Welcome to Smellyland☆～

Friday, June 23, 2006 , 11:03 AM

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

RONALDO'S BACK!!! YES! YES! YES! HE'S BACK! HE'S BACK

Japan 1 - 4 Brazil

Tamada Keiji (34') Ronaldo (46)
Juninho (53')
Gilberto (59')
Ronaldo (81')

During the first half, Japan really showed us why they were the Asian Champions, as they created many goal chances, and gave the Brazilian fans many a scare. And eventually, Tamada scored the first goal to break the ice after a fine pass by Alex ( Brazilian turned Japanese). Over at the Japanese stand, fans were cheering and hugging one another. Do they actually think that Brazil won't strike back? Well, I guess that one goal was extraordinary in the fact that it was the first goal Brazil conceded. And Tamada will go home tonight, happy/consoled by the fact that he'd scored against football giants Brazil. Imagine how cool it'll be to tell your grandkids someday that you actually stumped the Brazilian defence and scored a goal against mighty Brazil( who may still be the football giants in future?)!

By the looks of the first half, I guess Japan wouldn't have lasted very long. They had to work extremely hard to restrict the Brazilian space, and hell yes they had to do a lot of running. It was physically demanding for them, especially with the Brazilians well-known for their deadly pace, and it was written all over the Jap players' faces. Finally at the 46th minute (1 min added to first half), Ronaldo finally emerged! He scored a glancing header right into the heart of goal! And he did his shake-one-finger thing, it's been sooooo long since I saw him do that. It must have been so emotional for him as well as for all Brazilian fans all over the world. Can you even imagine what that goal means to him? A striker who has been bearing all the rut by critics and even fans? And to score that equalising goal like that? Man, it was 3+ in the morning but I couldn't help but do a lil jig and screamed my lungs out! It was so F*$%ing AWESOME!

And I couldn't wait for the start of the 2nd half. Cuz with Brazil, it's funny whenever a player scores a goal, everybody in the rest of the squad will wanna have a stab at goal too, it's like that first goal awakes everybody in the squad and now everybody wanna score a goal or two. The 2nd half was beautiful, the Japanese for me were pretty much defeated, they were tired and deflated, but for Brazil, the match was just beginning in the 2nd half. The 2nd half was a beautiful moment in football, cuz Brazil finally awakens after rounds of tornament, this was the moment, they finally came back! That team that is so beautiful and yet dangerous to watch, that samba magic, that ginga rythm, that joga bonito that they play, like it or not, Brazil inspires everyone, every player every fan every human being who cares about football regardless of where you might come from. As the commentator said, in Brazil, they don't just score goals, they want to score beautiful goals. Haha and you can take that to the bank.

The 2nd goal came from Juninho, and it was a brilliant long range shot. At this point of time, Brazil was just enjoying what they did most, football. As Brazilian fans, we love Brazil not just because we can trust them to bring back goals, it's mainly cuz they're so fun to watch, the players are having fun on the pitch, and they play with smiles on their faces, to them, football wasn't just football, it was their very passion. And that makes Brazil oh-so-special. Did you see how Ronldinho smiled to Ronaldo when they did this brilliant partnership for another shot at goal? They showed us why football IS fun. For now, I'm just lapping up everything that Brazil delivers.

3rd goal came from Gilberto who shot low into the far corner. This 3rd goal really sealed the match, and I guess by now the Japanese players knew they were packing their bags.

At the closing moments of the match, Ronaldo struck again and shot into the bottom right-hand corner of the net, Kawaguchi could never have beaten that one. Ronaldo was prolly sending a message to all his critics through that second goal, to shut up and basically tell them HE'S BACK!!!

Dang! Whoever misses that match should really kick themselves hard in the ass. LOL. I mean it. Especially so for Ronaldo fans. That first goal was his confidence booster, and that second goal was his record breaker. Ronaldo headed the equaliser to move past Pele as Brazil's leading scorer in FIFA World Cups. Then following a lovely one-two he made it 4-1 with deadly accuracy to draw level with Gerd Muller as the leading FIFA World Cup marksman of all time on 14. We can expect more goals from the this infamous hitman fellas! Fans enjoy, opponents beware!

Full time. Budweiser Man of the Match: Ronaldo (BRA). *big surprise*

With that, Brazil is now top of Group F and they cruised into Round of 16 along with ghana and Australia. : )

My ambition now is to be a FOOTBALL JOURNALIST. But I'll prolly suck at it cuz' I'm very biased. :p

For Brazil, it's all about having fun. : )