After last month’s visit from Sir Bobby Charlton, it’s time for yet another world-class footballer to visit the Holy Land. This time, it’s the turn of Ronaldo to arrive in Israel. Not the world’s newly christened most expensive footballer Christiano Ronaldo, but his namesake Ronaldo, the Brazilian superstar who led Brazil to World Cup glory in 2002.
Ronaldo will be here in September to take part in a movie in which he will play himself. The film, produced by Iranians Mansur Sohrabpour and Mohammad Latif, is based on a Palestinian girl who was a very talented footballer and who had hoped to meet Ronaldo, but was killed by a landmine in Lebanon before she had a chance to meet him.
Voted FIFA World Player of the Year not just once, but THREE times, Ronaldo will actually be here as part of the Brazilian all-star package that is coming over in September for a match between Brazilian teams Corinthians (for whom Ronaldo now plays) and Flamengo, all for the cause of “peace”.
The match is scheduled for September 15th in Ramallah in the West Bank, although some are upset that there is no game scheduled in Israel “proper”. A lot of Israelis, who are mostly starved of decent football, are big fans of the Brazilian style and are a little upset that they won’t be able to get to see some real Brazilian talent in the flesh.
The Brazilian authorities have apparently no plans to schedule another game in Israel, and, as a result, it’s even caused a bit of diplomatic tension between Israel and Brazil. The Israeli ambassador to Brazil, Giora Bachar, lodged a complaint with the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, and had this to say:
I intend to make the Brazilians understand that if a similar game is not held in Israel, we will see it as an act of ostracism. It would be better off if they held two games, or better still – a joint game for the Israelis and Palestinians.
I think the first sentence is perhaps over-dramatizing it a bit, but I entirely agree with the second sentence. Two games might be hard to fit into a schedule which is probably fine-tuned to the minute, but how about a joint match – the only problem being where could you schedule such a game? Or how about just soccer clinics of some sort on both the Israeli and Palestinian sides of the border. Just to give everyone a taste of Brasil!
Anyway, for those of who with very short memories, the clip below shows some golden moments from Ronaldo’s career – check out the goal at 1.08, he’s bloody unstoppable! Enjoy!