Thursday, June 29, 2006

By JAMES MULLIGAN

Staff writer

DORTMUND, Germany -- A record-breaking goal from Ronaldo set the Brazilians on the way to victory, but the Ghanaians leave the World Cup knowing they outplayed and outfought their opponents at times and that a 3-0 score line was an unfair representation of this second-round tieup.

Ronaldo dribbles the ball past Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson to score for Brazil during their Round of 16 World Cup match in Dortmund on Tuesday. Brazil won 3-0.

Ronaldo's fifth-minute goal means he has now scored 15 in World Cup finals, moving ahead of Germany's Gerd Mueller for the most goals scored in the tournament. The Real Madrid man has scored three so far in Germany.

Adriano scored a contentious second goal in first-half injury time and Ze Roberto tapped in a third with six minutes to ago. Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic's halftime protests over the decision to award Adriano's goal earned him a red card from the referee.

His opposite number, Carlos Alberto Parreira, said it wasn't as easy some thought it would be, clear to all watching the game.

"We won, but the result doesn't show that it was not an easy game at all. The big guys are going to the quarterfinals. Brazil is one of them. Everyone wants to beat the world champions, so it's getter tougher and tougher," he said.

Ronaldo was surely close to breaking another record -- for sustained inertia of an international center forward -- before his goal. The 29-year-old Real Madrid striker has always been an impact player, but now takes this to extremes by hardly moving for much of the match and only becomes animated when the ball is presented to his feet.

But this approach to the game sums up Brazil. They play in fits and starts, conserving energy, "letting the ball do the work" as the cliche has it, before exploding forward to devastating effect.

Ghana would have had every right to be slightly miffed at halftime. It retained possession for much of the first 45 minutes, outplayed and outfought its opponent and created chances, but found itself down 2-0.

The Africans were missing Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien, a player of astonishing power and pace, but midfield partner and ex-Juventus star Stephen Appiah took it upon himself to drive his team forward and did so admirably.

Forward Matthew Amoah, playing in the familiar surroundings of his club Borussia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion, was denied first by inaccuracy and secondly by weakness in his shot before John Mensah's header was miraculously kept out by the legs of Dida as Ghana pushed forward at a relentless tick.

Either side of these chances, though, Brazil struck twice with blink-and-you'd-miss-it brilliance.

On five minutes, Kaka cracked open the defense with a pass that Real Madrid's Ronaldo collected before bamboozling 'keeper Richard Kingson with a dummy and rolling the ball into the net.

Adriano's goal in the dying moments of the first half was controversial. AC Milan's Kaka put in club teammate Cafu down the right, at which point Inter Milan's Adriano was offside but not directly interfering with play, and when Cafu crossed the forward still seemed slightly offside but was allowed to bundle the ball into the net.

The Ghana players couldn't believe the goal was given and surrounded the referee and linesman, while Serbian coach Dujkovic was sent to the stands for the second half after overdoing the protests at halftime.

Ghana still had the chances to get back into the match, but striker Asamoah Gyan's pathetic dive in the area on 81 minutes kidded no one and all he got was a second yellow card, which meant Ghana finished with 10 men.

Three minutes later Brazil scored its third as man-of-the-match Ze Roberto left Kingson flailing after beating the 'keeper to a pass from substitute Ricardinho and tapped the ball into the unguarded net.

"I'm very proud, as my players fought from the first minute of the first match to the last minute today," Dujkovic said. "We missed some important chances, they scored three goals. They are a fantastic team, and if you give them a fraction of a second, they will finish you."

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