Ronaldo is an odious cheat; a disgrace to football and should be banned from the game forthwith.

Hi Brian, I had to take this topic; even though I'm a yank. I will first address the accusation of Ronaldo being a cheat. Brian's definition of cheating in soccer/football is "looking for an opportunity to deceive the referee into awarding a foul in his favour and thus unfairly penalising the opposing player." The American Heritage Dictionary defines cheat: To deceive by trickery, to mislead, fool. In professional soccer/football across the globe officials do not use review/replay technologies to verify what did or did not happen on the pitch(that's field for all us yanks). This allows for all kinds of atrocities and fouls to be committed that are never seen by the officials. Professional soccer leagues around the world including, but not limited to FIFA and the EPL do not even use goal line technologies to see if the ball actually crossed the goal line. So back to my point that is this...If 1 referee and 2 linesman can't see everything all the time and the leagues wont implement technology that will allow for completely fair play...Whose to say that this isn't part of the game that has evolved over the decades. If Ronaldo takes a dive and is awarded a penalty kick that leads his team to victory I say he took advantage of a system that allows(and has created or at least enabled) this type of conduct to become strategy for certain players and teams. My next point is that if Christiano Ronaldo should be banned for taking dives than the entire EPL(English Premier League) would need to follow suit and ban Fernando Torres, Drogba, and actually anyone who commits the slightest infraction and gets away with it b/c they could also be playing to the systems weakness that is no technology to see if an infraction occurred. On the same topic Maradona should be hated by all because of his infamous hand of God in the World Cup (he uses his hand to score a goal and gets away with it) as well as Lionel Messi and many others have replicated the hand of God b/c they know the benefit outweighs the cost if caught. See you tube results of "Hand of God" http://www.youtube.com... http://www.youtube.com... My final point is that Christiano Ronaldo is in no way a disgrace. For every person that hates him...there are 10 people that love him. They may not be in the UK, but they are out there. Besides all that being opinion the facts are that he is statistically the best player in the world and also a candidate for the best player of all time. He has undeniable skills that have changed the game of soccer/football for the viewars and players alike. Overall, the good outweighs any possible bad in regards to Christiano Ronaldo and his impact on the game of football/soccer. To ban Christiano Ronaldo from football/soccer would be a terrible tragedy for the game (fouls, trickery, referees, loyalties, politics, money and all) and everyone who loves it. Please check out his statistics below and you tube videos attached and see for yourelf. http://www.youtube.com... http://www.youtube.com... http://www.youtube.com... He scored 42 goals last year in 62 matches (Keep in mind he's an attacking midfield winger not a forward/striker.) SeasonTeamLeagueFA Cup L. Cup Europe 2007-08>> Man United 343133--118 2006-07>> Man United 23186210113 2005-06>> Man United 3292-4281 2004-05 >> Man United222312-62 2003-04 >> Man United 325941070 2001-2003Sporting Lisbon 113000000 AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals Honours Team honours with Manchester United •FA Premier League: •Winner: 2006-07, 2007-08 •Runner-up: 2005-06 •FA Cup: •Winner: 2003-04 •Runner-up: 2004-05, 2006-07 •League Cup: •Winner: 2005-06 •FA Community Shield: •Winner: 2007 •UEFA Champions League: •Winner: 2007-08 Team honours with Portugal •UEFA European Championship: •Runner-up: 2004 •FIFA World Cup: •4th place: 2006 Individual honours and awards •Professional Footballers' Association oPFA Players' Player of the Year: 2006-2007, 2007-2008 oPFA Young Player of the Year: 2006-2007 oPFA Fans' Player of the Year: 2006-2007, 2007-2008 oPFA Premier League Team of the Year: 2005-2006, 2006-2007, 2007-2008 oPFA Fans' Player of the Month: October 2006, February 2007, November 2007, January 2008 •Barclays Premier League oBarclays Player of the Season: 2006-2007, 2007-2008 oBarclays Player of the Month: November 2006, December 2006, January 2008, March 2008 oBarclays Golden Boot: 2007-2008 oBarclays Merit Award: 2007-2008 oFWA Footballer of the Year: 2006-2007, 2007-2008 •Manchester United oManchester United Players' Player of the Year: 2006-2007, 2007-2008 oSir Matt Busby Player of the Year: 2003-2004, 2006-2007, 2007-2008 oManchester United Goal of the Season: 2005-2006, 2007-2008 •Portugal oPortuguese Sports Personality of the Year: 2006 oPortuguese Footballer of the Year: 2006-2007 •Europe oUEFA Team of the Year: 2003-2004, 2006-2007 oUEFA Champions League Top Scorer: 2007-2008 oUEFA European Championship 2004: Team of the Tournament oEuropean Golden Shoe - Soulier d'Or: 2007-2008 oU-21 European Footballer of the Year - Bravo Award: 2004 oEuropean Footballer of the Year - Ballon d'Or: 2nd place: 2007 oOnze d'Or 2nd place: 2007 •World oFIFA World Player of the Year 3rd place: 2007 oWorld Soccer Player of the Year 3rd place: 2007 oFIFPro Special Young Player of the Year: 2004-2005, 2005-2006 oFIFPro World XI: 2006-2007