Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira said that Ronaldo is guaranteed a spot in the World Cup lineup. He went on to say that all negative write-ups about Ronaldo would not matter come competition since he is made for special moments.

This coming World Cup is indeed going to be special for him if he performs up to expectations. World records are bound to be broken like becoming the tournament’s leading scorer where he now sits in third place behind number 1 Gerd Muller of Germany and number 2 Just Fontaine of France. Ronaldo has 12, Just has 13 and Gerd has 14. Likewise, he has a chance to get his third World Cup equaling the feat of Pele.

Parreira is confident Ronaldo can bounce back from all that has happened and remain the key to Brazil’s Cup title like when he overcame a career-ending knee injury to win the Cup title in 2002.

Or are we focusing too much on Ronaldo? Have we forgotten Ronaldinho and Kaka? I have great respect for Ronaldo but at his present physical state how do you expect someone to bounce back. He did overcome his last major adversity en route to the 2002 Cup title but he was totally in shape for a long time prior to the competition. Come the games itself he was perhaps in the greatest shape of his life — ready to show the world why he is the game’s deadliest striker. An overweight, out-of-synch guy like him may not be enough to pull off Brazil.

The country has a lot of great talent in both Ronaldinho and Kaka. I believe that both of them especially Ronaldinho could spell the difference between humiliation and glory. Parreira knows this definitely.

I feel that the coach is saying these things publicly to boost Ronaldo’s morale to get in shape and ready for the games. But by doing this, doesn’t that affect the people in the Brazilian squad that feel they can carry their team to victory?