DORTMUND, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Brazil easily booked a
quarter-final berth after romping to 3-0 over World Cup debutants Ghana here on
Tuesday en route to their sixth title in the 2006 tournament.
Ronaldo opened scoring for the holders in just five
minutes when he received a pass from AC Milan sensation Kaka and drove a
20-meter solo run, mugging Ghana keeper Richard Kingson with a trademark
stepover to slot the ball home.
Adriano extended Brazil's lead to 2-0 in the dying
minutes of the first half as the Inter Milan striker, who regained the starting
position as Robinho was sidelined by a slight right thigh injury, lobbed in a
close pass from Cafu, who ran off a nice goal-mouth effort with Adriano after
connecting with Kaka.
The third score came late in the second half when
substitute midfielder Ricardinho tipped the ball over Ghana's center-backs and
Jose Ze Roberto cut across, flicked it past Richard Kingson and tapped in at 84.
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With the earlier two goals for the five-time champions,
Ronaldo set a new scoring record of the World Cup finals with 15,
breaking the former mark of 14 jointly held by the Real Madrid striker and
Germany's Gerd Muller.
"It's a great satisfaction to make this record, but
let's not forget our main objective is to reach the final. The players are very
confident and our team is meeting our goals," said Ronaldo after the match.
"That (the record) was never my goal, it's just
something that's happened," he said. "I'm happy to have broken this record; for
seven World Cups it has not been broken."
The 29-year-old, whose double led to a 2-0 tournament
winning score in the 2002 final over Germany in 2002, said the game against
Ghana was not as easy as the scoreboard showed.
"It wasn't easy to play today. Everyone who plays
Brazil will give everything," he said. "If people put me under pressure, it's
actually good for me because then I can show what I can really do."
Captain Cafu is the other Brazil player breaking
World Cup records with Tuesday's victory. The AC Milan defender, 36, beat Lothar
Matthaeus of Germany to come to the most wins as a player, with 15 victories,
and become Brazil's most capped player at the World Cup with 19 caps.
Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva, who was sent on
the pitch for Emerson after the second half kicked off, praised their own
defence which had been widely criticized.
"The Brazilian defence was very good. It was a worry
and today there was great calm," he said. "We knew the second half would be very
difficult, as it was. It was a team playing against Brazil with nothing to
lose."
Brazil will next take the winner of another round of
16 match between Spain and France.
The Ghanaians, however, failed to join Senegal and
Cameroon to become the only third African side making through to the World Cup
last eight.
Other four teams from Africa, Angola, Cote d'Ivoire,
Togo and Tunisia, all bowed out after the first stage of round robin.
"I'm very proud of our players, they fought from the
first minute of the first match to the last minute today," said Ghana coach
Ratomir Dujkovic, who stressed his satisfaction with his own team's performance
and attacking spirit.
"We missed some important chances, they scored three
goals. They are a fantastic team and if you give them a fraction of a second
they will finish you," he added.
One of Ghana's best chances came in the 35th minute
when Asamoah Gyan shrugged off two defenders to face off Dida directly after
being set up by a cross from Eric Addo, but his hook only saw the ball flying
over the bar.
The second half kicked off in a stylish way as a more
neat football came from Ghana but ended in disappointment.
While the Africans had clearly decided to throw
everything they had at their opponents, the Brazilians weathered the Ghana storm
and assumed complete control despite a dodgy defense from the star-studded
squad.
The Ghanaians were down to 10 after Gyan, who was
previously shown for booting the ball into the stands after having a free-kick
given against him, received a second booking for diving at the 81st minute.
Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira then substituted
Kaka with Ricardinho on 83 minutes to spare the powerhouse in midfield for the
next round, before the 30-year-old set up the third for the Latin Americans
within a minute onto the pitch. Enditem