Analysis— 5 min read
The questions had been piling up for a week. After a largely invisible performance in Portugal's 1-1 draw with DR Congo — no goals, limited chances, growing calls for Roberto Martinez to drop him — Cristiano Ronaldo walked out at NRG Stadium in Houston on June 23 with everything to prove at 41 years old.
It took him six minutes.
Swivelling on the six-yard box to meet a low cross from Joao Cancelo, Ronaldo smashed the ball beyond goalkeeper Abduvokhid Nematov and became the first player in the history of the men's or women's World Cup to score at six different tournaments. He has now found the net at 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022 and 2026 — a span of 20 years of World Cup football.
The roar that followed told its own story. Relief, defiance, history. Ronaldo pulled out his trademark "Siu" celebration and let out a throaty roar in front of 68,777 fans. His face, as one reporter at the ground noted, said everything: the worry was gone.
He was not finished. In the 39th minute, Bruno Fernandes slid a through ball between the Uzbekistan defence and Ronaldo directed a calm finish into the bottom-left corner — his 10th World Cup goal, breaking a tie with Eusebio to become Portugal's outright leading scorer at the tournament.
At 41 years and 138 days, Ronaldo also became the second-oldest player to score in a men's World Cup, behind only Cameroon's Roger Milla, who scored at 42 years and 39 days in 1994. He is also now the oldest player to record a multi-goal game in the tournament's history, a record Messi had set just 24 hours earlier against Austria.
His two goals take his international tally to 145 — a record he holds by 23 over Messi. Portugal's 5-0 rout, completed by goals from Nuno Mendes, an own goal and Rafael Leao, moves them to four Group K points ahead of a final group game against Colombia.