Brazil's Confidence in Fabiano Paying Off

JOHANNESBURG – If the hardest thing to do in sports is to live up to expectations, and soccer is the biggest sport in the world, then the athlete on the planet with the most-difficult job (with all due apologies to the wannabe NBA champion and global icon Lebron James) is the rookie World Cup forward for Brazil named Luis Fabiano.

To be sure, the Brazil national team's bosses welcomed Fabiano onto the team by conferring upon him the striker's jersey, No. 9. On most teams, that's an honor but no big deal. Most every player seen as the team's best scorer is afforded the No. 9 jersey.

But Brazil, with more World Cup trophies than any country on earth, isn't most teams and its No. 9 isn't just another number. What Brazil did with Fabiano was like the Chicago Bulls handing some hotshot Michael Jordan's No. 23, or the Edmonton Oilers sticking Wayne Gretzky's No. 99 on the back of some draft pick.

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The last No. 9 for Brazil's national team adorned Ronaldo in the last three World Cups. He only went on to become the top scorer in the history of this tournament, bettering Pele – who wore No. 10, which is now universally known to indicate a team's offensive creator – by three goals.

After Brazil's second game of this tournament Sunday at Soccer City, beating 3-1 what so many thought was a dangerous Cote d'Ivorie side, Fabiano is 13 goals back of the man he replaced. He exploded for the first two goals against Les Elephants, as Cote d'Ivorie is nicknamed, after being a dud in Brazil's opening 2-1 win over North Korea.

The only reason Fabiano isn't closer to threatening Ronaldo's mark, or Pele's for that matter, is because Brazil is so stacked he couldn't squeeze onto the roster. He had to wait his turn and it hasn't come until now when he is 29. He may only have one more World Cup left in him but he is making the most of his first one.

The first goal he scored Sunday was spectacular as he appeared to pass the ball to himself off his heal before eluding defenders and blasting it high and home with his right foot. On his second goal, he used his left boot, after using his right hand. The referee missed the handball.

Goal.com reported that Fabiano admitted the faux pas to reporters afterward.

"I was working hard, but the goal was not showing," the Web site translated Fabiano's words. "I was relieved to have finally scored. The ball touched my hand but it was accidental, so I think it was a legal goal."

Blackistone in S.A.

National Columnist Kevin Blackistone is on the scene in the home of World Cup 2010.
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When it comes to Fabiano, what does it matter? He is being called The Fabulous One, too, now, and for good reason.

His two goals through two games didn't put Fabiano at the top of the leader board here. He is one back. But there is more to be considered about what has been expected of him and how he is handling all of it.

The two goals he netted Sunday, according to data at www.football-lineups.com, gave him 17 goals in his last 18 international games. Reggie Jackson should be impressed. That is amazing.

In a sport where the critics chirp that the scoring is too low, and even lower in a tournament like this where the stakes are so high, Fabiano basically has become a lock to put the ball -- Jabulani, or whatever you want to call it -- past the poor keeper in every outing.

Five of those goals he scored during this run came last summer in the Confederations Cup held here. For that stellar effort, Fabiano was awarded the Golden Boot. He owns soccer on South African soil and should be moving up the odds' list at you favorite sports book for player most likely to win the 2010 World Cup's Golden Boot. Maybe he should have been the favorite all along. He was second in scoring to Chile's Humberto Suazo in South American World Cup qualifying with nine goals in 11 appearances.

"I don't have a number of goals that I'm trying to reach in this World Cup," Fabiano told Goal.com after he was named Man of the Match against Cote d'Ivorie. "I will keep working and try to score as many goals as I can."

Share He was quoted when he arrived in South Africa for the start of this tournament saying, however, that he hoped to be the top scorer of these games and saw only England's Wayne Rooney and Spain's David Villa as rivals. The English filed a missing person's report for Rooney after two games at this World Cup and Spain was shut out in stunning fashion in its opener. Spain is scheduled to play Honduras on Monday.

It isn't surprising that Fabiano is excelling if not also exceeding expectations. He's a born scorer. He's not necessarily flashy. But he's big and strong enough to keep defenders off of him and he's crafty enough to get off a shot at seemingly any time. You can't score if you don't shoot, and he does.

At his team in Seville, he scored 21 goals in 34 games last season. He would have done more damage had it not been for injury. He was no less dangerous in his previous two stops as a pro.

There was a bad omen a few years ago that suggested how important Fabiano would be to Brazil's fortunes. Kidnappers in March 2005 snatched his mother Sandra Helena Clemente from her home 60 miles northwest of Sao Paul. It was the same thing that happened to the mother of Robinho the November before. Robinho was hailed in Brazil then as the next Pele.

Robinho's mother was released unharmed after a ransom supposedly was paid. Fabiano's mother was eventually released also after it was suspected that money changed hands. Fabiano was, after all, coming off a summer in which he helped Brazil win the Copa America and picked up for himself a new contract then with the Portuguese Club Porto worth upwards of $14 million.

Fabiano's worth to his national team? It is proving invaluable.