If Ronaldo Loves Portugal, He Should Retire Before They Face Uzbekistan

I watched Cristiano Ronaldo play 90 minutes against DR Congo and I came away convinced of something I did not expect to feel this strongly about. He should not be starting for Portugal at this World Cup.

I am not saying this to disrespect him. I am not ignoring what he has given the game. I am saying it because I watched the data and the eye test point in the same direction. Father Time has caught up with him, and Portugal are the ones paying the price.

What I Saw Against DR Congo

Portugal dominated possession against DR Congo. They controlled around 75 percent of the ball. They created chance after chance against a country playing its first World Cup match since 1974.

One number cancelled all of that out.

Ronaldo finished that match without a single shot on target. Zero. That is the sixth time this has happened to him at a World Cup. I need readers to sit with that for a second.

Messi scored a hat trick the night before. Haaland and Mbappe both scored twice. Ronaldo’s response to that kind of pressure was three shots, none on target, and a missed chance in the 69th minute that crept just past the post when the goal was open.

This was not one bad night. The trend runs deeper. Ronaldo has gone scoreless in five straight World Cup matches. He has gone ten consecutive games without scoring in a major tournament. His last non-penalty goal in a major competition came in June 2021.

At 41 years old, patterns like that do not reverse.

The Age Problem Nobody Wants to Say Out Loud

At 41 years and 132 days, Ronaldo became the oldest outfield player to ever start a World Cup match. I respect what that record represents. I do not think it is helping his team on the pitch.

Football at this level punishes hesitation. Age brings hesitation, whether you accept it or not. The legs slow down before the mind does.

The Messi comparison makes the point better than anything else can. Messi is 38. He is closer to the end of his career than the beginning. But Argentina have figured out how to use that.

Against Algeria, Messi touched the ball just 57 times across the 80 minutes he was on the pitch, according to FotMob and Sofascore data. Only four of those touches came inside the box. That is a remarkably low workload for a man who walked away with a hat trick.

He picked his moments. He let the ball come to him. He recorded the most shots in the game on minimal touches. He conserved energy for the moments that mattered.

That is what smart aging looks like in elite football. You adapt your role. Chasing the game for 90 minutes is not adapting. It is refusing to.

Ronaldo played the full 90 against DR Congo. He ran the channels from start to finish like a man with something to prove to people who stopped questioning him years ago. I did not see efficiency. I saw a player giving everything he has left. What he has left is no longer enough at this stage of the competition.

Portugal’s Problem Is Bigger Than One Player

Here is the part that gets ignored too often. Portugal have scored just one goal in their last four matches in major tournaments. One goal. With Bruno Fernandes, Joao Neves, Rafael Leao, and Pedro Neto in the squad.

I do not think that is a coincidence.

Portugal’s attacking structure is still built around feeding Ronaldo first and creating second. That approach is producing almost nothing.

Roberto Martinez said it makes no sense to take out the best goalscorer in world football during a game where you need goals. I understand the logic. I watched that DR Congo game and saw the opposite argument being made in real time.

Portugal stopped taking risks once Ronaldo became the focal point in the second half. They stopped looking for space. They started playing around him instead of playing football.

A team with that much young talent should not be shrinking its game plan to manage one man’s legacy.

Why the 23rd Matters

Portugal play Uzbekistan on the 23rd. On paper that is the easiest fixture left in their group.

If Ronaldo cannot find a shot on target against another debutant nation, the conversation will move on its own. The numbers will speak louder than any pundit defending him out of loyalty to what he used to be.

I am writing this because real respect means telling him the truth his body is no longer telling him. Portugal is a better team when its attack is not built around protecting one player’s pride.

He gave Portugal everything for two decades. At this point, the most valuable thing he can give them is space to move forward.