Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Ronaldo's Scorcher

What a goal ! What-ey-goal, screamed the commentator. And why not mate for it was a screamer of an effort by Cristiano Ronaldo. A free-kick in the 13th minute was good enough to deflate Pompey hopes for the rest of the game. It was an amazing free-kick, taken from 30 yards outside the box - Ronaldo rushed to the spot, gathered himself with his legs spread wide - with only one thing in front of him - the goal (I should say not even the goalkeeper, because the ball left him by a couple of yards easily). And then comes the kick - a perfectly taken one, and hits the net in a flash. David James was left absolutely speechless, - the ball totally missed the goal-keeper, swerved the other way. An outstanding goal - beating the wall, the goalkeeper and his own track-record of free-kicks.

Ronaldo's goal against Portsmouth was his 27th for the season fast closing in on the Manchester United record, held by the great George Best - 32. And what goes in favour of Ronaldo, is the number of games he's played so far - just 24. With a great deal of the season left to be played, Ronaldo should re-write the club's record books, as scoring for fun is something he's been upto all season. For Mancunians alike, Ronaldo is perhaps the best signing ever - and since he's committed his future to the Old Trafford club, watch out for more kicks, swerves and not to forget some kinky sporting moments.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Every bit of platitude Cristiano Ronaldo gets, Cristiano Ronaldo deserves. Minus his misdemeanours, he is to this United team what George Best was to the Busby’s men who stunned Europe many moons ago. And that’s saying a lot. Talent is innate but in getting Ronaldo to flower thus, credit should go to that old man at United. A man who has been building and rebuilding squads at their Carrington training base since fetching up 22 years ago. Sir Alex Ferguson.

It couldn’t have been easy for Ferguson to get Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney to play and prey together given their very public spat in the World Cup quarter-final. The English media tore into FIFA when it nominated Ronaldo for a World Cup’s Young Player award (it went to Podolski eventually). It wouldn’t have been easy to back Ronaldo and get Roy Keane out of United. And it wouldn’t have been easy to get this gifted player to curb his showboating instincts for the team’s sake (didn’t someone once say that every move of Ronaldo is like a Nike ad?). Sir Alex Ferguson has done all that and more. Let’s not forget that every time we complement Ronaldo.

Anonymous said...

Yes. Absolutely agree with you. It was such a blessing in disguise that Beckham left the club in 2003, due to various reasons and Sir Alex with all his scouting prowess went down to Lisbon to see this youngster pull a sack of tricks in the Portugese SuperLiga. To have such a foresight about Cristiano Ronaldo's display in the years to come is simply remarkable.

And add to that, a couple of other impressive buys this summer - Nani and Anderson. The two young men have adapted so beautifully to life among the big-men, with goals, assists, tackles and what not. And Tevez started pumping in the goals after a ragged start to the campaign and with more than half the season left, especially the business bit - I am sure Manchester United will have a lot to say in the context of British and European football this year.