Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is confident that World Player of the Year Ronaldinho will be at his best for the World Cup finals.
Ronaldinho, 26, played in the winning team four years ago but was overshadowed by teammates Ronaldo and Rivaldo.
A string of outstanding performances for his club side Barcelona, have seen him voted FIFA’s World Player of the Year twice since then and Parreira is expecting great things in Germany.
“He has undoubtedly matured since 2002,” Parreira told reporters. “He has grown up as a player, a man and a person and I think this will reflect in his performance at the World Cup.
“I think he is ready to have a wonderful World Cup.
“His skills, I cannot describe them, there are so many of them and they are so great,” said the coach. “He can do anything with the ball.
“But it is important to point out his application and determination are also outstanding.
“The important thing is he plays with happiness, he forgets about the fact it’s a World Cup, about the marking, and he enjoys himself and gets on with his own game.”
Parreira sees his role as allowing players like Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Adriano and Kaka to prosper.
“I’m not a coach, I’m a talent facilitator,” said Parreira.
“For a team to win the World Cup, they have to be faithful to their style. They have to impose their style on the opposition, not change according to the opponents.”
Parreira also revealed that he had found the squad easy to control.
“To put them all into one team is a Herculean task and, at the start, four years ago, I admit I had my doubts,” he said.
“But the World Cup qualifiers proved they are willing to play as a team. We’ve always found the South American qualifiers difficult and this time we made them look easy.”
Brazil open their Group F campaign against Croatia in Berlin on June 13.
