{"id":654870,"date":"2026-06-23T23:46:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/654870\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T23:46:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T23:46:09","slug":"cristiano-ronaldo-ends-his-goal-drought-as-rampant-portugal-outclass-uzbekistan-world-cup-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/654870\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo ends his goal drought as rampant Portugal outclass Uzbekistan | World Cup 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Golden oldies fighting for the golden boot? Let us not get ahead of ourselves. But it will do Cristiano Ronaldo\u2019s ego no harm that he is off the mark for this summer, particularly given Lionel Messi\u2019s voracious appetite<\/a> to keep long-burning fires ablaze. Nor will it pass unnoticed that he has broken a record of his own. In breaching Uzbekistan twice during the opening period of what quickly became a leisurely non-contest, Ronaldo became the first player to score in six editions of the World Cup.<\/p>\n

It meant Portugal\u2019s travelling fans, assuming some had snuck in among the CR7 tourists, got what they came for. They also saw a less seemly run put to rest. Ronaldo had not scored in 10 major tournament games until facing a defence that would have struggled to handle a masters game. Uzbekistan<\/a> were utterly unequipped to repel opponents of this standard and the five-goal margin felt conservative.<\/p>\n

Rafael Le\u00e3o caps the 5-0 rout late on. Photograph: Phil Noble\/Reuters<\/p>\n

History was made by one of football\u2019s greats for a second consecutive day. At such times it is apposite to thank those who made it all possible, so Fifa, which ensured he was available by clearing him from suspension from the first two group stage fixtures, should receive its dues. In the meantime, a relieved Roberto Mart\u00ednez was left wondering how Ronaldo managed to emerge so triumphantly from a week of relentless criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was asking him the other day if it\u2019s genetic or work,\u201d he said, coming down on the fence. \u201cNothing gives you a better assessment of your career than longevity in football.\u201d Only a churl would dismiss Ronaldo\u2019s achievement but it is fair to ask whether, in the context of Portugal\u2019s requirements, his renaissance against such inadequate foes reveals anything. If that was so good then try it in a quarter-final against Messi and Argentina, hardly an outlandish prospect as things stand. Doubts about his suitability for tougher assignments linger and few salient topics were really settled here.<\/p>\n

Even so, the half-volley that began Ronaldo\u2019s afternoon was a new entry among this tournament\u2019s disarming moments of genuine theatre. Nobody could really have expected him to fade out quietly. He had just been slightly too far behind a Nuno Mendes centre, making a hand signal indicating the tiny margin of inaccuracy, but there were no flaws in the timing after Jo\u00e3o Cancelo reached the byline. The near-post cutback was met emphatically from six yards by its intended recipient, who ran towards the technical area and was mobbed by what felt like every member of Portugal\u2019s delegation.<\/p>\n

It launched the best part of 60,000 phone cameras into action, if Uzbekistan\u2019s laudably enthusiastic support are to be discounted, and soon his disciples had more to anticipate. They chanted his name expectantly after Odiljon Khamrobekov\u2019s desperate foul on Pedro Neto conceded a free-kick just outside the penalty area. The puff of cheeks, the tightened shoulders, the paced-out backwards strides: Ronaldo had teed up the situation to his liking but left Mendes to run around the ball and whip it past the keeper, Abduvokhid Nematov.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

So it really is a team sport. \u201cI told Nuno: \u2018Let\u2019s trick the goalkeeper, he\u2019ll think it\u2019s me,\u2019\u201d Ronaldo said. Uzbekistan were easily gulled and, after briefly rallying with a disallowed Azizjon Ganiev blast, succumbed to the prankster in chief again. This time the conception was clearly signposted, Bruno Fernandes taking advantage of a vacant midfield and playing in Ronaldo for a comfortable angled finish.<\/p>\n

There would be no fuzzy underdog tale to disrupt the day\u2019s booming, bawling, torso-rippling headline act. A hat-trick would swiftly have ensued if Abdukodir Khusanov had not intervened dramatically after Ronaldo did well to flick another Cancelo delivery towards goal.<\/p>\n

It barely needed saying that sourcing the match ball for their talisman would be high on Portugal\u2019s second-half priorities. Shortly before the hour Ronaldo again feinted to take a free-kick before running ahead of the wall, meeting Fernandes\u2019s chip and seeing Nematov sharply out to save. He took a blow but Uzbekistan were harmed more severely by the resulting corner. It was snaked in low by Fernandes, missing a cluster of bodies before squirming off multiple components of the unfortunate Khusanov and a flailing Nematov only managed to paw it across the line.<\/p>\n

Cristiano Ronaldo watches his shot go in to mark his second goal of the game, and Portugal\u2019s third. Photograph: Ronaldo Schemidt\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Portugal and Aston Villa set-piece coach, Austin McPhee, joined Mart\u00ednez in a touchline embrace. They had successfully executed several of the more creative items in their repertoire. \u201cSet pieces are an obsession for Austin,\u201d Mart\u00ednez enthused.<\/p>\n

That may be so but McPhee is unlikely to rival Ronaldo\u2019s fixation on goals. The game\u2019s remainder amounted to an exercise in whether his colleagues could find him in what, by now, was an almost comically high starting position. A shot deflected wide, another was beaten away and at the very end an effort on the stretch scuffed off target. Rafael Le\u00e3o\u2019s rising drive had the final say instead but Ronaldo, who yelled \u201cI\u2019m back\u201d into the cameras, had made the loudest noise again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Golden oldies fighting for the golden boot? Let us not get ahead of ourselves. But it will do…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":654871,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-654870","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654870","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654870"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654870\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654870"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654870"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654870"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}