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Robson Sharuko Senior Sports Editor
BRAZILIAN legend Rivaldo isn’t the first Ballon d’Or winner to visit Zimbabwe, his compatriot Kaka and Portuguese superstar Luis Figo came here before him, but the Barcelona legend is the first global icon to preach a gospel that resonates with events dominating the domestic football landscape.

The 45-year-old, who arrived in Harare on Monday night and left the following evening, left a huge impression on football as he preached the virtues that separate ordinary footballers from those, like him, who have achieved greatness.

Although his message was targeted at a group of young players, who are part of a thriving academy in Harare, who represent the future of the game in this country, it must have resonated in the ears of the likes of Denver Mukamba who has been struggling to find a way back into the light after staggering into the darkness.

Figo, who won the Ballon d’Or in 2000, was here two years ago during a time when he flirted with the possibility of becoming the next FIFA president in the high-stakes battle that comes with gaining the right to lead world football.

Kaka, who like Rivaldo is also a Brazilian, was also here with the Samba Boys in 2010 and played for 45 minutes in a friendly match against the Warriors at the National Sports Stadium which they won 3-0 in the final leg of their 2010 FIFA World Cup preparations.

The magical Kaka won the Ballon d’Or in 2007.

Figo didn’t win a World Cup and while Kaka won the trophy in 2002, he was just a bit part player for that triumphant Brazilian team and his only 28-minute action came in the third group game against Costa Rica, which the Samba Boys won 5-2, with the attacking midfielder replacing Rivaldo in that game.

In sharp contrast, Rivaldo featured in all the seven matches which Brazil played in that World Cup campaign, clocking 598 minutes of service for his country in Japan and South Korea and being one of the key players in their success story.

To put Rivaldo’s immense contribution to that Brazilian cause one has to go to the statistics of that campaign. The rickety forward was man-of-the-match in Brazil’s 2-1 win over Turkey in their first group match, scoring one of the two goals and playing the entire game, and featuring for the entire match in the 4-0 thrashing of China where he also scored one of the goals.

Rivaldo made it three goals in three World Cup group matches in the 5-2 thrashing of Costa Rica and made it four goals in as many games when he scored in the 2-0 win over Belgium in the first knock-out round of the tournament where he was also named man-of-the-match.

The fifth goal, in five straight World Cup games, came in the 2-1 win over England in the quarter-finals where he was again named man-of-the-match and he played another 90 minutes in the 1-0 victory over Turkey in the semi-final where, for the first time in that tournament, he was not on target. His defining moment came in the final against Germany, which Brazil won 2-0, when he dummied the European giants defence and opened an avenue of opportunities for double-scorer Ronaldo to score the decisive killer goal.

And, on Tuesday, he somehow humbled himself, despite his grand achievements which include the FIFA World Player of the Year and winning the UEFA Champions League, by preaching to the local footballers the virtues of professionalism.

‘’I would like to congratulate all of you, all of you are talented,’’ he said through an interpreter, his loyal assistant of 20 years, Manuel Jose Auset Domper.

‘’Make sure you keep working the way you are working, you will get a chance to go and play outside the country in important countries, in traditional leagues so you are in the right direction to become big players.

‘’Talent is not enough, you will need to get the chance to show how good your talent is. Everything is possible in life.

‘’Football is not easy, you will find a lot of difficulties around it. Remain humble, you will find the right way. I had a poor upbringing in Brazil but I have helped my family and a lot of people around the family. ‘’I am 45-years-old, but never drank alcohol or smoked cigarettes. I never went out at night and any things like that, but remained focused. If you follow my history on the internet, you will find I never had issues or problems and it is very important to take care of your name as well.

“Fame and money were never the most important for me in my career.’’

On Tuesday, he posted a photo of himself in an Emirates flight at Harare International Airport as he began the long flight back home after his tour of Zimbabwe and, as always, God featured prominently in his message.

‘’Coming home, Harare, Zimbabwe, Lusaka Zambia, after Dubai, UAE, and New York, US, and finally Orlando, US, God bless the journey.’’

But, how really good was Rivaldo?

‘’Rivaldo is the story of a great player in no-so-great a Barcelona team,’’ Leon Wilde, wrote on Planet Football.

Rob Smyth, The Guardian sports writer, maybe summed it all in June 2008.

“Few footballers since Diego Maradona have had the fusion of bronca and brilliance that can make for a one-man team — Steven Gerrard occasionally, Cristiano Ronaldo maybe, Rivaldo certainly,’’ he wrote.

‘’At times around the turn of the century he was impossible to play against, and never more so than here. The quality of the goals was outstanding, but the context made his performance legendary.

‘’A common, if slightly cringe worthy, observation of pundits in this country is that, if you could marry British will with continental skill, you would have the perfect footballer. Such a mixed recipe was thrillingly in evidence in Diego Maradona.

‘’Since then, however, perhaps only Rivaldo has fused the two qualities. Yet when we discuss soccer’s AM (After Maradona) greats, Zinedine Zidane invariably comes out on top, with Rivaldo well back among the pack.

‘’While it would be dubious to argue that Rivaldo was a better technician than Zidane, it is arguable that, if you took everyone playing at the absolute peak of their game, Rivaldo was the best and most unstoppable footballer since Maradona.’’But it’s the humility of the great man that should make players like Mukamba appreciate the values of professionalism.

“Among trophies, medals, awards and titles, in a land where everything is consumed, here I leave a story, perhaps an example, but surely a testimony that is worth believing and fighting (for),” Rivaldo said on Instagram.