Plenty for Ronaldinho to grin about in Brazil win

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sept 10 (Reuters) Ronaldinho produced one of his best performances in a Brazil shirt during 4-2 win over the United States, setting up two goals and scoring the decisive one himself.

Often criticised for saving his best for club side Barcelona, Ronaldinho's characteristic grin has been conspicuous by its absence since Dunga took over as Brazil coach last year.

He was initially left on the bench and, along with Kaka, missed the Copa America in Venezuela altogether after saying he was too tired to play.

Brazil won the tournament without him and on returning to the side for last month's friendly against Algeria, he was once again relegated to the substitute's role.

In that match, he came on for the second half, scored the second goal in Brazil's 2-0 win and did enough to convince Dunga to give him his place back.

Yesterday in Chicago, Ronaldinho relished the free role given to him just behind the attack.

He began by producing an exquisite chipped pass over the US rearguard which found striker Afonso, whose effort clipped the post.

After Carlos Bocanegra gave the U.S. a shock lead, another moment of brilliance contributed to Brazil's equaliser.

Following a quick Brazilian break down the right, Ronaldinho threaded the ball between three U.S. defenders to Kaka, whose shot was parried by Tim Howard but bounced off Oguchi Onyewu of the United States and into the net.

There was more to come after the break as he produced the corner from which Lucio headed Brazil in front and scored the third himself with a cheeky free kick which found a gap in the US wall.

DUNGA'S GAME ''I feel more and more adapted to Dunga's way of doing things,'' said Ronaldinho after the game.

Ronaldinho and Kaka now appear to be firmly back in the coach's plans after their much-criticised decision to sit out the Copa.

Midfielder Josue, who played a pivotal role in the Copa America, did not get onto the pitch at all on Sunday while Julio Baptista, another key man in Venezuela, appeared for the last 20 minutes.

Brazil move onto Boston where they play Mexico on Wednesday, their last match before facing Colombia in their opening match of the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign next month.

With his top players all based in Europe, Dunga admits his main worry is a shortage of time.

''We need to improve the understanding and teamwork, the problem is that we don't have time to train,'' said Dunga, who had one session with his players before Sunday's game.

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