Cristiano Ronaldo-led Portugal crashed out of the World Cup yesterday. Probably the most human thing to do after suffering a defeat in a game of soccer is to begin the process of assigning the blame. Yesterday’s game was no exception as Portuguese fans have been blaming a variety of factors for their team’s unexpected exit from the World Cup.
In the quarterfinal match between Portugal and Morocco yesterday, Portugal suffered a shock defeat while Morocco’s fairytale World Cup campaign progressed into the semifinals.
While senior players like Pepe and Bruno Fernandes have blamed the refereeing decisions, Portugal legend and former player Luis Figo blamed the manager, Fernando Santos.
🎙 Luis Figo: “You can’t win a World Cup with Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench. Win against Switzerland? Excellent! But can you do that in every game? No.
Leaving CR7 on the bench was a mistake, this defeat is the responsibility of the management and the manager.”#FIFAWorldCup pic.twitter.com/y0BRYlV3dl
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) December 10, 2022
Figo argued that any team who has a player of Ronaldo’s stature, cannot expect to win the World Cup after benching him. The former Real Madrid legend said that benching Ronaldo was a huge mistake that cost Portugal dearly. Figo insisted that the management was to blame for this lackluster decision-making.
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Luis Figo has officially joined forces with millions of Portuguese fans in placing the blame upon the management. Fans have demanded that the management be charged with full responsibility for the defeat.
Ronaldo was brought on, in the 51st minute of the game. Some fans, in contrast, have pointed out that the available time was enough for him to score and make a difference on the pitch.
However, the consensus rests with the former faction of Portugal supporters, who feel that Fernando Santos was indeed at fault.
This is absolutely true… without Ronaldo, Portuguese team can’t win a single match.
— Satyanarayan (@satya700maddy) December 10, 2022
See the time Ronaldo came in, 51min, that’s more than enough time for a player to change the game. Ronaldo has lost his juice and the manager shouldn’t be blamed for benching him so stop pushing the blame on the manager and focus on Morocco being the better team pic.twitter.com/5fulekK52X
— Eno Serious (@ElvisOparaji) December 11, 2022
Dear Portugal coach Fernando Santos, hope u understood now that he hasn’t become CR7 in a day. May be ur intention was to make #Portugal out from #FIFAWorldCup so you won @Cristiano @FIFAWorldCup @FIFAcom
— Amit Singh (@egoistbinga) December 11, 2022
Ronaldo is 37 years old as of December 2022.
He will soon turn 38 on 6th February 2023. As such, he may consider retirement from professional soccer for good. After turning 35, players are generally keen to hang up their boots. But Ronaldo is no ordinary player. He possesses the physique of a much younger man. He is also quite hungry for more trophies.
There have been many examples of players choosing to play past the conventional retirement window of 35-40 years. A case in point to that effect is Swedish soccer legend, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
This is to say that if Ronaldo so wishes, nothing is stopping him from carrying on for a few more years. He may choose to continue playing soccer at all levels. He may also choose to hang up his boots at the international level and focus on club-level soccer. Or he may choose to retire altogether.
Whatever the case may be, it seems highly unlikely that Ronaldo will feature for Portugal in the next World Cup, regardless of whether he retires or not.
