The History of Speed - Mercurial Vapor III

The facts speak for themselves: the Mercurial Vapor III took speed to a whole new level. Sleek as a sports car. Equipped with the traction of high performance tyres, for full-throttled changes of direction. Aided by an anatomical heel lock to hold feet moving quicker than ever.

Once the Nike lab had finished with their new baby, the MVIII was a full 0.45m ahead of the average football boot at the end of a 10-metre course. That’s the stride of a defender, the lunge of a tackle – or the handspan of the keeper whose despairing dive is a fraction too late. As R9 proved at the biggest tournament of 2006, that’s the difference between the good and the all-time great.

In his third massive international performance of a career spanning 12 years, Brazil’s Ronaldo overtook every great goalscorer in the pantheon of football by notching his 13th, 14th and record-breaking 15th goal on the world’s biggest stage.

Call it genius, call it ruthlessness, call it sheer belief – whichever way you tag R9’s striking performance, it was just another example of his Mercurial essence.