Ronaldo to announce retirement Monday

billymitchell

I'm getting goosebumps watching those video's. Far and away the best player of the last 20 years.

dahat

Found this on Off The Ball facecrap page..long video but a great video.

Bow down to the best NO.9 i have ever seen play

Oat23

Watching the 02 final on ESPN Classic(brilliant channel) at the minute. Second half just started and Ronaldo would have ended the game in the first half if it wasn't for another legend, Oliver Khan.

dahat wrote: »

Found this on Off The Ball facecrap page..long video but a great video.

Bow down to the best NO.9 i have ever seen play

Made by Archimedes/Tom_Brady

dahat

Oatesy23 wrote: »

Watching the 02 final on ESPN Classic(brilliant channel) at the minute. Second half just started and Ronaldo would have ended the game in the first half if it wasn't for another legend, Oliver Khan.


Made by Archimedes/Tom_Brady

really?

WOW!!! fair play to the lads.

Himself and Romário were a joy to watch for Brazil.

Ro-Ro.

Blatter

dahat wrote: »

really?

WOW!!! fair play to the lads.

They are the same person, I think.

dahat

SOCCER4LIFE wrote: »

They are the same person, I think.

FAIL on my part............"runs away".............

Peyton Manning

That Archimedes was an awful twat, don't associate me with him! :pac:

I'm doing a tribute week for Ronaldo on BackPageFootball. Each day this week Im going to write about a moment in his career that defined how great he was. I've started off today with a look back at "that" performance at Old Trafford back in 2003, feel free to check it out

http://backpagefootball.com/columnists/ronaldo-defining-moments-part-1/

jaykay74

Tom_Brady wrote: »

That Archimedes was an awful twat, don't associate me with him! :pac:

I'm doing a tribute week for Ronaldo on BackPageFootball. Each day this week Im going to write about a moment in his career that defined how great he was. I've started off today with a look back at "that" performance at Old Trafford back in 2003, feel free to check it out

http://backpagefootball.com/columnists/ronaldo-defining-moments-part-1/

Nice one Archi, Just noticed it featured by BBCSoccer in a tweet a minute ago...

BBCSoccer
Ronaldo hung up his boots for the last time today, here are his defining moments http://is.gd/Ft5shm

eZe^

Tom_Brady wrote: »

That Archimedes was an awful twat, don't associate me with him! :pac:

I'm doing a tribute week for Ronaldo on BackPageFootball. Each day this week Im going to write about a moment in his career that defined how great he was. I've started off today with a look back at "that" performance at Old Trafford back in 2003, feel free to check it out

http://backpagefootball.com/columnists/ronaldo-defining-moments-part-1/

Gotta do the compostela goal too, with Sir Bobby Robson going 'how the f*ck did he do that' on the sidelines.

Great read Archi, and that video is immense.

Peyton Manning

jaykay74 wrote: »

BBCSoccer
Ronaldo hung up his boots for the last time today, here are his defining moments http://is.gd/Ft5shm

Wow, that's awesome. They were quick! It's actually a retweet of a tweet from Eire_Dearg (i.e. The Boss ) so thanks ED!

Paparazzo

I remember when he played with Inter, some girl Ronaldo was with sold her kiss and tell story to the local rag. Ronaldo was about to sue, but dropped the charges when he read the story and discovered she said that he was amazing in bed.
Legend

IvySlayer

The greatest player I have ever seen. He'll be missed. In 2002 he was breathtaking, one of only 2 legendary strikers to beat Oliver Kahn

Charisteas

I was lucky enough to say that I had seen him play in the flesh, and i'm lucky to say that because it was only four months ago in Sao Paulo, when Corinthians beat Palmeiras 1-0. Of course he was well past his best, but he was still making great runs and drawing fouls from defenders. But what a moment it was surrounded by the electric Corinthians supporters when Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos stepped out onto the pitch. I got goosebumps.

One of the greatest ever players, and maybe the greatest ever goalscorer in my generation, thanks for the memories Ronaldo.

On a side-note, it looks like Roberto Carlos has also quit Corinthians.

