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"I was the one who wanted to play..."

Brazilian striker Ronaldo told a packed media conference in Milan, Thursday, that he still hadn't figured out the illness that wrecked his performance in the World Cup final.

"I've just had the best and longest holiday of my life," he said smiling, referring to his six week layoff in the aftermath of the World Cup.

"Before the game," Ronaldo recalled of that fateful outing on July 12, "I went to eat, then I went back to my room and was a bit tired so I slept. When I got up I felt pain in my body. I felt bad."

He was then rushed to hospital by team doctors after a convulsive fit that lasted almost a minute.

"The doctors in hospital said I had a problem and I couldn't play," Ronaldo recalled. "I was very angry about that because I wanted to play at all costs and I asked them if I could do tests. I did all the tests, I got to the stadium just in time and I played...

"I was the one who said I wanted to play.

"The doctors told me I couldn't, but after all the tests I decided to play. I thought only of winning the World Cup."

Ronaldo's reinstatement in the team sheet after first being left out of the starting eleven triggered speculation that commercial interests were at play. His team-mate Edmundo -- who was originally slated to take his place -- openly alleged that sportswear giant Nike had put pressure on the team management and the president of the Brazil football association, forcing coach Mario Zagallo's hand.

Ronaldo admitted that he had taken prescribed sedatives before the final. But he dismissed the conspiracy theory, but said he still did not know why he had fallen ill.

"I did all the tests it was possible to do, but they didn't reveal any problems. I don't know what it could have been," he said. "The important thing is that I'm feeling well now."

Ronaldo admitted that his illness had affected the course of the match, which ended in Brazil's heaviest defeat in its World Cup history.

Ronaldo will join the rest of the Inter Milan team on Friday for his first training session with the Serie A outfit. His first match could be in the second leg of a European Cup qualifier against Skonto Riga in Latvia this coming Wednesday. Inter Milan won the first leg 4-0.

Agencies