Cristiano Ronaldo dreams come true

Well, at least according to his latest book. As latest because there have been at least two released before that one.



The 80 million man, which is also a title of a previous book about him, was at Santiago Bernabeu in person, when the book was revealed. "'Sueños Cumplidos", which is the Spanish title is a biography of Cristiano Ronaldo written by Enrique Ortego.

Real Madrid have started a book series about it's best players. President Florentino Perez saying: "Real Madrid is on the right path. This club is talent, ambition and sacrifice combined. We have the best. That's what I learned from Santiago Bernabeu. Cristiano is very devoted and has a unique and very special talent. I wish to highlight his hunger for titles and his ambition to improve. He always wants to do his best, something that goes hand in hand with Real Madrid's philosophy. This was born with men like Alfredo di Stefano. This book will reveal why he experiences football like a religion. There are many stereotypes and misconceptions about him that the book clears. Cristiano and the Bernabeu are the perfect match to feed this legend. But the best of all these dreams is still to come."

But the fact that this isn't the first book about Cristiano Ronaldo, shows the magnitude of his influence, not only in the footballing World, but in the World as a general.

I certainly wouldn't thought there would be another brand footballer since David Beckham, but I've been proved wrong. I also wouldn't have thought Ronaldo would ever get this big. He was a talented player at Manchester United and grew in stature, but as a icon? Naah!

The man from Madeira with a difficult past had defied the odds, though. I wouldn't be surprised if he's already passed David Beckham in popularity and it's only a matter of time until he does it financially. And there's a similar pattern. Not only in the way, that both raise to prominence at Manchester United, but the marketing of them. Beckham took the definition of a world class footballer to another level with marketing, which lead him being the best known footballer ever. Even the Yanks recognized him! Ronaldo is following in the same footprints.

Beckham's career is slowly fading away, but Ronaldo's has only just started. He could end up as a synonym of his sports best parts, like Michael Jordan is for basketball or Muhhamad Ali for boxing. A true sporting hero. And a legend.

Group G overview

Ivory Coast
Portugal
Brazil
Korea DPR

Fixtures:

15/06/2010, Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth, Ivory Coast vs Portugal
15/06/2010, Johannesburg - JEP, Brazil vs Korea DPR

20/06/2010, Johannesburg - JSC, Brazil vs Ivory Coast
21/06/2010, Cape Town, Portugal vs Korea DPR

25/06/2010, Durban, Portugal vs Brazil
25/06/2010, Nelspruit, Korea DPR vs Ivory Coast

Korea DPR are no doubt cursing their luck regarding the draw. The mighty Brazilians already in the first match! While Didier Drogba's teammates are probably cursing him for jinxing their draw. But to their luck Portugal aren't the side they used to be, so a win in the first match would give a big boost to their qualifying chances. "Brazilian derby", as Dunga cleverly noted, in the last set of fixtures.

Second team will have the joy of facing European Champions Spain in the next round. Brazil will take on the 2nd team from group H.

Is Queiroz good enough for Portugal?

In the end Portugal made it to South Africa 2010 with quite comfortable performances versus Bosnia and Herzegovina, but the qualifying process as a whole was a bit of a disaster. The play-off spot versus Bosnia and Herzegovina was only sneaked ahead of Sweden by only a single point. Disastrous form considering Portugal had the chance to rely on FIFA World Player of the Year 2008, Cristiano Ronaldo. To Queiroz's and the teams credit they did only lose 1 match (at home to Denmark), but draws, like a home draw vs Albania were really shocking results, considering the qualify throughout the squad.. And in fact, Portugal needed an injury time goal to beat the Albanians away in Tirana. Luckily for them they had a favorable fixtures list with the last two matches being at home, vs Hungary and Malta, and Sweden bottled it in the end. But even though with a place booked for South Africa 2010, questions still remain over Carlos Queiroz's ability to manage the team.

Queiroz came to prominence with his great work with young players. His been named as the "discoverer" of the Portuguese "Golden Generation" consisting from the likes of 2001 FIFA Player of the Year, Luis Figo and Rui Costa. Mainly thanks to his successful work with the youth teams he was award the senior team's managerial role in 1991, but the former player himself, failed miserably, having not qualified for neither the European Championships 1992 nor the World Cup 1994.

Quieroz then went of to manage Sporting Lisbon. Queiroz had a world class team at his helm, many consider the Sporting team of that time the best ever Sporting side, but he failed again. During his three year stay, Sporting only managed to win one piece of silverware, the Portuguese Cup in 1995.

Reigns at obscure teams followed and Mr. Quieroz would've probably gone down in football history as a quite unknown man if it wasn't for one lucky summer. In 2002, Quieroz, who in the same year had lead South Africa to the World Cup finals, but resigned from the position before the tournament, managed to impress Sir Alex Ferguson and earned himself an assistant manager role at Manchester United.

Season 2002/2003 was greatly successful for United, with Queiroz playing a key role behind the scenes, so Real Madrid came knocking. But again Queiroz failed. Having an all-star squad at his disposal, he failed to deliver the league championship and was sacked after two years. He returned to United and his fate seemed to by as a forever number two.

And that what Carlos Queiroz is - a nr. 2. He's a very good assistant manager, but as a manager he just doesn't cut it. This understanding really hits when you read or listen to his interviews. He's too much of a nice guy, to ever be successful as a manager. Yes, he did deliver silverware for the Portuguese youth teams, but that's the stage, where you teach boys to play football, not instruct men to win football matches. Queiroz is great tactically, huge part of United's success when he was there's was down to his clever tactical choices, but he lacks in motivating players.

The Portuguese FA gave him another chance and they'll probably regret it now, but I expect them to learn from their mistakes. Even though Queiroz signed a 4-year deal in 2008, I doubt he'll still be in charge of Portugal after South Africa 2010. I certainly can't see how the team could be successful in the World Cup finals, and one of the best players of the World, Cristiano Ronaldo, will probably have to wait for another World Cup cycle before going down in history as one of the best players ever to play the game.