Alhaji Righteous De Ambitious: Feb 17, 2011

Thursday, February 17, 2011

World Cup 2010 Blog: Ronaldo Given Fish In A Barrel For His Selecao Sendoff

Ronaldo Given Fish In A Barrel For His Selecao Sendoff

Posted: 16 Feb 2011 10:00 AM PST

ronaldo

Ask and you shall receive.

Well, so long as you’re one of the greatest players to have ever graced a football pitch with your otherworldly abilities.

Ronaldo asked the Brazilian federation for a sendoff friendly with the Selecao, and they have obliged with one of the most lopsided games in football history: the 2002 World Cup-winning Brazilian side versus a gaggle of local Chechnyans, including the President.

Brazil's 2002 World Cup-winning team will play a friendly next month in the formerly wartorn Russian province of Chechnya, a local official said Wednesday.

Chechnya's government website cited sports minister Haidar Alkhanov as saying Kaka, Ronaldinho and the recently retired Ronaldo are likely to feature in the March 10 match. Chechnya president Ramzan Kadyrov will captain a team comprising local players.

There was no word of confirmation from Brazilian officials, but if the match goes ahead it will be the third major football coup in a month for Russia's poverty-stricken Caucasus region, which is better known for separatist violence than sport.

(It should be noted those ‘local’ players may actually be Russian Premier League side Terek Grozny; not quite as lopsided, but still wouldn’t keep anything on the table.)

No word if he’ll be bringing back that fly hair for the occasion, but it should be absolute mandatory. That and an over/under in triple figures.