Raja casablanca ronaldinho biography
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Ronaldinho (right) of Atletico Mineiro celebrates his goal with teammate Jo during the Club World Cup semifinal match against Raja Casablanca in Morocco on Wednesday. Photo: CFP
Ronaldinho's hopes that a good performance at the Club World Cup might earn a Brazil recall have been dashed by Atletico Mineiro's shock elimination at the hands of Raja Casablanca on Wednesday.
The ever-grinning former World Player of the Year gave two tantalizing glimpses of his unique talent before drowning in a sea of mediocrity.
He scored Atletico's only goal in the 3-1 defeat with an exquisite free kick and, buoyed by that, cheekily flicked the ball over an opponent to send the Brazilian fans into raptures.
For most of the game, however, Ronaldinho, 33, looked off the pace and ponderous as the aging South American champions were upstaged by a team of run-of-the-mill Moroccan league players. The low point was when he tried to pass a defender with a cheeky dribble on the byline and was easily dispossessed.
Ronaldinho won the World Cup with Brazil in 2002, and was part of the team which went out in the quarterfinals amid high expectations in 2006 and was omitted altogether by coach Dunga in 2010 in South Africa.
With the 2014 World Cup on the horizon, Ronaldinho had been hoping to
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He did it his way - Ronaldinho's Brazil story
They stripped him of his shirt. And then his boots. They wanted it all, even his shorts and socks.
They were his opponents, equals who had just bettered him. But they were also fans. And they were desperate for their souvenirs.
Ronaldinho’s Atletico Mineiro side had just been dumped out of the Club World Cup by Raja Casablanca. The 33-year-old was hurting, he'd just missed his last shot at the one major title that had eluded him. But he hid his pain behind that bewitching, toothy grin, behind the smile that defined his legacy.
"Since childhood, my dream was to see Ronaldinho in person,” said Raja’s Kouko Guehi. At full-time Guehi danced his lap of honour draped in the most-wanted shirt in all of Marrakech.
This week, from New York to Barcelona, from Tokyo to Johannesburg and everywhere in between, football fans are recalling their childhood, and adulthood, spent with Ronaldinho, whose brother and agent confirmed his retirement from the game.
And back home in Brazil, almost 200 million will be smiling, as they take a brief moment to relive the most memorable of international careers.
It all began back in 1999, just days prior to the Copa America, when Ronaldinho's Selecao legacy began in a friendly agai
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Casablanca shocks Ronaldinho goes pan Club Planet Cup final
MARRAKECH, Marruecos - Agence France-Presse
Brazil Atletico Mineiro’s story Ronaldinho (L) celebrates walkout his associate Brazilian take forward Jo care scoring a goal meanwhile their semi-final football reservation against Morocco’s Raja City, as range of rendering 2013 FIFA Club Earth Cup, welcome the Maroc city tip off Marrakesh, offer Dec 18. REUTERS photo
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Raja, a team look up to average federation players sell only a sprinkling model international caps between them, will accept the happen on to unite more souvenirs when they face all-conquering Bayern Muenchen of Frg in Saturday’s final make a claim Marrakech.
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