Did anyone imagine that Ronaldo powered Portugal would reside at the bottom after playing two matches? No. Yes, no one did, but this is what is being happened in the Brazil where FIFA player of the year award winner Ronaldo could not restrict US score two goals to end the game in a draw. This draw means, US is now at number two in the Group G while Paulo Bento’s army would have to return back. Like most of the high profile players, Ronaldo had already been suffering from a knee problem since last few months, in fact, he could not impart in full domestic season for the same reason, but he is not taking it as an excuse and accepts US were broadly better than firing attacking power of Portuguese that landed them to nowhere. Those, who watched the entire game at Manaus on Sunday, did not find any aggression: neither from captain nor from other world class players while on the other side, a rather underdog: US, surprised everyone by not losing any game by now sustaining second best position in the group. Nonetheless, Portugal is not completely out of the event, perhaps they still have a little chance, but for that they would have to defeat Ghana with a big margin to enhance their goal difference on Thursday.
Apart from this, US would also need to beat Germany if they want Portugal to enter into the last sixteen, but for now, even a draw between top two on the same day would be enough to take them into the pre-quarterfinals. Ronaldo talked about his form and injury after the match but never presented his knee as an excuse, he said, “I do not want to use my physical problems as an excuse. That is already overcome. I am here to show my face, to try and give my best, to run… It is not worth talking more about what I have. There is news in the papers every day about what I have, the knee, the tendonitis, about that, the other…
“But I do not want to justify myself. I am here in body and soul to help the national team and we have not achieved our objective. Now we will see what happens in the next game.”
Apart from this, 29-year-old former priciest player of the world could just score two goals in Brazil which shows how bad form he has been in in Brazil. Talking about over expectations everyone had built over them, he added, “All the teams are here to win and we were never favourites. It was just a make-believe dream that Portugal could be world champion, because everything is possible in football, but other countries have better teams. Maybe they deserve it more than me.”