MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Cristiano Ronaldo could barely move more quickly than a shuffle at the end of Portugal’s 0-0 draw against Colombia on Saturday.
That’s perhaps no surprise considering the extreme heat and humidity in Florida, where the game started with a “feels like” temperature as high as 106 degrees Fahrenheit, but it also begs the question: Why was a 41-year-old playing in his sixth World Cup still on the pitch when the referee blew his whistle after five minutes of stoppage time at the end of a draining Group K fixture?
The seemingly undroppable Portugal captain also appears to be a player who cannot be substituted, even when it would be in the best interests of himself and his team.
During the final half hour in punishing conditions in Miami, Ronaldo was a non-entity and should have been substituted. That he ended the game with an expected goals (xG) of 0.17 and expected assists (xA) of 0.03 summed up his performance and the futility of it.
Roberto Martínez’s team now heads into a round of 32 match against Croatia in Toronto on Thursday, with Ronaldo having played every single one of their 270 minutes in the group stage. If you add up all of the stoppage time in those games, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid forward has probably clocked 300 minutes at the World Cup.
We all know that Ronaldo is freakishly fit for a player in his 40s. He has always been the perfect example of the rewards of dedication and professionalism, but he’s 41. No amount of ice baths or personally curated diets can change that or roll back the effects of the aging process, so even Ronaldo needs to manage his minutes.
But Martínez won’t, or can’t, bring himself to rest his star player, and the end result is that nobody wins. The Portugal coach insisted that Ronaldo can deliver no matter how much he plays, though.
“Cristiano is used to being in the right place at the right time,” Martínez said. “Mentally and physically, he is disciplined and strong.
“It’s not an issue for Cristiano to play 90 minutes, but you don’t know about the next game. We have used 21 outfield players, so we do share the minutes.”
Ronaldo, who scored twice in Portugal’s 5-0 win against Uzbekistan on Tuesday, was lively in the first half against Colombia and justified his selection, but Gonçalo Ramos is 25 and plays for back-to-back UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain, yet he remained on the substitutes’ bench while Ronaldo moved around like an aching marathon runner in the second half.
The game’s biggest stars are accepting that they can’t play every minute in this World Cup, though.
Erling Haaland sat out Norway’s 4-1 defeat against France in Boston on Friday because coach Ståle Solbakken was concerned about fatigue ahead of their round of 32 tie against the Ivory Coast on Tuesday.
And even Lionel Messi was given a night off from the starting lineup with Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni confirming Friday that the 39-year-old talisman would not start against Jordan on Saturday.
Both Haaland and Messi want to be around for a while longer at this World Cup, so it is a sensible move by their coaches to give them a breather. But Ronaldo keeps on playing and at some point, he and Portugal could pay a heavy price for the workload. That price might be paid against Croatia.
“We don’t compare with other players of other teams,” Martínez said when asked about Ronaldo being rested like Haaland or Messi. “That would be childish.”
The debate around Ronaldo’s value to this Portugal team has gone on for so long that Martínez has pretty much disappeared by repeatedly insisting that the Al Nassr player is a goal scorer par excellence and deserves to play.
Plenty disagree with Martínez, but as the coach, he is paid to make those decisions. But while there is little point in arguing with the former Everton and Belgium coach over Ronaldo’s place in the team, it is valid to question why his minutes are not being managed to ensure he can be at his best when Portugal need him to be.
Even Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé, France’s two superstars, have played fewer minutes than Ronaldo at this World Cup and Harry Kane, the England captain who regards every minute not on the pitch as one in which he can’t score a goal, was taken off with six minutes to play in Saturday’s 2-0 win against Panama.
But Ronaldo goes on and on and on. At this rate, he probably could still be leading the line for Portugal at the age of 45 at the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Portugal and Morocco.
It sounds like a ridiculous thought, but so does the idea of a 41-year-old playing every minute in the group stage, even though qualification was secured with a game to spare.
Had Martínez withdrawn his captain and replaced him with a quicker and more mobile forward — Ramos perhaps — Portugal might have found the goal that would have won the game and sealed the top spot in the group, giving them a much more comfortable path to the quarterfinals.
But Martínez didn’t act, Ronaldo stayed on the pitch and Portugal ended up second.
If they beat Croatia, they will most likely run into Spain in the round of 16, and an immobile Ronaldo probably won’t be much use against the European champions.
