Ronaldo Nazário de Lima, 45, was on his fourth professional appointment of the day when he sat down to talk to Folha at an advertising agency in São Paulo, on Monday (27). "Oh, how sleepy I get after lunch," he exclaimed.
Exactly 20 years ago, Ronaldo, nicknamed Phenomenon, did not want to sleep after lunch, when there were just a few hours left for the final match of the Cup against Germany.
"Everyone ate and went to their room to take a nap," recalls the former striker. "I didn't do that, because it would be repeating the same ritual as in 1998. I was afraid of having another seizure, can you imagine?"
The sudden illness before the World Cup decision and the defeat to France were career scars. Two more are marked on his right knee, the injuries that made him stop for more than a year and hear from doctors that he would never be the same in football again.
He ignored the pessimistic forecasts and did not take a nap before the World Cup finals in Korea and Japan, on June 30, 2002. Hours later, he scored the two goals in the victory that guaranteed the fifth championship.
Twenty years after dropping the tarmac for the sport, he has other goals.
Owner of Cruzeiro, he wants to move the Minas Gerais team to Serie A and reduce the debts accumulated in recent years. He also plans to grow his holding company, Oddz, created in 2021, which concentrates the former player's business in media and entertainment.
"You can't be an amateur in football anymore," he says. "Maybe Flamengo and Corinthians don't follow the model of Cruzeiro, of SAF [Soccer Anonymous of Football], of having an owner, but they will have to change. You have to professionalize, reduce costs. It is a path of no return."
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon