Rivaldo and Brazil face Turkey (Allsport).
RIVALDO HAS CHANCE TO MAKE AMENDS
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Brazilian ace Rivaldo can restore his slightly
damaged reputation when he comes across Turkey in the World Cup semi-final on
Wednesday.
The 31-year-old has been in superb form with the ball in Japan and Korea, but
has found himself at the centre of allegations of play acting.
And when he steps out against the Turks on Wednesday, minds will inevitably
cast back to the sides' previous meeting at these finals.
In their opening Group C game, Rivaldo went down clutching his face after
Hakan Unsal kicked the ball at his leg in the closing stages of the South
Americans' 2-1 victory.
Unsal was dismissed, becoming the second Turkish player to see red in the
game, and the whole incident infuriated the Turks.
Rivaldo received a small fine by FIFA after the incident.
But the Barcelona star says he does not expect any comeback about that
incident when they meet again.
In fact, the playmaker insists their opponents should be thanking him and his
team-mates for getting as far as they have.
He said: "They should be happy with us, because we defeated Costa Rica and
that's why they qualified to the second round.
"If we had tied or lost that match, Costa Rica would have advanced instead of
them. We placed them in the second round."
Meanwhile striker Ronaldo came through a light training session unscathed
yesterday as he battles to shake off a thigh injury.
Team doctor Jose Luiz Runco said the Inter forward is in much better shape,
and may rejoin his team-mates for full practice later today.
Ronaldo came off during the second half in Brazil's 2-1 quarter-final win over
England.
Runco said: "Ronaldo is really upbeat. I guess the pains will completely go
in the next days.
"He had no problems today and I believe he will play against Turkey.
"I guess on Monday he will work with his team-mates, but we don't discard
giving him a special workout again.
"It will all depend on how does he feels tomorrow."
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