As soon as the Argentine referee Facundo Tello signaled the end of the 2022 World Cup quarterfinal match at the Al Thumama stadium, Cristiano Ronaldo took the road to the locker room alone, while assuming the end of his adventure in the tournament, he entered the tunnel and burst into tears, in one of the images of Qatar 2022 that marks the limit for an extraordinary scorer, a formidable player, who won everything in his career, except the World Cup.
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Christian’ssay goodbye to the planetary golden trophy forever. At 37 years old, the 2026 edition that will be shared by the United States, Canada and Mexico already appears very blurred for CR7, the only footballer capable of scoring a goal in five consecutive World Cups throughout the history of the tournament, which dates back to 1930, but without the prize he was after, without the usual prominence, suddenly relegated to substitution, in the 6-1 against Switzerland in the round of 16 and the 0-1 against Morocco in the quarterfinals.
It’s the saddest football video ? pic.twitter.com/KQjrkxw501
—Danik (@DanikRM_) December 11, 2022
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Cristiano Ronaldo, record and tears
“It would be magical to win the World Cup, but I lack nothing in my life. I have already won much more than I expected. Winning would be a dream, but only one selection can win. We all have that ambition, but let’s take it easy. I’m ambitious. I want to win the World Cup. But even if they tell me that I am not going to win more titles until the end of my career, I would be happy. I have to be proud of myself, of everything I have done”, dijo upon his arrival in Qatar, within the maelstrom that has engulfed him throughout the tournament, Always in the eye of the hurricane.
Always news, from the first day the team gathered west of Dohathe last one with the controversy that aroused his conversation with Fernando Santos as a result of his substitution against Switzerland, due to the information published by ‘Récord’ that he had threatened to leave the concentration, a fact denied by the Portuguese Football Federation, his coach and his teammates, Cristiano Ronaldo leaves the current tournament with five games, three as a starter, two complete, two as a substitute, one goal and ten shots, three of them on goal, three blocked, two rejected and two out.
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He also averaged 79 percent passing (he delivered 66 to teammates of the 83 he attempted); offered to enter the game 237 times, of which he received 60; he exerted 68 pressure on his rivals, either direct or indirect; He covered a total of 30,502 kilometers throughout the five duels (starter in the three days of the group stages and substitute in the round of 16 and in the quarterfinals) and his fastest run was the 32.2 kilometers per hour that he reached in the duel this Saturday against Morocco.
Y leaves without consolation Not even with the records that will stand forever. At least for a long time. He has played 22 games from Germany 2006 to Qatar 2022, as the player with the most matches in this tournament in the history of the Portuguese teamthough he will not be his best scorer, still somewhat surpassed by Eusebio; he has been the only one to score in five consecutive tournaments, since his debut on June 17, 2006 against Iran, and one of the eight who have played five World Cups, together with the Argentine Lionel Messi, the Mexicans Andrés Guardado, Guillermo Ochoa, Rafa Márquez and Antonio Carbajal, the Italian Gianluigi Buffon and the German Lothar Matthäus.
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“Obrigado (Thank you in Portuguese), Cristiano”, FIFA dedicated a video to him when its elimination was already an irrefutable fact. It is also true that he will never win the World Cup. Neither did Eusebio, the only Portuguese footballer who can measure himself with all the history marked by him, nor did the Dutch Johan Cruyff, nor the Spanish-Argentine Alfredo Di Stéfano, nor the French Michel Platini nor Just Fontaine (the top scorer in an edition of the tournament), nor the Northern Irishman George Best, nor the Uruguayan Enzo Francescoli nor the Brazilians Zico and Socrates, nor the Hungarian Ferenc Puskas… And Leo Messi? The Argentine is in it.
