament before the final, had to pick the ball out of the back of the net for a second time 12 minutes later when Ronaldo grabbed his second with a smart right-foot shot after a Rivaldo dummy.

“It was the only mistake I made in seven games at this World Cup and it was punished,” Kahn said.—Reuters