Do you have a dream? Win Brazil's fifth World Cup. Drams only seem impossible until you make them happen.
July 17th, 1994, Brazil is crowned world champion. Among the squad, there's a young player who, despite winning the title, didn't play a single minute during that World [Music] [Applause] Cup, but getting there was already a long [Applause] journey. Uh, for me, the World Cup has always been the ultimate goal.
Even though I didn't play a single minute in the 94 World Cup, it felt like my university. Do you have a dream? Win Brazil's fifth World [Music] Cup.
Even with a World Cup medal around his neck, he knew his dream wasn't complete. But that boy from a humble family, born and raised in the Bento Riberro neighborhood on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, was ready to take on the [Music] world. With a meteoric rise and a dominant spell at PSV Eintoven, Ronaldo took European football by storm.
In his first season, he scored 35 goals in 36 games, becoming the youngest top scorer in the Dutch League. His talent seemed limitless, but beneath the surface of success, a silent enemy was beginning to write its own chapter in his story. What's your biggest fear?
Fear? Well, my biggest fear is injuries. I don't think there's anything more heartbreaking for an athlete than getting injured and being unable to do what they love most.
The following season, despite battling injuries that forced him to miss the final stretch of the campaign, perhaps a sign of challenges to come, he still managed 19 goals in 21 matches. And his 54 goals in 57 games were enough to earn him a record-breaking move to Spain. For 15 million, he became the most expensive player in history at the time, signing with Barcelona.
and he didn't disappoint. In his first season, he scored an astonishing 47 goals in 49 games, leading Barca to three trophies, the Super Copa, Copa Del Rey, and the UEFA Cup Winners Cup. That season, he wasn't just a rising star.
He was the best in the world. In 1996, Ronaldo won the FIFA World Player of the Year award for the first time. He was unstoppable in Spain, but contractual disputes with the club cut his time at Barcelona short.
Still, this rising star was just getting started. Inter Milan shattered the transfer record, signing Ronaldo for 28 million. He arrived in Italy as the league's biggest sensation, carrying the hopes of an entire fan base.
In his debut season, he delivered, scoring 34 goals in 47 games, leading Inter to a UEFA Cup victory, and once again being named FIFA World Player of the [Music] Year. His blistering speed, dazzling dribbles, and sheer explosiveness made him a phenomenon on the pitch. All the applause is for him.
The man they call the phenomenon. He was born to be the phenomenon. God said you are the chosen one.
When I got that nickname in Italy, I remember my first reaction was not liking it. I really didn't like it. I think it just felt like extra pressure, something I didn't need at that moment.
a phenomenon. Can't fail, can't feel pain, and definitely can't stop scoring goals. You're the best player in the world right now.
Is your main focus on the World Cup in France? Uh, of course. That's my dream to get there, play, and bring home the fifth championship for Brazil.
to this soccer crazy country. Taking a fifth world title would be the ultimate confirmation that the Samur boys really are in a class of their own. It's a World Cup more hyped than any other with the weight of an entire nation on his shoulders.
A football obsessed country desperate for another World Cup after 24 years. Ronaldo crumbled under the [Music] pressure. Uh, I woke up at 8:30 like usual.
Went for a walk with Roberto. Everything was calm, just a normal day. We had lunch at noon and afterward, everyone went back to their rooms.
I shared a room with Roberto. When we got there, he he laid down and I went to the bathroom to shave my head. From that moment on, I don't remember anything else.
Just hours before the biggest match of his life, he suffered a seizure. Despite being rushed to the hospital, he still made it back onto the pitch for the final against France. But he wasn't himself.
Brazil already struggling with its star player in distress faced another unstoppable force that night. Zinedine [Music] Zidan once again. The dream of that poor boy from Bento Ribero had slipped away.
[Music] It was one of the hardest days of my life. Losing that final was heartbreaking. Uh, but what I had no idea about was that things were about to get even [Music] worse.
Ronaldo returns to Inter, but this time not as the superstar who once took Europe by storm. After the 98 World Cup, doubts followed him everywhere. People wondered if he could ever be the best in the world again.
But the answer came quickly. On the field, Ronaldo proved he truly was a phenomenon, still unstoppable, lethal, and unpredictable. But something wasn't right.
With the intense training demands of the Italian League, Ronaldo's body began showing signs that something was wrong. After grueling practices and matches, he started feeling something off in his right knee. an odd discomfort that came and went.
Doctors ran tests but found nothing serious. Yet in November 1999, he would face his first major challenge. For the first time in his career, Ronaldo felt like he had lost control of his own body.
The tests revealed the truth, a partial rupture of the patella tendon. The diagnosis was clear. If he kept playing, the injury could get worse.
He needed surgery. The surgery took place just days later. And the doctors were optimistic.
