Dunga says Ronaldo can return to national team

SAO PAULO (AP) -Brazil coach Dunga says he will summon Ronaldo if the striker returns to top form.


Dunga praised Ronaldo for his return to football more than a year after knee surgery, saying the striker will have his spot in the squad secured if he plays well again.

"If he becomes the Ronaldo of old, why not?'' Dunga told Cultura TV late Monday.

Ronaldo returned to action last Wednesday playing 28 minutes for Corinthians in a Brazilian Cup match. On Sunday, he scored a late equalizer after 31 minutes on the field against Palmeiras. It was his first goal since the left knee injury while with AC Milan in February 2008.

Dunga said it's natural Ronaldo was far from his best after more than a year out of action, but liked the way he performed in his first two matches.

"He has the will to become the great player that he once was,'' Dunga said. "He feels pleasure playing football.''

Dunga and Ronaldo were teammates in the 1994 and 1998 World Cups.

The 32-year-old Ronaldo told SporTV channel on Monday that his goal was to return to the national team, but that he feels he has enemies in the Brazilian football federation.

Ronaldo was never recalled to the national team once Dunga replaced Carlos Alberto Parreira after Brazil's elimination in the quarterfinals of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

The president of the Brazilian federation on Tuesday dismissed any animosity against Ronaldo.

"There is no veto,'' Ricardo Teixeira said. "If Ronaldo becomes the player he was in the 2002 World Cup, he has the chance to return to the national team and play in the 2010 World Cup.''

Ronaldo, the all-time leading World Cup scorer with 15 goals, helped Brazil win its fifth world title in 2002 in South Korea and Japan with two of his eight goals coming in the final against Germany.

Ronaldo's return to football has been praised across Brazil, including by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"He wasn't 100 percent ready, played five minutes, got five balls and was still better than everybody else,'' Silva said, according to the Folha Online Web site.

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