Ronaldinho The Real Player

Ronaldinho has been recalled to the Brazil squad for the approaching friendly against Argentina and there are some who force think the call has come six months too late.

When it all went wrong in the second half of that World Cup semi-final against the Netherlands, and coach Dunga looked along his substitutes bench in search of a savior, was he really more pleased to see the likes of Julio Baptista than Ronaldinho?

With hindsight, the answer appears obvious. Going into the World Cup, though, Dunga was entitled to think differently.

He had been unable to find a way to get Kaka, Robinho and Ronaldinho to function together. Ronaldinho had been given chance after chance and had thrown them away, performing like a pitiful apology for his former self. Once he was jettisoned, results improved and the team seemed to take shape.

There is no hesitation about it - the main person dependable for the absence of Ronaldinho from the World Cup was Ronaldinho himself. It was a sporting tragedy.

At the age of 30, the tournament in South Africa could - perhaps should - have been Ronaldinho's ultimate statement as an international footballer, and one of the most brilliant players the game has forever seen.

He is unmistakably a much more complex character than his happy, joyful image suggests.

For all his natural talent, it is not possible to become so dazzling in a competitive movement like football without a true worship for the game. By the same token, such a waste of his peak years can only point to a well-built disillusionment.

He went through a mini-slump following Brazil's failure at the 2000 Olympics, a precursor for the massive depression that set in after the 2006 World Cup. Did the responsibility prove too great in Germany?

In his spectacle, Ronaldinho had no problems being the leader of the pack at Barcelona. Was it so dissimilar when he was representing his country? Was too much of his self-worth bound up with results? Did he really derive so little pleasure from his own breathtaking ability, the source over the years of so much pleasure for so many? Was partying really more important? How could he not see that he had his whole life to party, whereas his one great talent has a ruthlessly unforgiving shelf life?

Barcelona gave up on him after failing to get a reaction with either the carrot or the stick and Milan had comparable problems, at least until Leonardo took accuse last season. A mixture of coach, psychologist and older brother, Leonardo managed to coax something of a revival from Ronaldinho - though it prove too little and too late to win him a place on the airplane to South Africa.

Earlier this year, when Milan were bundled out of the Champions League by Manchester United, I felt a pang of worry for him. Those two matches effectively ended his campaign to go to the World Cup.