World Cup 2026: Cristiano Ronaldo Remains Portugal’s Biggest Name But Is He Still Their Biggest Threat?

In many ways, it is not really his fault. If you were indulged and told you could do something for long enough, even though the evidence is pretty clear that you cannot anymore, you would probably try to keep doing it too. If you were consistently picked by a manager who ignores the obvious, you might think you still had it. If you walked into a stadium full of people, many of whom had come specifically to see you, and one of whom had made a sign reading “With or without the World Cup, you will always be my GOAT,” you might think you were still worth seeing.

It is hard to let go. Especially when there is always another milestone to reach for, another tournament to play in, another thousand career goals to chase. Especially when your peers and old rivals are still doing it.

But Cristiano Ronaldo cannot do it anymore. Or at least, he cannot do it to anywhere near the standard required for Portugal, a team who, in theory, are among the favourites to win the World Cup 2026.

A Ghost on the Pitch in Houston

Portugal’s 1-1 draw with DR Congo at NRG Stadium in Houston on June 17 was attended by 68,777 fans. A significant portion of them were there to see Ronaldo. What they witnessed instead was a player who has become, in footballing terms, almost entirely absent.

For just over an hour of that match, Ronaldo basically did nothing. It was not even a case of doing things badly. It was that he was not doing them at all. He was a void. A theoretically corporeal being who might as well have been a wisp, a spirit of no substance.

There were no shanked shots, no terrible passes, no egregious errors. Nothing that someone could cut together for social media mockery. Just nothing.

His statistical footprint told the story clearly.

Twenty-five touches in a full 90 minutes as your team’s starting centre-forward is a damning number. It reflects not just limited involvement but a player who is operating almost entirely on the periphery of the game, appearing briefly and then vanishing again.

The Two Chances That Told the Full Story

After half-time, Ronaldo had two shots. They were almost identical in nature, efforts that went wide of the near post from cutbacks at the byline. Neither were absolute sitters, though a case could be made that a Ronaldo in his prime would have converted at least one of them.

The first came from a pass that was behind him and genuinely difficult to direct goalwards. The second was more symbolic. Had Ronaldo allowed the ball to run, Bruno Fernandes, who was positioned right behind him, would have had a far clearer effort on goal. It was a moment that did not go unnoticed.

Thierry Henry, analysing the game on Fox Sports, was direct in his assessment. “The team needs to score. You don’t need to score,” Henry said, suggesting Ronaldo placed personal ambition above the collective need. “If he goes into the six-yard box, it would have been a tap-in for Bruno Fernandes.”

It is a damning observation. At 41 years old, in a tournament where Portugal need results, the instinct to take the shot himself rather than allow a teammate a simpler chance speaks to a mindset that may no longer serve the team.

After those two attempts, Ronaldo disappeared again.

The Most Telling Moment Was Not Even a Shot

Perhaps the single most revealing moment of Ronaldo’s evening came shortly after those two missed chances, and it did not involve a shot at all.

A cross came over from the right with Ronaldo positioned at the far post. It was a decent ball, the sort that used to invite him to rise magnificently and head home. This time, he did not rise. In a literal sense, he simply did not jump. Whether because he could not, or because he chose not to, is unclear. The ball was cleared by DR Congo defender Chancel Mbemba in what turned out to be a routine header away from a man who used to be one of the most devastating aerial threats in world football.

It was a routine header. Against Cristiano Ronaldo.

The “Distraction” Argument and Why It Is Failing

Wayne Rooney, speaking on the BBC, attempted to present a case for Ronaldo’s continued presence in the side. “A lot of the game he’s standing in an offside position,” Rooney noted. “That’s not him being lazy, that’s him being very clever. He’s making the DR Congo defence have to search for him, which is creating space for his team-mates.”

It is a generous interpretation. The trouble is that Ronaldo is not actually causing any of the problems his positioning is theoretically supposed to create. The opposition are aware of this. They know he is not the threat he once was, and they are not sufficiently disturbed by his presence to be distracted from their defensive duties.