Peyton Manning

Had to post this video. There's not a single goal in it, but it still shows better than any video I've seen how terrifying he was to defenders. Great, great video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3M7R8nKMxlo

Seaneh

Great career, played for the two greatest clubs in the history of the game.


And Barca and Inter.
I guess nobody has a perfect career...

adox

A legend of a player. Everythings already been said on this thread.

eZe^

Just watched some videos of Ronaldo and started getting really depressed. It seems most of the heros that I've grown up watching aren't really still in the game anymore. The youtube video linked me to some of the old nike ads, some great footballers in there that I'll always remember growing up. I'll miss Ronaldo, Maldini, Davids, Nedved, Crespo, Luis Enrique, Zidane, Rivaldo, Henry, Baggio, Guardiola, Bergkamp, Desaily, Suker, Matthaeus, Carlos, Denilson, Cafu, Thuram, even Judas (Figo) all at the top level of football.


Ronaldo's retirement not only marks the end of one of the greatest of all time, but the end of an era of talented footballers in which he was the benchmark. Pretty gutted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAFiU2FDSy8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TXPI7Vur1Y

Sum up my feelings really. Extremely talented era of players, but it'll also be the nostalgia attached at those guys being the generation of players I grew up with. Great stuff....

Ush1

Good to see a player of our generation who we can all agree on as being a special, special lad.

kryogen

His interview nearly had me in tears, i particularly felt for him when he mentioned people giving him jibes about his weight when it is a genuine medical condition that he could manage with medication but cant while playing as it contains a banned substance.

He says the head wants to go on, wants to continue but the body cant anymore, he says it hurts him to walk up stairs

he got me

kryogen

So direct and aggressive with the ball in that video Tom, I will never forget the sight of him in full flow, must have kept defenders awake the night before they knew they were going to be facing him

Pace, power, aggression, skill. he had it all

Dempsey

kryogen wrote: »

His interview nearly had me in tears, i particularly felt for him when he mentioned people giving him jibes about his weight when it is a genuine medical condition that he could manage with medication but cant while playing as it contains a banned substance.

He says the head wants to go on, wants to continue but the body cant anymore, he says it hurts him to walk up stairs

he got me

Tim Vickery said in a BBC blog that he was reliably told that the weight gain was because of the medication he was taking for his knees

EDIT

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/timvickery/2010/10/can_ronaldo_prove_us_wrong_aga.html

I am reliably informed that Ronaldo's current weight problem is, in part, a consequence of the medication he needs to soothe his battered knees.

kryogen

Cant remember exact term, but he said he has something that slows his metabolism down and to counteract it requires medication that he cant take cause it contains a banned substance.

Ush1

kryogen wrote: »

Cant remember exact term, but he said he has something that slows his metabolism down and to counteract it requires medication that he cant take cause it contains a banned substance.

It's his thyroid gland, the most common is an under active gland which causes weight gain.

Seaneh

Yeah, when he was at Milan they diagnosed it and the entire medical team was shocked it had gone so long undetected. They put him in a mental diet and an intense training plan and he lost a lot of weight very quickly but at the time they said it could only be properly treated with medication which was currently banned by the IOC. They appealed a few times and were told tough luck.

kryogen

yeah thats it, such a shame. its the reason i get so pissed off when people make jokes about his weight

Peyton Manning

Seaneh wrote: »

Yeah, when he was at Milan they diagnosed it and the entire medical team was shocked it had gone so long undetected.

That's Milan Lab for you. Probably more advanced than most hospitals!

Ush1

Tom_Brady wrote: »

That's Milan Lab for you. Probably more advanced than most hospitals!

Yet they thought there was a problem with Aly Cissokhos teeth! Or so they said....

Seaneh

Well, apparently it should have showed up in the general blood test all top clubs do for physicals. Like, if your thyroid isn't working properly there is an abundance or shortage of certain chemicals in your blood. So if your white blood cell count is too low or too high they will do HCT test to check the exact amount of white blood cells in your system and from that they can see if your thyroid is going a bit silly.

Apparently his levels were all over the shop.