With the right recovery time, he'll be back with no issues. While the world wondered if he could ever return to his peak, Ronaldo threw himself fully into his recovery. Months of physical therapy and relentless dedication, he was convinced that everything would go back to how it was [Music] before.
I was about to play again. My son was about to be born. Everything was perfect.
And against all odds, just 5 months later, he was back. It was massive. It was massive because the return had been delayed.
And so the anticipation just built and built and built ahead of that game. Ronaldo's back. [Music] This time there would be no quick return.
It could be the end of the dream. At this point, no one can say with any certainty whether or not he'll play again. Uh I decided to see a doctor in the US um a knee specialist.
After examining me, he said that if I were really lucky, I could live a normal life, but there was no way I'd ever play soccer again. Endless days of pain and doubt. His knee won't respond.
Every small step forward comes with suffering. There are moments when he thinks about giving up, but giving up was never an option. Months turn into years.
Slowly, Ronaldo learns to walk again. Then to run, then to strike a ball. But just when he's finally ready, he discovers a new enemy.
Inter were obsessed with winning another title. Having tried everything, they said, "Let's let's try something else. " Hector Cooper is this Argentine tough guy.
We need discipline. We need order. Enough of the flare.
enough for the big names and Ronaldo simply didn't fit that narrative. He got it into his head that Ronaldo was a problem and wasn't worth it. Cooper was definitely the worst coach I've ever worked with.
After nearly 2 years of recovery, Ronaldo is ready to make his comeback. But Inter's coach Ector Cooper doesn't believe in him. Inter were in a three-way race for the Syria title and many had them as favorites and Cooper is very superstitious.
Some people have accused Cooper of thinking that Ronaldo was was somehow cursed. Minutes on the field are denied. The bench becomes his new home.
With the 2002 World Cup approaching, Ronaldo is in a race against time. [Music] Um, all I could think about was the World Cup. I needed to earn my spot at the club because no one gets called up to a World Cup if they're not playing for their own team.
The clock was ticking. He doesn't just have to convince his club coach that he's ready. He has to prove to his national team's coach that he can still be the player he once was, that he can help his country.
No one really knows if Ronaldo will be fit to play in the World Cup or not. But with in at a crucial moment in the championship, Cooper, despite his reluctance, has no choice and Ronaldo earns his spot back. Till now in's cautious coach Hector Cooper had been reluctant to risk Big Ron in serious competition.
Sunday morning though he surprised everyone by putting the Brazilian in from the start alongside the club's other fresh back from injury star Christian Vier. From that moment on the story began to change. It's Ronaldo.
Ronaldo Ratalo. Ronaldo. It's Ronaldo.
It's all three points. What a story here. Finally, we had our Ronaldo back.
The performance against Bisha turned the narrative. Just as before he was pursed, now he's blasted. But Ronaldo still had one last challenge.
He needed to be picked by coach Scolari who had serious doubts about whether he could deliver for the national team. I honestly didn't know if I'd be called up for the World Cup. There were a lot of doubts and I was really anxious about it.
There are definitely a lot of questions about Luis Phelps Scolari's squad list and the biggest one is whether Ronaldo will be called up. Tense moments took over that footballloving nation and after a long wait, Brazilians and the world would finally know the 23 players called up for the 2002 World Cup. [Music] [Music] Ja.
I was given a list of pros and cons and I had to make my choice. There is a feeling now that Brazil can and will go all the way and will bring back their fifth World Cup. The first game of the World Cup was here.
I was still unsure, worried about whether my knee would hold up or not. Uh well after that my knee can handle anything. Right in the first game of the World Cup, Ronaldo proved to his coach, his teammates, and an entire football-loving nation that they could count on him.
And in the following games, Ronaldo kept proving to the world that he was still the phenomenon. I had a lot of pain in my thigh and it immediately became a headline in the press. So just for fun, I got a ridiculous haircut, but it ended up distracting the media completely.
Uh so I decided to keep it that way. Once again, Ronaldo was in a World Cup final. And once again, after so much struggle and hardship, he had the chance to finally make his lifelong dream come true.
That night, Ronaldo was determined to make his childhood dream come true. This time, he would do whatever it took to make sure that opportunity didn't slip away. Um, I was substituted with 5 minutes left in the game.
And in that moment, as I left the field, a whole movie played in my mind of all the struggles it took to get to that [Music] moment. Uh, in that moment, I realized that I had already won my World Cup. My World Cup was my recovery.
Everything I went through made me a better friend, a better son, a better father, and a much better person. Ronaldo is our nine. The best football player I have ever seen on the pitch.
He was one of the absolute greats. Even with his injuries, for me, he was not playing football. He was football.
The best Ronaldo ever. without hesitation. For me, Ronaldo, Brazilian Ronaldo has been from a different uh species for me.
He was the perfect player. More goals in games. Phenomenal.
That's the nickname, man. That's it.
