EUROSCENE: The "Phenomenon" will be missing, yet again. When eternal World Cup favourites Brazil turn out in a warm-up against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh tomorrow, their most famous player, Ronaldo, will miss the party.

While his colleagues are strutting their stuff against one of Ireland's Group E first-round opponents, Ronaldo will be on the other side of the world, enjoying the heat of his native Brazil. Yet again, it seems, Ronaldo's definitive return to full-time, first-class action has been delayed.

Brazil coach Felipe "Big Phil" Scolari had hoped to use tomorrow's game to begin the delicate process of re-integrating Ronaldo into a side which, based on its unprecedented six qualifying round defeats (to Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay), needs all the help it can get.

Instead, Scolari must hope the patient recuperation period extended by Ronaldo's club, Inter Milan, will eventually pay off.

After two years in the injury-enforced wilderness, Ronaldo finally returned to action this autumn, first in a relatively undemanding UEFA Cup tie with Romanian side FC Brasov in September, and then finally in Serie A, where he notched three goals in November and December.

Since dropping out of a Serie A clash with Piacenza just before Christmas because of a thigh strain, Ronaldo (25), has been on the injured list. Just when it seemed he was ready to return, he appeared to aggravate the thigh muscle during training with Inter in Palma di Majorca 10 days ago.

Last week, a new element was added to the already lengthy Ronaldo medical case history when Paris consultant Philippe Boixel suggested that Ronaldo's persistent problems may be linked to a dental infection.

No sooner said than done, with Ronaldo reportedly having had "several" teeth taken out last week.

"He is recovering nicely from the operation. His recurrent injuries are not normal and there are no other problems affecting him, so he had surgery to extract some suspect teeth", commented Boixel, a sports medicine specialist who has worked with the French national team.

In agreement with Boixel, Inter allowed Ronaldo to return to his native Rio di Janeiro for 10 days of rest prior to a return to Milan for the traditionally intense spring period, when Inter will be involved both in a Serie A title battle and a UEFA Cup campaign.

Following a disappointing 0-0 draw with Torino on Saturday night, Inter are currently joint second with Juventus, just one point behind leaders Roma. As for the UEFA Cup, they meet AEK Athens in a fourth round tie.

It remains to be seen, however, if Ronaldo will play much part either in that Italian title scrap or in Brazil's World Cup campaign. Inter's Argentinian coach, Hector Cuper, perhaps unwittingly, indicated the seriousness of the situation last weekend:

"In Brazil, Ronaldo will be able to work at his own pace without the pressure of seeing his team-mates, who are a lot fitter, always seeming to be that bit faster."

Roughly translated, that football-speak means that, according to Cuper, Ronaldo is a long, long way from being back to his best, notwithstanding at least one brilliant goal last autumn.

While Ronaldo struggles, Brazil have been making do without him and also without Romario (36), the player sections of both the Brazilian media and public opinion want recalled to the team.

Last week, Brazil trounced Bolivia 6-0 in Goiania, Brazil, with younger players such as Washington, Anderson Polga and Kleberson, as well as established performers such as Juninho (ex-Middlesbrough) and Edilson all laying claims to a World Cup squad place.

That win may have alleviated some of the fierce pressure on coach Scolari. Last week, he became so annoyed with all the pro-Romario lobbying that he held his training sessions behind closed doors, and he opted to give one over-persistent local official a kick in the backside for repeatedly calling Romario's name.

Remarkably, despite the absence of Ronaldo and the polemics about Romario, at least 64 per cent of Brazilians still believe Brazil will win the World Cup, according to an Instituto Sensus poll released last week. Do they know something we don't, or are they just eternal optimists?