Seaneh

Ush1 wrote: »

Yet they thought there was a problem with Aly Cissokhos teeth! Or so they said....

They made beckham wear a retainer while he was at milan, he said that the difference was so noticable he still uses it while he sleeps.

Milan lab is insane.

Even players jumping is tested and "fixed".

If your gate is wrong they make you learn how to walk properly.


It's pretty hardcore stuff.

Big Pussy Bonpensiero

Wow, this news hit me like a ton of bricks. Phenomenol player. Deserves everything he's ever won and more. His stepovers were unbelievable. It's a pity the world was robbed of such a great talent for so long. Makes his WC record all the more awesome. Nothing really more I can say that hasn't been said before.

Viva Ronaldo!

Dempsey

I wonder if his weight problem contributed to his knee problems, you'd have to think that it was extra pressure on his joints at least. Imagine if his condition was discovered when he was a kid and managed better. He might have been able to prove himself as the greatest footballer that ever player the game.

Bodhisopha

eZe^ wrote: »

Just watched some videos of Ronaldo and started getting really depressed. It seems most of the heros that I've grown up watching aren't really still in the game anymore. The youtube video linked me to some of the old nike ads, some great footballers in there that I'll always remember growing up. I'll miss Ronaldo, Maldini, Davids, Nedved, Crespo, Luis Enrique, Zidane, Rivaldo, Henry, Baggio, Guardiola, Bergkamp, Desaily, Suker, Matthaeus, Carlos, Denilson, Cafu, Thuram, even Judas (Figo) all at the top level of football.


Ronaldo's retirement not only marks the end of one of the greatest of all time, but the end of an era of talented footballers in which he was the benchmark. Pretty gutted.



Sum up my feelings really. Extremely talented era of players, but it'll also be the nostalgia attached at those guys being the generation of players I grew up with. Great stuff....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8ZnCT14nRc

spiralism

Farewell to a legend... fondly remember watching him tear up the 2002 World Cup, he was magnificent. I remember his hat trick at Old Trafford somewhat less fondly but I'll never forget him doing it and coming off to a standing ovation.

d22ontour

One of the greatest forwards the game has ever seen, only for his injuries i think he may have been the best imo.

Bodhisopha

d22ontour wrote: »

One of the greatest forwards the game has ever seen, only for his injuries i think he may have been the best imo.

The greatest striker ever as far as i'm concerned and only for his injuries he could've been the best player ever. I really believe that.

Peyton Manning

Just posted part 2 of my series this week. Goes into the few details that are available of what happened the day of the WC final in 1998, probably the most infamous incident to coincide with a final.

everdead.ie

Seaneh wrote: »

They made beckham wear a retainer while he was at milan, he said that the difference was so noticable he still uses it while he sleeps.

Milan lab is insane.

Even players jumping is tested and "fixed".

If your gate is wrong they make you learn how to walk properly.


It's pretty hardcore stuff.

I once saw Ronaldo wearing a retainer/gum shield during a match and they said it did something to release more testosterone. Pretty amazing stuff football is pretty far behind a lot of sports though in making these kinds of things work in the game I'm surprised this kind of stuff isn't utilised more.

pickarooney

Seaneh wrote: »

Great career, played for the two greatest clubs in the history of the game.


And Barca and Inter.
I guess nobody has a perfect career...

PSV are a force in Dutch football but with just the one European Cup I think you're being a little generous.

Does anyone else just love the word COOOHHEEEEENTCHEEEEAAAANZ!

amacachi

Episode of Football's Greatest about him just starting on SS1 now.

Dolph Starbeam

I always remember the Flamengo story where they would not loan him the money to pay for his final trial and missed out on him because of it.

He is easily the greatest striker of our generation, i started supporting Inter when he signed for them. His 3 goals in Old Trafford for Real Madrid was brilliant, i'll never forget that and the whole crowd giving him a standing ovation.

I have heard a lot of people saying over the last few days "imagine waht he could have achieved if he hadn't of got those injuries" etc. Just take a look at what he has achieved and his goal scoring record, he has achieved almost everything and has still managed to be imo and a lot of others the greatest striker of the past 20 odd years.

