Cristiano Ronaldo: What World Cup records can the Portugal captain take into his sixth and final tournament? | Football news
It’s rare in life that we get the chance to say goodbye in real time.
The end often comes before we know it. But, as he enters his sixth and final World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo may say goodbye to the world of football.
Five Champions Leagues. Five Ballons d’Or. Domestic success in four different countries. He has two Nations League titles and a European Championship as well.
What eludes him is the famous gold medal.
If he doesn’t win it, the World Cup will probably not be his calling. Passion for excellence means that he will not let go of the milestone of 1000 goals which is still far from him.
Imagine if he did. Could there be a better ending?
However, the multi-capped international will never again appear on a world stage like this one. In that sense, this is the last great dance of all time.
When the end comes, Ronaldo will leave behind an incredible legacy in the world’s biggest competition. A legacy where he may have a few milestones to his name, but still unfulfilled.
What records are still to be won?
After this summer, only Ronaldo and Lionel Messi will have played in six World Cups. However, if he can find the net at least once, he will do what he failed to do at the Euros two years ago and become the first player to score in six different World Cups.
In terms of playing all the games, Messi leads with 26. Ronaldo is four behind in 22. It is impossible to imagine that Messi is not in Argentina. But if the defending champions are knocked out in the group stage, they can only go up to 29 games.
Ronaldo can surpass this team if Portugal go all the way and appear in every game.
He may surpass the Argentine in the rankings of the oldest goalscorer in the World Cup finals. Messi is in second place behind the Swedes Nils Liedholm who was 35 years and 264 days old when he shut the net in the 1958 final.
Ronaldo will be 41 years, 5 months and 14 days from July 19, which means he will break the previous record. That’s also true for the oldest player in a World Cup final, whose current record stands at 40 years and 133 days Dino Zoff.
The last record he may be aiming for is that of the competition’s oldest goalscorer in all competitions, an award currently held by his teammates. Pepe.
Does this world cup define Ronaldo’s international legacy?
Let’s say Ronaldo wants all the records mentioned above. That would mean he has six records to his name. That’s not a bad thing. But to do that he has to reach the final. If he doesn’t do that, he can only want three. Still impressive, but perhaps not enough to make up for his disappointing record in this tournament.
Ronaldo has never made it past the semi-finals. The time he reached the final stage was the first World Cup in 2006. Twenty years ago.
Regarding his record of scoring five goals in the World Cup in a row, if you consider that he has scored only eight and failed to score many times in his four competitions, there is this sense of wanting more in the face of the generation.
Cristiano Ronaldo completes his only World Cup hat-trick with a free-kick against Spain
That is not his only fault. Portugal’s teams in 2010 and 2014 were not very strong and never pushed to reach the final stage of the tournament. But that’s when you need your biggest star to produce the moments.
What are Ronaldo’s best World Cup moments? Only two come to mind. His incredible hat-trick was undoubtedly against Spain in 2018. Besides, all he really has is the famous wink after Wayne Rooney was sent off in the 2006 quarter-final.
Cristiano Ronaldo was at the center of controversy after Wayne Rooney’s red card in the 2006 World Cup final.
Compare that to Messi for example. Not only did he get his hands on the trophy, he almost single-handedly pulled Argentina to glory eight years earlier in 2014.
It is difficult to criticize Ronaldo in any aspect. Especially when it comes to international football. No one has more caps. No one has many goals. He was an inspiration on and off the field in 2016. However, in the World Cup, it never happened to him. This is his last chance to change that narrative, or it will stay with him forever.
Could Ronaldo be a hindrance to Portugal’s chances?
Regardless of his World Cup record, Roberto Martinez had to include Ronaldo in his squad. Not doing so would have caused a major headache.
However, if there are those who insist that he is going to be the be-all and end-all of this group of players, it could be a problem. His hurling and failure to score at the last Euro was the main talking point in the group stage.
Ronaldo had to be consoled by his teammates after missing a penalty in the Euro 2024 Round of 16 match against Slovenia.
The truth is, with stars like Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha and Joao Neves arguably coming off their best seasons to date, the need to rely on Ronaldo is less than ever.
As Portuguese football expert Kevin Fernandes tells Sky Sports: “Ronaldo will always be a star, but the intelligence of football, is an asset in Portugal and not the main protagonist. For the benefit of his country, one of the most clinical finishers of all time must focus on giving the final touch as an elite hunter, while not wanting to disrupt the flow of the Portuguese attack with the endless need for the ball.
“As strange as it sounds to say, Ronaldo should be seen as an asset – not as an untouchable, given his limitations in the press and the characteristics of his teammates to power Portugal’s attack.”
Is that the role Ronaldo will be looking for this summer? No – that’s not in his DNA. In fact, no one will care if it leads to glory.
If he scores a goal in the sixth tournament in a row and is photographed with the trophy at the end of it, no one will remember that he played a lowly role.
All they will remember is that in his last act, Cristiano Ronaldo brought Portugal their first World Cup and, if so, said goodbye with a great game that hasn’t been changed.
