A GOOD player can only hope to win a vital game with his talent. A great one can decide to. Zlatan Ibrahimovic raised Sweden to the cusp of World Cup qualification. Cristiano Ronaldo lifted Portugal right on to the gilded stage.
If a country has ever been picked up and carried across oceans to another continent, it was Portugal in Sweden on Tuesday night. The clue was Ronaldo’s goal in the first leg (he scored all of his country’s four over the two fixtures). His diving header in the 1-0 win in Lisbon expressed a sense of destiny. Ronaldo has reached the transcendent state where great players are in charge of their own plot. You could see it in his face, his movements, his determination to sweep Sweden out of his path.
Ronaldo has always had one advantage over Lionel Messi, his rival for the title of world maestro. Unlike his Argentine counterpart, who has always bathed in adulation, Ronaldo has reached the age of 28 with something to kick against. Barcelona were superior to Real Madrid for a long time.
Argentina are a bigger football power than Portugal. Messi’s personality is easier to warm to. Ronaldo, though, is now hurdling all these obstacles of perception and reality in the style of the game’s number one thoroughbred.
In language, culture and playing styles, Portugal are natural qualifiers for this World Cup, and Ronaldo is needed on those pitches, where the two big South American giants are expected to call the shots.
Sweden’s nemesis has self-applied a badge: “I’m Cristiano and I’m here to help.” After his fifth hat-trick of the season he told his country’s broadcasters: “I know Portugal needed me in these matches and I showed I am here.”
This statement conveys a mix of personal and patriotic intent. At 28, in his prime, Ronaldo simply had to be true to his own virtuosity by finding a way to deliver it to football’s spiritual homeland in June.
Second: he knows there is a special lustre attached to the role of national magician, as there was for Eusebio before him.
Portugal are a connoisseur’s team. They are a bottle of port to England’s pint of stout. But their potential is unfulfilled. They finished third in the 1966 World Cup and were semifinalists in Germany 40 years later. On the continent they were beaten by Spain on penalties in the semi-finals of Euro 2012 and turned over by Greece on their own soil in the final of Euro 2004.
Ronaldo’s rampant form for club and country raises the tantalising possibility that his talent could carry Portugal all the way to the final in Brazil, and perhaps even to victory, much as Diego Maradona’s did for Argentina.
Tournament football is hardly daunting to him. He has already scored in two World Cups, three European Championships and the 2004 Olympics in Athens. His career haul now is 401 goals, with 226 of them coming in 216 games for Real Madrid. And Tuesday night’s hat-trick brought him level with Pauleta on 47 goals for Portugal. The gulf in class between Ronaldo and the former player he shares that record with is vast. His tally for 2013 alone is 66 goals.
Ronaldo is now winning games on his own both for Real Madrid and Portugal.
Good players want to be at World Cups. Great players refuse to miss out. Portugal are a big enough vehicle for Ronaldo, who made his decision in those two games against Sweden. Brazil’s World Cup would not start without him. — The Daily Telegraph
Ronaldo one of the greatest
If a country has ever been picked up and carried across oceans to another continent, it was Portugal in Sweden on Tuesday night. The clue was Ronaldo’s goal in the first leg (he scored all of his country’s four over the two fixtures). His diving header in the 1-0 win in Lisbon expressed a sense of destiny. Ronaldo has reached the transcendent state where great players are in charge of their own plot. You could see it in his face, his movements, his determination to sweep Sweden out of his path.
Ronaldo has always had one advantage over Lionel Messi, his rival for the title of world maestro. Unlike his Argentine counterpart, who has always bathed in adulation, Ronaldo has reached the age of 28 with something to kick against. Barcelona were superior to Real Madrid for a long time.
Argentina are a bigger football power than Portugal. Messi’s personality is easier to warm to. Ronaldo, though, is now hurdling all these obstacles of perception and reality in the style of the game’s number one thoroughbred.
In language, culture and playing styles, Portugal are natural qualifiers for this World Cup, and Ronaldo is needed on those pitches, where the two big South American giants are expected to call the shots.
Sweden’s nemesis has self-applied a badge: “I’m Cristiano and I’m here to help.” After his fifth hat-trick of the season he told his country’s broadcasters: “I know Portugal needed me in these matches and I showed I am here.”
This statement conveys a mix of personal and patriotic intent. At 28, in his prime, Ronaldo simply had to be true to his own virtuosity by finding a way to deliver it to football’s spiritual homeland in June.
Second: he knows there is a special lustre attached to the role of national magician, as there was for Eusebio before him.
Portugal are a connoisseur’s team. They are a bottle of port to England’s pint of stout. But their potential is unfulfilled. They finished third in the 1966 World Cup and were semifinalists in Germany 40 years later. On the continent they were beaten by Spain on penalties in the semi-finals of Euro 2012 and turned over by Greece on their own soil in the final of Euro 2004.
Ronaldo’s rampant form for club and country raises the tantalising possibility that his talent could carry Portugal all the way to the final in Brazil, and perhaps even to victory, much as Diego Maradona’s did for Argentina.
Tournament football is hardly daunting to him. He has already scored in two World Cups, three European Championships and the 2004 Olympics in Athens. His career haul now is 401 goals, with 226 of them coming in 216 games for Real Madrid. And Tuesday night’s hat-trick brought him level with Pauleta on 47 goals for Portugal. The gulf in class between Ronaldo and the former player he shares that record with is vast. His tally for 2013 alone is 66 goals.
Ronaldo is now winning games on his own both for Real Madrid and Portugal.
Good players want to be at World Cups. Great players refuse to miss out. Portugal are a big enough vehicle for Ronaldo, who made his decision in those two games against Sweden. Brazil’s World Cup would not start without him. — The Daily Telegraph
Would you like to comment on this article?
Register (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.
Trending Now
Latest Videos