Lisbon (AFP) – For some, Cristiano Ronaldo remains the essential spearhead for Portugal’s 2026 World Cup bid, while others believe his presence will prevent Roberto Martinez’s strong side from flourishing. The debate around the five-time Ballon d’Or winner rages on, as it did at Euro 2024 and four years ago in Qatar; yet Ronaldo endures, ready to play in a record sixth World Cup. The 41-year-old remains a global superstar despite swapping the European elite for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr, and is the leading men’s international goalscorer with 143 strikes. With 25 of those coming in 30 games under Martinez, the coach insists that Ronaldo is being selected on merit rather than because of his status.
The Spanish coach himself also faced scrutiny after Portugal’s Euro 2024 quarter-final exit, with his detractors believing that such a strong squad was capable of winning. Martinez started Ronaldo in all five games they played, but the striker failed to find the net in Germany. This season, Manchester United playmaker Bruno Fernandes set a new record for Premier League assists, and the Paris Saint-Germain contingent – including Vitinha, Joao Neves, and Nuno Mendes – are among the best in their positions in the world. When he was appointed in 2023, Martinez had the choice of whether to make a clean break from Ronaldo or maintain him as the team’s captain and talisman, opting for the latter.
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In response to the naysayers, Martinez can point to the team’s successful 2025 Nations League triumph as proof that he is right to lean on Ronaldo. The Portugal icon struck against Spain in the final to win his third international trophy, after Euro 2016 and the 2019 Nations League. “I have many titles with clubs, but nothing is better than winning for Portugal,” said Ronaldo after the game. “It’s tears. It’s mission accomplished, and pure joy.” The striker is closing in on 1,000 career goals for club and country, currently just 17 short. Ronaldo is the team’s captain and leader, feared by opponents and with international experience gained over more than two decades – his Portugal debut was in 2003.
Martinez has highlighted the “inspiring mindset” of the veteran forward, who operates now as a centre-forward rather than the flying winger of his youth. Ronaldo’s teammates still believe the striker is delivering for Portugal. PSG midfielder Vitinha told FIFA that it was “fantastic” to play with the former Real Madrid and Manchester United forward. “He’s one of the greatest players in history,” said Vitinha. “I’m very proud to share the dressing room with him, learn from him, and witness his professionalism every day. I hope we can win the World Cup with him and for him as well.”
In Portugal, where Ronaldo is a revered icon, it is rarely advisable to argue against him. “Cristiano inside the box continues to be a very high-level player,” Fernandes told Canal 11, a television channel run by the Portuguese football federation, in December. “I know what people think, that it’s clear we play better without Ronaldo, that the players are freer and more fluid,” Fernandes continued. “If that happens, it’s partly our fault. We can’t worry if Cristiano is on the pitch, because Cristiano can give us things.”
Portugal’s pressing suffers with Ronaldo, and the team appears more cohesive without him. When Ronaldo starts, sometimes it seems as if the team works largely to service him. The forward even came in for rare criticism in his protective homeland after he was sent off against Ireland for an elbow in qualifying, although FIFA let him off the hook by suspending two matches of his ban, meaning he is clear to play from the start of the World Cup. Portugal begin their campaign in Group K against DR Congo on June 17, before facing Uzbekistan on June 23 and Colombia on June 28.
Martinez said he is not concerned that the intense tournament schedule might impact the 41-year-old. “In my experience, at a World Cup, a player doesn’t follow the pattern of club form, age-related performance, or anything like that,” said the coach after naming his squad for the tournament in North America. It is stronger than arguably any Portugal squad to arrive at a World Cup prior, and even as the debates around Ronaldo continue, what is inarguable is that they have the quality to succeed this summer.
© 2024 AFP
