Jun 16, 2006, 6:27 GMT
Sydney - Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira is insistent he will keep faith with the lumbering Ronaldo for the clash with Australia at the weekend.
There was no word Friday whether Australian coach Guus Hiddink would also stick with troubled striker when the Socceroos take on the five-time World Cup winners in Berlin.
Although Viduka played well in the shock 3-1 win against Japan, laying off to right and left and setting up fellow forwards for shots on goal, he again failed to find the net himself.
'He looks as fit and sharp as he's ever done and leads the line fantastically,' said Frank Farina, who lost his job as national coach to Hiddink last year. But Farina points out that Viduka is there as a goal-getter, not as a playmaker or, as the commentators like to call him, a 'commanding presence in the penalty box.'
Former Australian captain John Cosima said the same thing: 'He's not playing any more like a guy whose job it is to score goals, but more like a player setting them up and doing a lot of good creative things.'
There are predictions that Dutch master Hiddink, a coach whose record means he is not in awe of his players, will start with his captain on the bench.
Viduka has an abysmal record, having scored just six goals in 36 matches for his country - and that includes encounters with the likes of the Solomon Islands.
Viduka, who plays his club football for English side Middlesborough, has even taken to failing from the penalty spot, his last two attempts, against Uruguay in the qualifier and then against Holland in a friendly, going wide.
The striker's insistence that, as captain, he should continue to take penalties must also be a worry for Hiddink.
One scenario is for Hiddink to have John Aloisi in the run-on side as well as Viduka. This would mean squeezing out under-performing superstar Harry Kewell.
But Hiddink may well spring a surprise and drop his troubled striker to the bench.
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