Rivaldo and Ronaldo chat in training (Allsport).

By Frank Malley, PA Chief Sports Writer, Saitama

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Rivaldo knows more than most the fickle nature of footballing fortunes.

Three weeks ago he was the pariah of this World Cup, the man vilified for feigning injury when Turkey's Hakan Ulsan kicked the ball at him in Brazil's opening match.

Rivaldo went down, held his face while grimacing as if in agony, though the ball had hit his knee. The referee sent off Ulsan and the Brazilian was branded a cheat, even by many of his countrymen back home.

He received a warning from FIFA and it seemed that once more the man who has courted much controversy during a turbulent and talented career had again pressed the button on his own destruction.

Now, however, the nation which has so often turned upon him is now acclaiming him as the man to deliver Brazil's Holy Grail.

Five goals in five games, one in each of Brazil's triumphs, has proved just how crucial he is to the vision of manager Luiz Felipe Scolari.

On Wednesday in the semi-final which pitches Brazil once again with the seasoned veterans of Turkey, Rivaldo will be seeking to erase the memory of that first-match aberration, plus all the pre-tournament criticism, and inspire Brazil once more to the final of the World Cup they regard as their spiritual right.

"I'm happy with the way I'm playing because I went through some difficult moments," said Rivaldo, who came into this tournament having only just recovered from a knee injury.

"I always had confidence in myself. A lot of things were said. There were even jokes and all sorts of comments about my knee and this made me a bit sad.

"I battled hard and brought a physiotherapist to Barcelona from Brazil to look after me 24 hours a day and get me better.

"I worked very hard but people didn't realise and they criticised me. They said I was crocked and another player should be picked."

It was just as well Scolari put his faith in Rivaldo, especially as Ronaldo, by his own admission, is feeling the strain of five games in just over two weeks so soon after his recovery from a serious knee reconstruction.

The suspension of Ronaldinho after his sending-off against England for a foul on Danny Mills makes Rivaldo's continued individual excellence even more imperative against a side playing in their first World Cup since 1954 and which has shown it is not afraid to attack.

Rivaldo's international career stretches back nine years, but others, it seems, have always earned more recognition, even though he scored four goals and won a runners-up medal in the 1998 World Cup and was joint top scorer when Brazil won the Copa America a year later.

He has been accused of saving his best for his Spanish club and was jeered by fans in Brazil at recent home games. His discontent at one stage during Brazil's erratic qualifying campaign, six defeats in 18 matches, saw him threaten to quit.

Rock bottom came during a match against Colombia in Sao Paulo when Brazil supporters shouted: 'Get out Rivaldo, you're useless.' The man wearing the famed number 10 shirt ducked to avoid missiles and wondered whether he wanted to play again for a country that did not appreciate him.

In Barcelona they adored him, but in Brazil, ever since he made a careless pass in the Atlanta Olympics which ended Brazil's dream of gold, he had been portrayed as a mercenary.

"They booed me and treated me so badly that night," he recalls. "I always try hard and give my best.

"I don't remember being so miserable at the end of a game."

Worse was to follow when his family received threats and his car was vandalised.

But now there is the chance to lend his career the immortality for which he desperately yearns.

"In the last three World Cups we have always been in with a chance," said Rivaldo.

"In 1994 we were champions, in 1998 runners-up and now we are in the last four.

"If you analyse it no other team - Italy, England, Germany or Argentina - can equal that record."

Redemption, it seems, could be close at hand.