Peyton Manning

MOG7 wrote: »

I have heard a lot of people saying over the last few days "imagine waht he could have achieved if he hadn't of got those injuries" etc. Just take a look at what he has achieved and his goal scoring record, he has achieved almost everything and has still managed to be imo and a lot of others the greatest striker of the past 20 odd years.

On that subject, a great paragraph I read this morning:

And so, in the retirement stories, you get bizarre summations like this one, from Paul Wilson's oddly half-hearted Guardian write-up: "His career choices may not have been ideal, his lifestyle questionable and his fitness, particularly his knees, suspect throughout, but in spite of all that Ronaldo deserves to be remembered as a remarkable player." In spite of being the person who became a remarkable player, Ronaldo deserves to be remembered as a remarkable player. This is where you can either stay alive to what's wonderful about sports or give up and admit you see players as oil wells. Ronaldo isn't a quantifiable reserve of potential that was never efficiently tapped or a set of character traits that never reliably pumped out his natural talent. He's a person, the interface of whose personality with the world produced some breathtaking moments in a game.

Ronaldo's 1996-97 season with Barcelona was the sort of event in sports that you simply can't count on witnessing. Rather than lamenting that it didn't happen again, we should be marveling that it happened in the first place. Is it worth pointing out, too, that Ronaldo's so-called decline wasn't exactly the stuff of horror? He won a World Cup in 2002, scoring eight goals along the way; won two La Liga titles with Real Madrid; netted hundreds of goals; successfully retooled his game after twice rupturing a tendon in his knee; picked up two more FIFA World Player of the Year awards; and, after moving back to Brazil in the twilight of his career, won two trophies with Corinthians in 2009. I wish more athletes were such comprehensive failures.

Peyton Manning

Part 3 of my tribute.

Two more shameless spams aside on Thursday on Friday, it's hard to believe this thread will be done come the weekend, and dust will begin to settle on the memories

There is talk that he could play for Brazil in their friendly versus Scotland as a sort of testimonial in March, would prefer a proper dedicated one though. Brazil vs Ronaldo XI. I reckon we'd see the likes of Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Kaka, Lucio, Raul maybe even Recoba if we got one. Fair to say, I think he deserves it!

pickarooney

Nice job again Archie. It doesn't seem like a week is long enough to sum his career up.

Your tagline should probably by El Fenómeno in Spanish or O Fenômeno in Portuguese, BTW.

CorkMan

Mark! wrote: »

He is easily the greatest striker of our generation, i started supporting Inter when he signed for them. His 3 goals in Old Trafford for Real Madrid was brilliant, i'll never forget that and the whole crowd giving him a standing ovation.

I started to follow Real Madrid when he signed for them

He has 62 goals in 97 games for Brazil, superb record. Plus I don't know many players who got a brace in a world cup final.

Oat23

Tom_Brady wrote: »

There is talk that he could play for Brazil in their friendly versus Scotland as a sort of testimonial in March, would prefer a proper dedicated one though. Brazil vs Ronaldo XI. I reckon we'd see the likes of Zidane, Figo, Roberto Carlos, Kaka, Lucio, Raul maybe even Recoba if we got one. Fair to say, I think he deserves it!

If this happens then my savings fund for the 2014 WC in Brazil will take a beating. I'm there.

Good job on the tributes too, they're a great read!

Peyton Manning

I thought this was a lovely touch. As part of Ronaldo's send off yesterday, the Corinthians players all had the number 9 on the back of their jerseys after their original number, and instead of their own names on the back, they had 'Fenomeno' printed instead.

missingtime

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6173687/brazil-honor-ronaldo-farewell-match

Ronaldos' last match is with Brasil.

Peyton Manning

missingtime wrote: »

http://espn.go.com/sports/soccer/news/_/id/6173687/brazil-honor-ronaldo-farewell-match

Ronaldos' last match is with Brasil.

Just a heads up for those that want to see Fenomeno play one last time, this game is tomorrow. As it's not a dedicated testimonial, word is Ronaldo will come on after half an hour and play until half time. I won't lie, I may well shed some tears