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| June 07, 2006 | Wednesday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 10, 1427 |
Ronaldinho will be at his best: Brazil coach
KOENIGSTEIN (Germany), June 6: The World Cup will see the best of Brazil playmaker Ronaldinho, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said on Tuesday. Parreira, who described himself as a “talent facilitator” rather than a coach, said it was important the Barcelona player enjoyed himself on the pitch.
Ronaldinho, 26, played in the winning team four years ago but was somewhat overshadowed by Ronaldo and Rivaldo and marred his tournament by getting sent off in the quarterfinal against England.
He has been voted FIFA's World Player of the Year twice since but the achievement was mainly based on his club form.
“He has undoubtedly matured since 2002,” Parreira told reporters. “He has grown up as a player, a man and a person and I think this will reflect in his performance at the World Cup.
“I think he is ready to have a wonderful World Cup.”
Parreira was fulsome in his praise of Ronaldinho.
“His skills, I cannot describe them, there are so many of them and they are so great,” said the coach. “He can do anything with the ball.
“But it is important to point out his application and determination are also outstanding.
“The important thing is he plays with happiness, he forgets about the fact it's a World Cup, about the marking, and he enjoys himself and gets on with his own game.”
Parreira views his role as allowing players like Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Adriano and Kaka to flourish.
“I'm not a coach, I'm a talent facilitator,” said Parreira, who rarely varies his line-ups and avoids making drastic changes during games.
“For a team to win the World Cup, they have to be faithful to their style. They have to impose their style on the opposition, not change according to the opponents.”
Parreira said that, despite so many high-profile players, he had found the squad easy to control.
“To put them all into one team is a Herculean task and, at the start, four years ago, I admit I had my doubts,” he said.
“But the World Cup qualifiers proved they are willing to play as a team. We've always found the South American qualifiers difficult and this time we made them look easy.”
Brazil open their Group F campaign against Croatia in Berlin on June 13. Their other first-round opponents are Australia and Japan.--Reuters
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