Eusebio bemoans lack of goalsPortugal's most famous footballing icon says compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo underperformed at the World Cup and has bemoaned the lack of goals in the tournament as a whole.
Speaking at an Adidas function in Johannsburg, Eusebio, who scored nine goals in the 1966 finals in England, admitted he was disillusioned with the modern game which, he said, was too money-orientated.
"In my generation football was played all over the world for its own sake,'' he said. ''Now it is nothing more than a commercial enterprise. There are some good players but essentially the show is a commercial one."
One of the greatest goalscorers of all time - Eusebio, now 68, played for Portugal between 1961 and 1973 scoring 41 goals in 64 appearances. He says it will be "close-run thing" between Gonzalo Higuain and David Villa for the prestigious Golden Boot award in South Africa but, while he claimed he was not impressed with Ronaldo's performances, he said he was generally unhappy with the standard of forward play.
"Ronaldo did not live up to expectations," said Eusebio. ''It's unfortunate for Portugal that he did not do very well in this tournament but I'm not going to condemn him for that. I've played the game and know when players are in good or bad form.
"There haven't really been too many goals so far. Kaka has been playing at about 70% of his ability. Wayne Rooney is a great player but he was also not giving 100% for England, but I'm not going to condemn any of them for performing poorly. It happens that players don't always perform the way we expect, but it happened in my time and it will continue to happen."
Eusebio also took time to defend Kaka - sent off against Ivory Coast for a double booking and yellow-carded against Chile in the second round - against allegations of play-acting. Brazilian coach Dunga and midfielder Elano have denounced referees for targeting the technically best players - and Eusebio agrees.
"I know Kaka very well, he is truly professional and I think for Kaka to receive those cards he was provoked by the other players," said Eusebio. "If you were watching those matches closely, what I think is that the linesmen has been falling asleep in this tournament."
By Soccernethttp://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/story/_/id/804665/ce/uk/?cc=4716&ver=global
