Brazil still warming up But Ronaldo not up to the task By ROB LONGLEY -- Toronto Sun Mon, June 19, 2006

MUNICH -- The Brazilians still may get up to speed before the World Cup reaches its elimination stages this weekend.

Sadly, and at times pathetically, it is apparent that their fast fading star, Ronaldo, will not.

For the second match in a row, Ronaldo, once the heart of his team and hyped as a major face of this tournament, was booed by Brazilian fans when substituted yesterday.

Many more days like this and comparisons to the great Pele, ready as they were after Brazil won the title four years ago in Japan, will be reduced to a whisper.

Ronaldo hasn't been the only listless performer for the heavy favourites, who were flattered by the 2-0 final score in a win over the persistent Socceroos of Australia yesterday.

No one is panicking yet mind you, given the Brazilian way of building in performance as a tournament moves along. Their coach, Carlos Alberto Parreira, is big on bottom line rationalization and with six points, the Brazilians have their spot in the Round of 16 booked.

But viewed alongside impressive performances by teams such as Argentina and Spain, the Brazilians are no longer the clear-cut choice to repeat.

The Socceroos put up a game fight at an Allianz Arena glowing in yellow with the supporters of both teams.

However, once the Brazilians acknowledged they were not playing the Wiggles in soccer shoes but a determined side willing to play unyielding defence, they got on with it in the second half.

A goal in the 49th minute by Adriano, which actually was set up by a rare astute Ronaldo play, was all Brazil would need. The lively goal scorer then did his best Terrell Owens routine, hustling to the sideline for a rock-the-baby routine.

Surely baby Adriano Junior, who was born Friday, will one day be proud.

Ronaldo wasn't the only one to struggle as the so-called Magic Quartet of Brazil was held in check again. Ronaldhino was lacking his usual magic and drew laughter when he actually tripped over the ball while inside the box.

But fair or not, it is Ronaldo who will be seen as the portly portal for the uncharacteristic bland play of the Brazilians.

Despite the fact he reported to training camp overweight and struggled visibly in his team's 1-0 opening game win over Croatia, Parreira has been unwavering in his support.

"Ronaldo will start, he is the team," Parreira said earlier.

Assuming nothing was lost in the translation, Parreira would chair a small meeting of those who share that view.

He has been called "fat and unfit" and "slow and strange" by the demanding Brazilian press. And yesterday, Ronaldo did little to dispel those grades. Once, he earned a yellow card when he fired the ball in the net long after being whistled for offside.

Then after being set up nicely by Kaka in front of the Australian goal, he completely flubbed his attempted kick.

Earlier in the week, Ronaldo had to be taken to a German hospital after suffering from dizzy spells.

But the fact that they were unimpressive in lengthening their Cup record winning streak to nine games doesn't seem to phase the champs.

Nor does the off form of Ronaldo, who is just three goals shy of becoming the World Cup's career leading scorer but is no longer much of a threat to claim the title.

Parreira has acknowledged that he has a bench full of subs who could be starters and even stars for most countries here.

But he's not going to bail on Ronaldo yet, something he made clear in rejecting the cries from the Brazilian media that a more energetic Robinho would better serve the cause.

"Robinho is a different player to Ronaldo," Parreira said.

"But it's also much different coming on for the last 20 minutes, compared to playing for the first 70.

"Ronaldo is slowly getting his rhythm back, but he needs to play more games to get more rhythm."

Slow being the operative and increasingly obvious word.