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Golden oldies fighting for the Golden Boot? Let us not get ahead of ourselves. But it will do Cristiano Ronaldo’s ego no harm that he is off the mark for this summer, particularly given Lionel Messi’s voracious appetite to keep long-burning fires ablaze. Nor will it pass unnoticed that he has broken a record of his own. In breaching Uzbekistan twice during the opening period of what quickly became a leisurely non-contest, Ronaldo became the first player to score in six editions of the World Cup.
It meant Portugal’s travelling fans, assuming some had snuck in among the CR7 tourists, got what they came for. They also saw a less seemly run put to rest. Ronaldo had not scored in 10 major tournament games until facing a defence that would have struggled to handle a Masters game. Uzbekistan were utterly unequipped to repel opponents of this standard and the five-goal margin felt conservative.
History was made by one of football’s greats for a second consecutive day. At such times it is apposite to thank those who made it all possible so Fifa, which ensured he was available by clearing him from suspension from the first two group stage fixtures, should receive its dues. In the meantime a relieved Roberto Martínez was left wondering how Ronaldo managed to emerge so triumphantly from a week of relentless criticism.
“I was asking him the other day if it’s genetic or work,” he said, coming down on the fence. “Nothing gives you a better assessment of your career than longevity in football.” Only a churl would dismiss Ronaldo’s achievement but it is fair to ask whether, in the context of Portugal’s requirements, his renaissance against such inadequate foes reveals anything. If that was so good then try it in a quarter-final against Messi and Argentina, hardly an outlandish prospect as things stand. Doubts about his suitability for tougher assignments linger and few salient topics were really settled here.
Even so, the half-volley that began Ronaldo’s afternoon was a new entry among this tournament’s disarming moments of genuine theatre. Nobody could really have expected him to fade out quietly. He had just been slightly too far behind a Nuno Mendes centre, making a hand signal indicating the tiny margin of inaccuracy, but there were no flaws in the timing after João Cancelo reached the byline. The near-post cutback was met emphatically from six yards by its intended recipient, who ran towards the technical area and was mobbed by what felt like every member of Portugal’s delegation.
It launched the best part of 60,000 phone cameras into action, if Uzbekistan’s laudably enthusiastic support are to be discounted, and soon his disciples had more to anticipate. They chanted his name expectantly after Odiljon Khamrobekov’s desperate foul on Pedro Neto conceded a free-kick just outside the box. The puff of cheeks, the tightened shoulders, the paced-out backwards strides: Ronaldo had teed up the situation to his liking but left Mendes to run around the ball and whip it past the keeper, Abduvokhid Nematov.
So it really is a team sport. “I told Nuno: ‘Let’s trick the goalkeeper, he’ll think it’s me,’” Ronaldo said. Uzbekistan were easily gulled and, after briefly rallying with a disallowed Azizjon Ganiev blast, succumbed to the prankster in chief again. This time the conception was clearly signposted, Bruno Fernandes taking advantage of a vacant midfield and playing in Ronaldo for a comfortable angled finish.
There would be no fuzzy underdog tale to disrupt the day’s booming, bawling, torso-rippling headline act. A hat-trick would swiftly have ensued if Abdukodir Khusanov had not intervened dramatically after Ronaldo did well to flick another Cancelo delivery towards goal.
It barely needed saying that sourcing the match ball for their talisman would be high on Portugal’s second-half priorities. Shortly before the hour Ronaldo again feinted to take a free-kick before running ahead of the wall, meeting Fernandes’ chip and seeing Nematov sharply out to save. He took a blow but Uzbekistan were harmed more severely by the resulting corner. It was snaked in low by Fernandes, missing a cluster of bodies before squirming in off multiple components of the unfortunate Khusanov.
The Portugal and Aston Villa set-piece coach, Austin McPhee, joined Martínez in a touchline embrace. They had successfully executed several of the more creative items in their repertoire. “Set pieces are an obsession for Austin,” Martínez enthused.
That may be so but McPhee is unlikely to rival Ronaldo’s fixation on goals. The game’s remainder amounted to an exercise in whether his colleagues could find him in what, by now, was an almost comically high starting position. A shot deflected wide, another was beaten away and at the very end an effort on the stretch scuffed off target. Rafael Leão’s rising drive had the final say instead but Ronaldo, who yelled “I’m back” into the cameras, had made the loudest noise again.
