A happy Cristiano Ronaldo, earlier.
Photograph: Cole Burston/AFP/Getty Images A happy Cristiano Ronaldo, earlier.
Photograph: Cole Burston/AFP/Getty Images Time waits for no man, nor Cristiano Ronaldo’s football legacy Sign up now!
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NOTHING BUT A NUMBER Before Football Daily’s inbox is flooded by an angry reader with fingers busier than Arsenal fans at a Viktor Gyökores lookalike contest, we would like to shout from the rooftops that Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the greatest male football players of all time.
How far up or down that list is another matter, but there is no denying his place at the top table of our sport.
Clutch moments, sublime bits of skill and athleticism, a trophy cabinet big enough to holiday in: Ronaldo has done (almost) everything for club and country.
But time waits for no man.
There is no shame in saying that Ronaldo’s best years are behind him and that one of the great international sides, Portugal – equipped with the best midfield and finest left-back on the planet – deserve better than a 76-year-old up top who is now limited to taking penalties and stat-padding against Uzbekistan.
That Ronaldo is still playing professional sport is a triumph – most men his age can barely run a bath without twanging a hamstring, never mind run around for 90-plus minutes against elite opponents young enough to be offspring.
But the sooner that Roberto Martínez realises that Portugal’s fate no longer rests at those middle-aged feet, the better.
The headlines will say that Ronaldo scored in a 2-1 win over Croatia to help Portugal into the last 16 of the Geopolitics World Cup.
Yes, he converted his penalty but otherwise stunk the joint out, slowing Portugal’s attack down to a snail’s pace before making more faces than a town clock upon being substituted on 81 minutes.
Despite being the better side for large periods, his side very nearly blew it: Croatia had two goals (correctly) ruled out by the finest of margins and hit the post before Gonçalo Ramos – Milan’s new £60m striker – saved the day in stoppage time, leaping like … well, prime Ronaldo … to glance a beautiful header into the corner and send Croatia crashing out.
Ageing does not diminish a legacy.
Ronaldo remains a legend but nobody is asking David Attenborough to clamber through the rainforests of Rwanda any more and nobody should expect CR7 to inspire Portugal to international glory, especially with a formidable Spain side waiting in the last 16.
But this is just the latest episode of writing off Ronaldo, which almost certainly means Football Daily will end up with pastel de nata all over its face when he proves us wrong (yet again) on Monday.
And for all his dithering on the pitch, Ronaldo was a class act after the final whistle against Croatia, paying tribute to former teammate Diogo Jota – his No 21 jersey on Ronaldo’s back providing a powerful moment on the first anniversary of the Liverpool forward’s death.
“Because the situation of the day, it means a lot to us,” said Ronaldo.
“Not only because we won the game but because of the way we did it.” The irony being, if Jota was still with us, Ronaldo probably wouldn’t have started against Croatia.
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE The last 32 nears its close.
Join Scott Murray at 7pm BST/2pm EDT for Australia 0-0 Egypt (aet; 0-1 on pens), then Tom Lutz will be on hand at 11pm BST/6pm EDT for Argentina 4-0 Cape Verde.
Rounding things off, Beau Dure will also bring you Colombia 3-1 Ghana at 2.30am BST/9.30pm EDT.
RECOMMENDED FOLLOWING If you’re not already doing so, check out Big Website’s Instachat account, featuring Jonathan Wilson’s guide on how to win the GWC.
QUOTE OF THE DAY 30 June: “I am not someone who runs away” – Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann digs in after their GWC exit against Paraguay.
3 July: “The decision was anything but easy for me … I am sorry and hurt from the bottom of my heart that we disappointed you” – Nagelsmann runs away, with German FA suits in hot talks with Jürgen Klopp.
One out, one in?
Photograph: Daniel Karmann,kerstin Joensson/AFP/Getty Images FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS Football died a bit yesterday, didn’t it?
No one actually saw the ball touch Igor Matanovic’s head for Croatia against Portugal.
The ball’s trajectory didn’t change significantly, even the ball’s spin didn’t change.
Yet the computer sensor felt something, and thus we must all bow to it.
What’s objective to a machine is more objective than our own sense apparatus.
This feels momentous – not a ‘paradigm shift’ or anything so dramatic, but it does encapsulate in a neat anecdote how our attitude to technology has been changing over the decades, how we feel happier and happier to delegate important decisions to it, how we become, in a literal way, ever more irresponsible.
The GWC, as several of your own writers have already described it, is a weirdly warped microcosm of the world at large.
And what happened yesterday can be read as a very ill omen” – Fábio Ribeiro.
Igor Matanovic after Croatia’s defeat.
Photograph: Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images In response to Pierre Igot’s request for a World Cup of Chocolate (yesterday’s Football Daily letters), former quiz show sidekick, bestselling author and all-round national treasure Richard Osman did one a few years back.
This was only for British chocolate bars so perhaps he should do another one for international chocolate.
Of course this time around it would need to be 48 bars rather than 32, and there’d need to be hydration breaks, of course” – Adam Clark.
Re: yesterday’s letters.
I would vote for giving the USA all of their exclamation marks back as long as they drop the A and write it US!
US!
US! to properly reflect the probability that their president will probably ruin the final by making it all about him” – Rick Costigan.
I say let them be USA!
USA USA for winning their last-32 game; USA!
USA!
USA if they win in the last 16; and go full USA!
USA! if they’re victorious in the quarter-finals.
Should they overcome their opponents in the semis and final, I think we’ll all have more pressing concerns than punctuation” – Jim Hearson.
Might I join the other 1,056 eagle-eyed readers pointing out that Scotland’s contribution to the GWC continues through the use of green tartan pitches?” – Duncan Steel (and no others).
The spirit of Scotland lives on.
Photograph: Daniel Cole/Reuters If you have any, please send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com.
Today’s prizeless letter o’ the day is … Fábio Ribeiro.
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RECOMMENDED LISTENING Get your ears around the latest episode of the World Cup Daily podcast.
Listen to it here, or watch it here.
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