DR Congo midfielder Ngal’ayel Mukau was diplomatic but clear after the game. “We know he isn’t the same as before, so we knew he would run less,” he said. “I expected maybe a bit more from him, but it’s normal, he’s a bit older. It’s an honour to play against him.”

That is the language you use about a legend being given a respectful send-off, not about a striker who poses a serious threat to your goal.

Ten Major Tournament Games Without a Goal

This was not an isolated poor performance. It was the tenth consecutive major tournament game in which Ronaldo has failed to score. That is not a run of bad luck. That is a pattern. And it is one that Roberto Martinez, Portugal’s manager, has had ample time to identify.

Despite that record, Martinez not only selected Ronaldo to start against DR Congo but left him on for the full 90 minutes. His justification afterwards was telling in more ways than he perhaps intended. “In a game like this, where it was difficult to break down the penalty area, it’s crucial to utilise Cristiano’s skills,” Martinez told the media. “It wouldn’t make sense to take off the best goalscorer in football history in a match where we need to score goals.”

He used the word history. And that word does a great deal of heavy lifting in that sentence. Ronaldo is the best goalscorer in football history. Past tense. He is not the best goalscorer in the present, and the evidence accumulated across ten consecutive major tournament games without finding the net makes that quite clear.

What Martinez Could Do Instead

There is a justifiable version of Ronaldo’s involvement at this World Cup, and it does not involve him starting every game as the primary striker in a team bristling with elite creative talent.

Carlo Ancelotti’s careful management of Neymar at Brazil offers a template worth considering. Using Ronaldo as a totemic presence, someone the rest of the squad look up to and draw inspiration from, a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option from the bench, or a specialist penalty taker, would represent a more honest assessment of where he is in his career. It would also give Portugal’s exceptional group of wingers and midfielders the freedom to function without being structured around a centre-forward who walks for much of the game and no longer provides a genuine goal threat.

Instead, Martinez continues to deploy a 41-year-old who generated just 25 touches across a full 90 minutes as the attacking focal point of one of the most talented squads at the tournament. It is a decision that is difficult to defend with a straight face.

It is also worth noting that Ronaldo received an inexplicable pardon for two of a three-game suspension earned after a red card against Ireland in Portugal’s penultimate qualifier. Had that ban been served in full, Martinez would have been forced to discover what Portugal look like without him, and there is every reason to believe the answer would have been encouraging.

The Contrast With His Contemporaries Was Stark

The timing of Portugal’s draw made the broader picture even harder to ignore. The day before, the biggest stars at this World Cup delivered with considerable gusto.

Messi. A hat-trick. For Argentina. While Ronaldo was producing zero shots on target and 25 touches across 90 minutes for Portugal. The great looming spectre of Ronaldo’s career, the other half of the greatest individual rivalry in football history, continues to perform at the level that the occasion demands. The contrast is not something that can be politely ignored.

The Walk to the Tunnel Said Everything

After the final whistle, Ronaldo began walking slowly and directly towards the tunnel. Halfway there, he paused, turned back, and shook hands with some team-mates and some opposition players. Then he turned again and completed his journey off the pitch.

Most of the Portugal squad were called back to the centre circle, from where they applauded their fans. Ronaldo was already gone, down into the bowels of the stadium. There is no suggestion he deliberately ignored his team-mates or the supporters. He was just gone. Alone. Of no use to his colleagues. As metaphors go, it is not an especially subtle one.

In many ways, it is not really his fault. The system around him, the manager who keeps selecting him, the adulation that tells him he is still who he was, all of it conspires to keep him on the pitch long after the evidence has made the case for his removal.

But the evidence is there. It has been there for some time. And at a World Cup where Portugal have the talent to go very deep, continuing to ignore it could prove very costly indeed.

Read More: How Lionel Messi Rewrote the Record Books Against Algeria at World Cup 2026

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