An injury-plagued Ronaldo is looking increasingly doubtful for
AC Milan's Club World Cup campaign in Japan, but his team-mates are trying to
keep his spirits up, fellow Brazilian ace Kaka says.
The 31-year-old has missed every training session with the squad since the
European Champions League winners arrived Thursday, a week before their first
match in the annual tournament of continental champions.
"What annoys him is that since he does not play he feels he's a bit out of the
squad," Kaka said on Milan's website.
"It's for this reason that in this training camp in Japan we talk to him a lot,
because we want him to feel inside the team."
Ronaldo has featured in just one match this season, when he started against
Cagliari two weeks ago on his return from a thigh injury -- only to pick up a
knock to his left calf.
"Now we don't know how long he will be out for, even though we did not lose our
hopes in seeing him on the pitch in this World Cup, but when we talk to him, and
we often do, we never talk about injuries," said 25-year-old playmaker Kaka.
"The calf is still hurting him, but the doctors will think about this as he is
making a lot of treatments and applications with them during this training camp,"
he added.
Kaka pointed out that Ronaldo has "gone through more difficult moments than this
one," pointing to his two-year layoff with a knee injury until he came back to
help Brazil win the 2002 World Cup in Japan.
Ronaldo scored twice in Brazil's 2-0 win over Germany in the 2002 final at the
Yokohama International Stadium, which is also the venue of this year's Club
World Cup final.
"I hope that he returns as soon as possible and plays those game sequences in
which he hopes," added Kaka, who won France's prestigious Ballon d'Or award for
best player of the year just a week ago.
Milan will face either Asian champions Urawa Reds of Japan or runners-up Sepahan
of Iran in the semi-finals on Thursday at the Yokohama stadium. Urawa and
Sepahan clash at Toyota on Monday.
Milan and Boca Juniors of Argentina, who beat the Italian side in the 2003
Intercontinental Cup final, are taking a bye into the semi-finals.
Milan's possible showdown with Boca is being widely labelled as a chance to take
revenge, but it's not a sentiment Kaka shares.
"I don't like the word 'revenge,'" said Kaka. "In 2003 Boca won and it ended
there, closed story. Now let's look forward."
The Intercontinetal Cup, an annual blue-ribbon clash between the champions of
Europe and South America, was merged into the Club World Cup in 2005.
Kaka reiterated his desire to win the world club title, which has long been
regarded in Europe as secondary to the Champions League title.
"For us South Americans it's a very important trophy, and my team-mates and I
shall do everything to win it and to write our names in the history books of
this trophy, and therefore in the history of football." |