Zico: Blame Doctor for Ronaldo’s 1998 World Cup Final Appearance
It happened nearly a decade ago but if you are a fan of World Cup football (and by golly I hope you if you are spending your time on a site called World Cup Blog), you will remember the lethargic performance Ronaldo made for Brazil in the 1998 World Cup final against France.
A decade later, the team’s technical coordinator and Brazil legend Zico has shed some light on what went down behind closed doors.
“We held a meeting in the afternoon and Dr. Lidio said Ronaldo wasn’t in condition to play,” Zico said in a televised interview on Monday. “When I got to the locker room, Ronaldo was standing there in game shorts (and) socks, told Lidio that he had played the entire Cup, exams hadn’t proven anything, and he was going to play.
“In a case like this, only one person could veto the player: The doctor. There was no command.”
Ronaldo was the star of the team, but he and Brazil played poorly in the final. Eight or nine players witnessed his unexplained convulsions hours before the match and were visibly shaken, Zico said.
“If it had happened the day before, I think the team would have recovered. But as it was on the same day, the group was divided. Leonardo, for example, kept asking if Ronaldo was in danger of dying.”
I can see how watching your teammate in convulsions could be a less than optimal way to prepare for the biggest game of your life, not that any of this should take away from a France team that were very worthy champions that year.
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Comments
By Kahuru | June 26th, 2007 at 2:19 pm 
Even with a healthy Ronaldo I personally think (and that’s just my humble opinion judging by the way they played) the French would have still beaten them that day. Much as I love Brasil, and think they are the best no one could have beaten France that day – it was their day, and they were ready for anyone, and with an entire nation right behind them victory for any other team was slim – the great Brasil included. I must add though that seeing a team mate experiencing convulsions prior to the biggest game of them all does not help the psyche at all, perhaps them explains the lethargicness the Brasilians came with in that game.
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By Joe | June 26th, 2007 at 4:01 pm I think it’s pointless to guesswho would have won if Ronaldo had never gotten sick… but it can be said with certainty that it would have made for a better, more exciting World Cup final.
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By Laurie | June 26th, 2007 at 4:36 pm I always wondered what the story was here. I’d heard about the convulsions, and then also heard that Brazil denied they’d ever happened.
Whatever. The right team won that day.
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By momo | June 26th, 2007 at 8:26 pm one day somebody might come out and admit the french poisoned or drugged ronaldo somehow just like the argentinians drugged a brazilian player back in 78 (I think it was. with a healthy ronaldo the team would have not been shaken down as they were and the french were not a great team although they had a great zidane but under optimal circumstances I would say that brazil would have beaten france.
By Michael Dupont | June 27th, 2007 at 8:35 am France had a great team in 1998 & they fully deserved to win 3-0 & only with 10 men. The loser will make excuses forever. I lived in Brazil but July 12, 1998 was the day of France. Even with 2 Ronaldos, Brazil was not match.
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By conceicao | June 27th, 2007 at 7:49 pm Get real. The first French goal came after
Roberto Carlos insanely tried to bicycle a ball out of the corner instead of just pushing it over the side line. The second goal literally went between
his legs – all Brasil needed was the quick reactions of the Mexico player tonight in the Copa America who cleared Alex’s header off of
a corner. The third goal resulted from Brasil bringing everyone forward at the end.
Brasil’s effort was terrible – especially Junior
Baiano and Bobby C – but I didn’t see anything any better from France other than on the set plays and a lot of that had to do Leonardo -
probably why Zico mentioned him.
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