With his success at Corinthians gaining the attention of coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, Dida was called up for the 2002 World Cup as the backup to Marcos, whom Scolari had previously coached at Palmeiras, and he and third choice Rogério Ceni never left the bench as the "Seleção" won its fifth title. On the afternoon of the final, Dida was requested by Ronaldo to keep him company in attempt to avoid a repeat of the events prior to the 1998 final, when Ronaldo had suffered a convulsive fit in his sleep that factored into his poor performance in Brazil's 3–0 loss to France. They spent the time talking and playing golf before departing for International Stadium in Yokohama. Ronaldo scored both goals in Brazil's 2–0 defeat of Germany and won the tournament's Golden Shoe award.