It must, of course, be acknowledged that Ronaldo rarely benefits from such a lack of attention. The movement of the most famous face and finisher in the world hardly ever goes unnoticed, so credit must go to Ronaldo for the way in which he has managed to engineer some space for himself at the World Cup – particularly as he’s now 41 years of age.
He was only denied what would have been a brilliant goal in Portugal’s round-of-32 win over Croatia by a marginal offside call. However, there is simply no getting away from the fact that Ronaldo no longer carries anything like the same goal-scoring threat against quality opposition.
He may have scored his first-ever World Cup knockout goal from the penalty spot in Toronto, but he did not play well at all – and, for once, even Roberto Martinez acknowledged that fact by taking off international football’s all-time leading scorer with just under 10 minutes to remaining.
What’s more, Portugal only got through to the last 16 thanks to Ronaldo’s criminally underused understudy, Goncalo Ramos, who headed home a 94th-minute winner after being entrusted with the sole responsibility of leading the attack following the withdrawal of a player who had touched the ball just once in the penalty area (while fortuitously converting his poorly-struck spot-kick!).
Given he no longer influences play outside of the area, it was hard not to question the value of Ronaldo’s contribution to the Seleccao cause if he’s no longer able to do much damage inside it – particularly as Martinez’s men will now be going up against a Spain side that has yet to concede a single goal at the World Cup.