It’s the question everyone is asking not only in Portugal but throughout the world by football fans, now that CR7 and his teammates were sent packing after their defeat at the hands of Iberian rivals Spain in the round of 16 match on Tuesday in Cape Town.
With so much hype surrounding this dream Iberian derby, which featured FIFA’s second- and third-ranked sides in the world, Portugal ended their adventure without any bang as Carlos Queiroz and his squad were clearly beaten by a superior Spanish squad.
Spain won the game 1-0 with a goal by the inevitable David Villa at 63 minutes, which after some careful observation is clearly off-side, though not by much. Towards the end of the game, Portugal’s right back Ricardo Costa was unjustly red carded for apparently elbowing a Spanish defender.
Cristiano Ronaldo the Portugal captain and the world’s highest-paid footballer had probably his worst game ever. He appeared slow and tardier than most of his colleagues, failing miserably to get through Spain’s defense or even warm up his game on a chilly Cape winter’s night.
Ronaldo, who has lately been criticized for not being a good Portugal captain, drifted with indifference and frustration through most of the game, even if it can be rightly pointed out that that he got no help from a sluggish Portugal midfield with a serious lack of passing ability and creativity, which sorely misses players of the caliber of Luís Figo, Rui Costa and Deco when he was in form.
CR7 who mesmerized Manchester United and most recently Real Madrid with his magnificent skills, making him one of the most exciting players in the world of football, slipped back into his annoying habit of shooting from all angles and long distances at every opportunity instead of trying to link with his team-mates up front.
The only time we were able to see the true Cristiano was when he unleashed a typical powerful 30 meter free kick that caused some trouble for Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas in the first half. Apart from that he only touched the ball on 11 occasions in the second half.
South Africa has a large Portuguese community of about half a million, so the «Selecção das Quinas» had lots of support from tens of thousands of Portuguese fans in a full Cape Town Stadium. Even the non-Portuguese fans that came specifically so see their idol Cristiano Ronaldo, left the stadium highly disappointed with the performance of a player that was transferred for a staggering $132 million last summer when Spanish club Real Madrid acquired him from Manchester United.
Portuguese and foreign newspapers like the LA Times were very critical of Ronaldo’s performance against Spain saying that he strolled through the 90 minutes, probably didn’t need a shower, and couldn’t possibly have raised a sweat, given his invisibility and lack of effort.
Even the encounter of the Portuguese star with Nelson Mandela last week was not forgotten by the Los Angeles newspaper, saying that even the 91 year old Nelson Mandela would have moved more than Ronaldo who is 25, did.
More than likely Carlos Queiroz, who is extremely unpopular in Portugal, will be fired, since his tenure as coach was hardly successful. Cristiano Ronaldo is not the indicated player to be captain of the Portugal squad as he did nothing to lift his nation’s game and keep fighting to the end in the old-fashioned way.
C Ronaldo was also the only player not to sing the National Anthem of Portugal. As captain of the team, this action made him look very unpatriotic to his country and to the thousands of Portuguese fans inside the stadium and all over the world, who had so many expectations of him and of Portugal.
