Ronaldo, the world's greatest goal-scorer, capitalized on an error by the best goalkeeper, Oliver Kahn, then scored again to lift Brazil to an unprecedented fifth World Cup title.

Ronaldo, the brilliant prodigy who battled injuries for nearly two years, recaptured all of his stardom and more with a superb tournament. He topped it off with the second goal on a wonderful passing play, becoming the first player in 32 years to get eight goals in one World Cup.

The Germans actually were controlling play, looking as adventurous as Brazil, until Ronaldo struck in the 67th minute. He stole the ball from Dietmar Hamann and fed his attacking partner, Rivaldo. His hard left-footed shot was stopped by Kahn, who was impenetrable nearly the entire month.

But the ball rocketed off Kahn's arms directly to Ronaldo, who touched it home with his right foot.

Ronaldo then put away Brazil's championship and tied Pele with 12 career World Cup goals on a low shot after Rivaldo cleverly allowed Kleberson's pass to roll through his legs to Ronaldo.

The World Cup of upsets and upstarts ended with a logical champion. Oddly, it was the Brazilians' first World Cup game against the Germans, soccer's second most successful country with three world championships and seven final-game appearances, the same number as Brazil.