The Phenomenon By Ronaldo Luís Nazário De Peru

How does a little boy from a poor Brazilian background find his way into the greatest football stages and marvel the world with his formidable talent? This is the story of Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima. Colloquially known as "The Phenomenon," his amazing talent continues to amaze new football fans today. "The Phenomenon" had a turbulent and eventful career: he went through several difficult phases with numerous problems in the knees that removed him from the fields, surgeries, public scandals, colossal fame and competitive achievement. But all of this was a very foreign reality for the humble boy from Bento Ribeiro.

In 1994, a thin and toothy boy conquered Brazil and comparisons with Pelé were inevitable. At age 17, he wore the Brazilian senior national team jersey for the first time against Argentina. In the next game, he scored the first goal against Iceland. And after only two games he was called to dispute the World Cup. The story of the meteoric rise of a poor boy who grew up in a simple house in the suburb of Bento Ribeiro, Rio de Janeiro, was beginning to be written.

The classroom's ugly duck

The younger of Nélio Nazário de Lima's three sons, who was a street vendor, and Sônia dos Santos Barata, an ice-cream maker, slept on the couch. He had a poor childhood, although not miserable.

Ronaldo received an invitation to become a member of the Valqueire Tennis Club. He promptly accepted it, but things didn't quite start as smoothly as one would expect. There was no vacancy in the junior team, so they ended up turning Ronaldo into a goalkeeper. The team was in last place in the Campeonato Carioca. The manager Marquinhos decided, then, to radicalize: knowing the reputation of "Dadado," (Ronaldo's local nickname at the time) the coach decided to put him in the attack instead. Result: Ronaldo scored four goals in a 5 to 4 victory over Vasco, then championship