The experts consider him the best player raised in Brazil in the last decade, that is since the appeareance of Ronaldo. His body is chiseled in the long hours spent in a Milan gymnasium, and his boots (size 43) fire thunderous shots from all angles towards the same target. He is a superb ball-holder, shows a surprising agility for his size, and frustrates defenders with his gravity-defying jumps which unmistakeably last a bit longer than expected. That's Adriano – the hottest goods coming from Brazil since Ronaldo!
The Brazilians used to treat the Sudamericano as a second rate competition for a long time, but the largest country of the Green Continent celebrated its seventh South American Championship in style. Perhaps because Argentina were the beaten rivals, perhaps to imitate the euphoria that had accompanied the European Championship.
This year's Sudamericano, held three instead of two years after the previous one, profiled the biggest American soccer star of the younger generation – Adriano Leite Ribeiro, arguably the player that best combines physical strength, speed, ball skils and shooting. The top player and top scorer of the tournament with seven goals in six appearances, Adriano has probably earned a place in the Brazilian starting line-up alongside Ronaldo. This could mean that Brazil will only need one decent passer of the ball in two years time in Germany, because the new "atomic" tandem is poised to crush all defences.
In Peru, Adriano gave a foretaste of what was to follow with a hat trick against Costa Rica, and signed off with his seventh goal in time added on in the final against Argentina. After saving his team from defeat in the last breath of the game, he went on to score from the spot to give Brazil the trophy in the shootout.
After his feats at the Sudamericano, Adriano won a nickname of "the Tank" from the local press, whereas the more imaginative writers compared him with his namesake, Roman emperor Hadrian (Adriano in Spanish), relishing the discovery that the aniversary of his death on July 10th of the year 138 AD fell on the eve of the beginning of this year's tournament in Peru.
Adriano comes from the huts of Vila Humeilde, in Rio de Janeiro's favelas.
"Football is my life, it has always been. But my parents didn't want me to play football. I had to go to school, to study, but in fact I studied so very little." Except for the subject called soccer, in extracurricular activities.
He started his footballing "studies" on the Leblon beach, on which Flamengo practices twice a week, and which used to be frequented by Zico on the lookout for talent. Adriano lifted the 1999 U-17 World Cup in New Zealand, and a year later he made Flamengo's first team under coach Paulo Cesar Carpegiani. On his debut he scored in a resounding 5-2 win over Sao Paulo at their Morumbi Stadium. He held on to his first team spot under Carlinhos and Zagalo, and in the Brazilian U-21 team he was crowned South American champion at the 2000 final tournament in Ecuador.
Such was the progress of this corpulent young man that the national team coach Emerson Leao gave him his first full cap against Colombia in November, but he was again demoted to the youth team for the 2001 U-20 World Cup in Argentina. Now playing above his rank, he finished the tournament as the second-best scorer with six goals behind Javier Saviola, even though Brazil went down to Ghana in the quarterfinals.
Cuper played it safe
That particular showing earned him a 20 million euro worth transfer to Inter.
"I would like to be to Inter what my idol Zico was for Udinese," he said. Next day he starred at the Trofeo Bernabeu in Madrid against hosts Real. In about five minutes he nearly scored with a magnificent header, had a few momentous runs through Real's defence, caused skipper Fernando Hierro to earn himself a red card and then scored with a tremendous shot from the free kick.
Everybody, the fans, press and Ronaldo – then still at Inter – were thrilled, but the coach Hector Cuper was reserved.
"He is not yet a phenomenon, although he could be. I hope he proves useful to us in the future."
As always, Cuper played safe and gave the 19-year old just eight brief appearances in Serie A, before the club sent him on loan to then Roberto Mancini's Fiorentina. In the following six months Adriano proved his worth, netting six times for the "Viola", but his prowess was largely overshadowed by Fiorentina's financial disaster which landed the squad in the fourth division.
Still oblivious to Adriano's charm, Inter's supremo Massimo Moratti forwarded him to Parma and, worse still, sold the cheese-makers a half of the Brazilian's contract for 12,5 million euros. In Parma Adriano shone, scoring 15 goals in Serie A and five in the UEFA Cup. Now confident he would finally get a real chance at Inter, he was bitterly disappointed last summer upon learning he would have to stay in the provinces for further "hardening".
Inter likes it expensive
Inter's supporters were incensed to hear Adriano claim he would not automatically reject a possible approach from AC Milan, while the press wrote that "to lose Adriano would be equivalent to going down to Serie B." It took Inter's dismal run and the long-overdue dismissal of Hector Cuper to mobilise Inter's bosses to bring the Carioca back, only to find that his price had gone up to a total of 58 million euros, which meant that the Milan giants had to pay 29 million euros for the other half of the player's contract, 16,5 million more than they had received from Parma a year and a half before.
Finally, on January 21st Adriano signed a contract tying him to Inter until 2008. He was welcomed as a saviour midway through a season threatening to leave Inter without international football next season, but the new duties did not slow him down. With nine goals in just 13 starts he eclipsed Christian Vieri and Alvaro Recoba, pounding the way to fourth place and a Champions League qualifying round spot. The arrival of his old boss from Fiorentina, Roberto Mancini, was another bit of good news for the Brazilian, since the new coach promised he would not choose between Adriano and Vieri, but would instead build the team around these two formidable goal-poachers.
