The Day I Played with Ronaldo

Because of the calf muscle strain, Ricardo's training arrangements for the past few days are mainly recovery training and upper body strength training.

He didn't want this little injury to become a lingering old injury.

The team doctor checked him every day, and he recovered fairly smoothly, but the game waited for no one, and soon it was Sao Paulo's home game against Vasco da Gama. To be on the safe side, Osvaldo still put the unhealed Ricardo in the squad, but did not arrange for him to start.

Da Gama has won 4 Brazilian National Championships in history, the most recent two were in 1997 and 2000, under the leadership of the legendary superstar Romario. And won a Copa Libertadores in 1998. The current strength is still relatively impressive. With an intercontinental star like "The Beast" Edmondo, it's just that his condition is not very good and he has lost hope of entering the playoffs.

Da Gama didn't just get caught because of St. Paul's strength. What's more, Ricardo did not start due to injury, which is a major benefit to da Gama. Miguel, who replaced Ricardo on the left, is too mediocre to pose a substantial threat to da Gama's defense.

Da Gama, who owns "The Beast" Edmondo, took advantage of a free kick in less than 5 minutes to give Sao Paulo a blow. Midfielder Da Silva quickly took a free kick in the frontcourt. Edmondo led the ball, skillfully shook Baptista away, and shot a long shot 25 meters away from the goal. Bounced off the crossbar, Cheney broke out in a cold sweat.

And that's just the beginning. Under the strong pressure of Sao Paulo, Vasco da Gama has always maintained a high-quality counterattack. Every counterattack is like a sharp knife straight into Sao Paulo's weakness.

They don't listen to the singing to the team they support, and offer boos and noises to the visiting team.

I don’t know if he was disturbed by the fans, or the god of luck abandoned him. The Vasco da Gama goalkeeper lost his hand when Fabio caught Baptista’s well-targeted long shot, and the football bounced towards the baseline Direction to go. But a figure in a Sao Paulo jersey arrived in time before the football flew off the baseline, and shot from a small angle, piercing Vasco da Gama's goal.

It was also the only goal in the first half. Sao Paulo tried very hard to expand the score, but the absence of Ricardo made their offense look much stagnant than usual, and the frontcourt also lost a hot spot. Carlos Miguel is a good wide player. He has skills and has an excellent cross. The passing and long-range shooting skills are also above the standard, but the speed is too slow to form an effective breakthrough. He needs others to feed him the ball and cannot hold the ball to initiate the offense himself.

On the right, Ricko and Kaka still have a lack of tacit understanding, and it is difficult to make a quick advance. When Riccardo was on the field, he often cooperated with Kaka in a tacit understanding, passing the ball into the opponent's penalty area in three or two kicks, while Rico did not have this ability for the time being.

After the start of the second half, Da Gama began to exert force. They formed a 3232 formation and effectively used the width of the field. The combination of side and center offense made Sao Paulo's defense line crumbling. And "The Beast" Edmondo finally made a contribution in the 66th minute. After receiving the ball on the edge of the penalty area, he shook continuously, and then broke through Cheney's ten fingers with a tricky and powerful shot, which ended perfectly. made this attack.

Osvaldo was unwilling to accept a draw and replaced Ricardo in the 74th minute.

Ricardo's appearance did raise Sao Paulo's aggressiveness to a new level, but at this time Vasco da Gama began to shrink the defense, and the two wingbacks reduced their assists and devoted almost all their energy to defense.

Facing such intensive defense, Ricardo, who was still injured, couldn't come up with a good solution. In the game against Santos, Ricardo has basically overcome his inner demons, and is no longer afraid of the opponent's foul and physical confrontation.

But that doesn't mean he has to show off when he's injured.

This is not a romantic youth school drama, nor is it the pure and beautiful sports boy in Anda Chong's comics. It is cruel competitive sports. Only those who know how to protect themselves and know how to make appropriate trade-offs can continue their competitive state for a long time and continue their careers.

So Ricardo didn't try his best. If this game is the final of the Champions League, or a game of great significance related to the team's relegation, whether it can win the championship, or the qualification for the Champions League, he will of course spare no effort. It's a pity that this is just an irrelevant game.

He is only 16 years old, his career has just begun, and a bright future awaits him, so why fight for an unimportant game?

Osvaldo could naturally see Ricardo's stroke, and he shook his head, full of disappointment. But it was impossible for him to waste another substitution spot to replace Licado, so he could only sulk and kick a bottle of mineral water on the sidelines.

The photographers next to the arena keenly captured this scene, and it is conceivable that after the game, the media will make use of it and interpret a lot of content.

But soon, the photographer pointed the camera at a certain place in the stands. What appeared in the camera was a beautiful woman with long chestnut hair. Even in the frenzied court, her smile was still so charming. A St. Paul scarf was worn on the low-cut vest, which could not block the spring.

Alessandra Ambrosio.

She came to Morombi Stadium again, obviously not to watch an insignificant game, so why did she come? The answer is already there. It must be for Licardo. And there must be some kind of deep connection between her and Ricardo, who is 5 years younger than her.

When the game ended with a score of 1:1, Sao Paulo's players were exhausted and walked back to the player channel in twos and threes.

Ricardo didn't go back to the locker room immediately, he took the initiative to exchange jerseys with Edmondo. The rumored rebellious "Beast" looked amiable when facing Ricardo, he patted Ricardo on the shoulder and said: "Your brother is the greatest player I have ever seen, Ricardo, but you are not bad , I hope you will be in a 100% healthy state when you meet next time."

"Thank you," said Ricciardo, "your goal is quite wonderful."

Because of the change of jersey, he was a beat slower than his teammates and was stopped by sideline reporters in front of the player channel.

"What's your opinion on your performance in this game?"

"This is obviously not my best game." Ricardo said with a shrug.

"Edmundo scored a beautiful goal today, what do you think?"

"Edmundo is a great player and I think he is a contender for top scorer."

After a few random questions, the reporter quickly asked the question he was most interested in: "Ambrose watched the game again today, are you dating?"

Hearing this question, Ricardo was stunned for a while before saying, "No, we haven't gotten to know that well yet."