Friday June 23, 2006
Jon Brodkin, The Guardian

Japan 1 – 4 Brazil
Tamada 34; Ronaldo 45, 80, Juninho 53, Gilberto 59

Brazil's best performance of the World Cup may have left Carlos Alberto Parreira with several selection dilemmas but whether to continue picking Ronaldo will not be among them. That debate can be safely forgotten for a while after the striker scored his first two goals of the tournament and showed a steadily improving touch last night. The talking points will instead include whether other established names should be dropped and whether the champions are gathering momentum that will see them retain their crown.

A Brazil minus players such as Roberto Carlos, Emerson and Adriano in what, for all the manager's protestations, looked to be a changed 4-2-3-1 set-up, certainly produced their most inventive and intricate display of this campaign as they recovered from the shock of falling behind to overwhelm Japan. Ronaldinho was frequently involved and some of the interplay featuring him, Robinho, Kaka and Ronaldo was excellent, only Yoshi Kawaguchi's saves helping to prevent a bigger victory.

Japan, needing a two-goal win to stand a chance of progressing, played in the sort of open style that suits Brazil far better than the more cautious strategies set out by Australia and Croatia. It cannot be taken for granted that Ghana, a higher quality team, will do that, and the pressure will be back on Brazil after a night which they went into knowing a second-round place was secure.

Parreira has shown such faith in Ronaldo, whose goals brought him level with Gerd Müller as the World Cup's all-time leading scorer on 14, that it may well be he will stand by his other experienced players. But the coach was given food for thought here by several of the stand-ins.

Roberto Carlos' deputy Gilberto scored Brazil's third goal and showed he is like the Madrid left-back in being a better attacking player than defender. Calls in Brazil for Juninho Pernambucano to start in central midfield will intensify after he scored once, with the aid of poor goalkeeping, and had another shot well saved. Gilberto Silva was reliable and Robinho showed his talent in flashes.

Robinho, Kaka and Ronaldinho formed the three-pronged line behind Ronaldo and rotated positions to cause problems for Japan. The best move of this game, a brilliant interchange that involved Ronaldinho and Ronaldo, culminated in the latter shooting wide.

That was, though, the only one of the striker's six efforts that went off target, a sign his compass is returning. Two early shots and a second-half header were saved and he equalised with a close-range header at the back post before ending the scoring with a curling shot. At times initially he was cumbersome in possession but his use of the ball sharpened. Ronaldo may remain more static than in previous years but that no longer looked such a handicap.

But for five saves by Kawaguchi in the opening 22 minutes, a dominant Brazil could have been out of sight before they fell behind. Yet their level dropped and helped Japan begin to threaten with their right-back Akira Kaji finding space behind Gilberto. A poor pass by Lucio enabled Japan to switch play to the left-back Alessandro Santos, a Brazil-born Japan international, and his neat pass picked out a sharp run by Keiji Tamada, who hammered a shot past Dida.

Brazil's immediate response was muted but Ronaldo equalised just before half-time after Cicinho headed a Ronaldinho pass across the area, and their best was to come after the interval. Juninho put them ahead with a shot from outside the box that Kawaguchi horribly misjudged, and Ronaldinho soon sent Gilberto clear to fire a shot into the far corner. It was left to Ronaldo to complete a promising night for Brazil by taking a pass from Juan and bending a shot beyond the goalkeeper.