The Defining Moment
Brazil 2002
Brazil won Korea-Japan 2002 with a perfect campaign: seven matches, seven victories. But the story of this tournament was, above all, the redemption of Ronaldo. Four years after the trauma of Paris the convulsion before the final, the humiliating defeat O Fenômeno returned to the summit with 8 goals, including a brace in the final. On 30 June in Yokohama, before 69,029 spectators, Ronaldo scored twice by exploiting errors from Oliver Kahn until then the tournament's best goalkeeper for a 2-0 victory over Germany. The trio of Ronaldo, Rivaldo, and Ronaldinho the three Rs dazzled the world. Brazil lifted their fifth world title, a record no other nation has matched, and Ronaldo completed the most emotional arc in football history.