Brazil's Ronaldo (center) scores a goal past Ghana goalkeeper Richard Kingson during their second round match in Dortmund yesterday. The Brazilians advanced to the quarterfinals with a 3-0 victory. -Xinhua/Reuters

Brazil easily booked a quarter-final berth after romping to 3-0 over World Cup debutants Ghana here on Tuesday en route to their sixth title in the 2006 tournament.

Ronaldo opened scoring for the holders in just five minutes when he received a pass from AC Milan sensation Kaka and drove a 20-meter solo run, mugging Ghana keeper Richard Kingson with a trademark stepover to slot the ball home.

Adriano extended Brazil's lead to 2-0 in the dying minutes of the first half as the Inter Milan striker, who regained the starting position as Robinho was sidelined by a slight right thigh injury, lobbed in a close pass from Cafu, who ran off a nice goal-mouth effort with Adriano after connecting with Kaka.

The third score came late in the second half when substitute midfielder Ricardinho tipped the ball over Ghana's center-backs and Jose Ze Roberto cut across, flicked it past Richard Kingson and tapped in at 84.

With the earlier two goals for the five-time champions, Ronaldo set a new scoring record of the World Cup finals with 15, breaking the former mark of 14 jointly held by the Real Madrid striker and Germany's Gerd Muller.

"It's a great satisfaction to make this record, but let's not forget our main objective is to reach the final. The players are very confident and our team is meeting our goals," said Ronaldo after the match.

"That (the record) was never my goal, it's just something that's happened," he said. "I'm happy to have broken this record; for seven World Cups it has not been broken."

The 29-year-old, whose double led to a 2-0 tournament winning score in the 2002 final over Germany in 2002, said the game against Ghana was not as easy as the scoreboard showed.

"It wasn't easy to play today. Everyone who plays Brazil will give everything," he said. "If people put me under pressure, it's actually good for me because then I can show what I can really do."

Captain Cafu is the other Brazil player breaking World Cup records with Tuesday's victory. The AC Milan defender, 36, beat Lothar Matthaeus of Germany to come to the most wins as a player, with 15 victories, and become Brazil's most capped player at the World Cup with 19 caps.

Brazilian midfielder Gilberto Silva, who was sent on the pitch for Emerson after the second half kicked off, praised their own defence which had been widely criticized.

"The Brazilian defence was very good. It was a worry and today there was great calm," he said. "We knew the second half would be very difficult, as it was. It was a team playing against Brazil with nothing to lose."

Brazil will next take the winner of another round of 16 match between Spain and France.

The Ghanaians, however, failed to join Senegal and Cameroon to become the only third African side making through to the World Cup last eight.

Other four teams from Africa, Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Togo and Tunisia, all bowed out after the first stage of round robin.

"I'm very proud of our players, they fought from the first minute of the first match to the last minute today," said Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic, who stressed his satisfaction with his own team's performance and attacking spirit.

"We missed some important chances, they scored three goals. They are a fantastic team and if you give them a fraction of a second they will finish you," he added.

One of Ghana's best chances came in the 35th minute when Asamoah Gyan shrugged off two defenders to face off Dida directly after being set up by a cross from Eric Addo, but his hook only saw the ball flying over the bar.

The second half kicked off in a stylish way as a more neat football came from Ghana but ended in disappointment.

While the Africans had clearly decided to throw everything they had at their opponents, the Brazilians weathered the Ghana storm and assumed complete control despite a dodgy defense from the star-studded squad.

The Ghanaians were down to 10 after Gyan, who was previously shown for booting the ball into the stands after having a free-kick given against him, received a second booking for diving at the 81st minute.

Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira then substituted Kaka with Ricardinho on 83 minutes to spare the powerhouse in midfield for the next round, before the 30-year-old set up the third for the Latin Americans within a minute onto the pitch.