The game itself may hardly be remembered as a thriller, but Brazil's 3-0 victory against Ghana at the 2006 World Cup will remain in the thoughts of the millions watching on for the brilliance of one man who sealed his name in football folklore by becoming the competition's top scorer.
Miroslav Klose may have since surpassed Ronaldo's tally of 15 strikes, netting the second of Germany's goals in the 7-1 thrashing of Brazil 11 months ago, but for so long it was the Brazilian forward who held the impressive achievement.
The record-breaking goal itself, which took the Rio-born marksman beyond Gerd Muller in the scoring charts, came just five minutes into Brazil's comfortable win over Ghana in the round-of-16 stage at the Westfalenstadion in Dortmund.
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Ronaldo timed his run perfectly to latch on to Kaka's exquisite through-ball, before rounding Richard Kingson and rolling it into the back of an empty net. In all, one of the game's greatest all-time players struck 15 goals in 19 World Cup games at a rate of 0.79 goals-per-game, a fate proving that the number 9 truly was one of the most clinical players to ever step foot onto the field of play.
You have to go back to 1998 to find the first of those goals, a well-taken half-volley on the edge of the box in a 3-0 group-stage win over Morocco. Strikes against Chile and the Netherlands were to follow in France '98, which saw Ronaldo end the showpiece tournament as joint-third highest scorer.
Having watched on as his country lifted the trophy four years prior, Ronaldo Luis Nazario de Lima now had the chance to write his own name in folklore by guiding the Samba Nation to another major crown. A convulsive fit just hours before the showpiece final against France seemed to end the striker's hopes of appearing against the host nation, but soon after the initial teamsheets had been submitted Ronaldo was back in the lineup.
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He was unable to find the net as Brazil fell to a disappointing defeat against France, but his World Cup journey had only just begun. Turkey were the first victims in 2002 - a brilliant forward's finish in which he worked his way between three defenders to tuck home - before China, Costa Rica, Belgium, Turkey and Germany each suffered the same fate at the hands of the soon-to-be Galactico.
While he headed into the previous instalment of the competition as arguably the world's finest player, things were different in 2002 when injury curtailed his involvement at club level. That did not stop him racking up those aforementioned eight goals, though, each carrying more importance than the last right through to his double against Germany in the final. England, in fact, were the only side to stop the rampant ace scoring.
So we come on to 2006, Ronaldo's last appearance at a World Cup. Top scorer in qualifying, he took some time to get into his stride alongside the trio of Adriano, Ronaldinho and Kaka, yet Dunga resisted calls from the outside for his star striker to be dropped. His patience paid off, with two vital goals against Japan making him just one of 20 players to score in three or more finals.
It also moved the two-time World Player of the Year alongside Muller in the scoring charts, with 14 soon becoming 15 against Ghana on this day nine years ago. Few can truly rival the Brazilian sensation in terms of personal achievements and accolades, even if injury problems and weight issues did ultimately cut his career short by a few years.
O Fenomeno will always have a rightful place in World Cup folklore, however, as one of the competition's all-time great players.
Daniel Lewis
