Ronaldo
Face: Skin colour 3
Head height -2
Head width +1
Type 3
Colour 1 - 1
Colour 2 - Black 2
Hairstyle: Type - Buzz cut 4/1/-/4
Colour - 8
Facial hair: Type - 74
Colour - 10
Boots: Nike Mercurial Vapor III - Yellow/Green
Physique: Height 183cm
Weight 82kg
Neck length -2
Neck width +3
Shoulder height -2
Shoulder width -3
Chest measurement +1
Waist circumference +2
Arm circumference +1
Leg circumference +1
Calf circumference +1
Leg length -3
There has been plenty of disussion regarding Ronaldo during this world cup, undoubtedly overhyped due to the tremendous exposure of the tournament. He even admits himself that he is overweight, and he has recieved a lot of grief from the press. Thankfully Parreira has shown a lot of faith in him, and as the tournament has progressed we have certainly seen small glimpses of the player Ronaldo used to be, say at Barcelona or Inter. When Ronaldo is having a good day he is still a phenominal striker, but to be fair to him, not what he used to be. This really is testament to what he used to be; Best player in the World undoubtedly, and the only player to be voted Fifa World Player of the year in two consecutive seasons. I just want to highlight a couple of records from past seasons he has achieved.
1) Barcelona (1996-1997) - 37 games played, 34 goals scored
2) Inter Milan (1997-2002) - 68 games played, 49 goals scored
3) Real Madrid (2002-2006) - 120 games played, 82 goals scored
Basically, we can see from these records that throughout his career, wherever he has played, he has been a simply incredible goal scorer, with one of the best goals return around. So even though now he may be out of shape, and lack some of the physical attributes he used to possess, he has certainly not lost any of his prowess as a GOAL SCORER! I could also go on for ages about the honours and awards he has recieved throughout his career, but I feel that these scoring records show most of what Im trying to portray to you all.
Physique and its consequent attibutes - So first of all lets discuss the biggest talking point regarding Ronaldo; his size. He has definitely got bigger, and he admits it himself. Ronaldo is a great example of how an injury can seriously affect a players career. Its very sad aswell when you consider that he was probably the greatest talent in the world, and that it was slowly being unwound by injury and lack of self-discipline. I think we can pin down when these problems began to his penultimate season at Inter Milan, the 2001-2002 season. Having had numerous problems the season before this he played just 7 games, but in this season he played no games whatsoever. This is where he really lost that self confidence, and started to have his weight problems. Since then he has never really recovered, but I hope that this coming season he can really knuckle down and tackle his weight issue, as it would be great if he could maybe get back some of his old acceleration and co-ordination. That said he is still great to watch, but there are definitely areas of his game which have been affected. Firstly his pace. He is definitely slower, particularly regarding his acceleration. Once he gets into his stride, he still gets a great head of steam, and can run at players. Even though Im saying that he is slower now, he is still fast! So high values of 84 for top speed and 80 for acceleration are spot on. With becoming a bit more bulky, his physical strength has consequently risen aswell (not a bad thing I suppose), and 91 for balance prefectly represents how tough it is to shove him off the ball. A decrease in stamina is also noticable, but it is ironic as his lack of physical activity in the match means he often has a lot left at the end, even though his stamina is low! Final thing to mention regarding his shape is that he finds it harder to get off the ground with a good leap. 65 is just right for jump, and ingame you will find it hard to contest in aerial battles, just as Ronaldo does in real life.
Positioning and team contribution - With Ronaldo gaining weight, he has become a lot less mobile around the pitch. I dont mean how fast he can run, but the kind of positions he finds himself in, and how this contributes towards the team. He hardly ever drops deep and defends. He maintains a high position and has very little, if no, inclination to track back and defend. So taking into account the balance between his attack and defence values, we can see in game he is going to behave just as I have described. With an exceptional attack value of 97 combined with an extremely low defence stat of 18 he is just going to sit up front and wait for the ball to come to him. He still has that predatorial instinct in the box, and he knows where to position himself, hence he has the positioning special star. But he has lower mentality, so the outcome is that he has the ABILITY to get himself in those great positions to recieve the ball, but he sometimes doesnt make the effort to get there. This is a great example of how we can achieve certain effects between special stars and normal attributes such as mentality. So with this lack of defensive contribution, he is of very little value to the team when they are NOT in possesion of the ball. He may be great when you get the ball to his feet, but thats about it!
Goalscoring ability - Luckily this is one of his features which has not suffered from his physical problems. He is one of the best strikers of the ball, and has the innate ability we all want of simply KNOWING where the goal is. He doesnt need to look, or glance, he just knows. Looking at his shooting abilitys we can see they are all very high, in the 90's. His shot accuracy is exceptional though, at 96. This is like it is, as I said, to represent just how deadly he is, and his uncanny ability of knowing where he needs to put the ball. Fantastic power as well, with value of 90, he can generate a real smack and cause any keeper problems. Finally his shot technique which is 92. This is to represent how he can produce his fantastic shots under close proximity to a defender. Coupled with his balance of 91, it takes an awful lot for a player to put him off his shot. Theses three exceptional abilites are bolstered even further with the inclusion of both the scoring, and 1-1 scoring. In my opinion he is the best finisher there is.
Brazilian blessing - As with just about every Brazilian to grace the game of football, he is very gifted technically. A fantastic driible accuracy value of 91 represents his close ball control perfectly and how he keeps the control when dribbling at high speeds. Next his technique value, which is assigned 92. This again is a great feature of Ronaldo. A great first touch, and the ability to play little passes first time (just look at his little one two with Ronaldinho for his second goal against Japan), it stands him in good stead now, especially as he has lost that yard or two in pace. Accurately shows his ability to perform his little rolls and stepovers, as he basically pioneered the stepover/faint and then shot combination (Could never get tired of watching that!). Finally he is blessed with being very proficient with both of his feet, and a 7 for accuracy, and 6 for frequency, again show these features well.
So there we have Ronaldo. Undoubtedly one of the greatest players we have seen inthe modern era of football, and a joy to behold. Admittedly he is overweight. Yes he is out of shape. But these to not affect the raw ability and love of the game he has, and if he can lose a bit of weight this season I think we could be in for a treat.