Cristiano Ronaldo. Photo: Reuters
Ronaldo’s goals were crucial—the Portuguese player became the first in history to score in six World Cups. And with ten goals scored, he became his country’s all-time leading scorer, surpassing the legendary Eusébio, who had nine.
In doing so, the 41-year-old Ronaldo silenced his critics and continued his long-standing rivalry with Argentina’s Lionel Messi, with whom he has reigned at the pinnacle of soccer for the past 15 years. Messi got off to a flying start in the tournament, scoring 5 goals in two matches and becoming the all-time leading scorer in World Cup history with 18 goals.
As for Cristiano, his first match against the DR Congo team was lackluster; he failed to score, and his team played to a 1–1 draw. After that, he faced a lot of criticism, including suggestions that he should no longer take the field. Furthermore, Ronaldo couldn’t seem to break his scoring drought—the last time he scored from open play was at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. At the last World Cup in Qatar, he scored only one goal, and that was from a penalty kick.
All of this clearly had an impact on Cristiano’s extraordinary mindset heading into the match against Uzbekistan. As early as the 6th minute, he tapped the ball into the near corner off a cross from the right flank by João Cancelo. And in the 38th minute, the Portuguese star scored just like in his prime: he skillfully moved out wide, received a pass from Bruno Fernandes at speed, shook off his marker, and rounded the goalkeeper with a shot into the far corner along a clever trajectory.
The match ended in a 5–0 rout of Uzbekistan. With 4 points after two rounds of the group stage, the Portuguese have a very good chance of advancing to the knockout round.
This means we’ll continue to watch the showdown between two of the greatest masters of modern soccer—Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. For now, it’s just on paper—but who knows what fate has in store.
