He blew out his cheeks when first approaching the dressing room and it was the same gesture as he reached the top of the tunnel and stepped out into the World Cup, aching for a final contribution to football history.
‘He is anxious as he is representing Portugal in the national team,’ Bruno Fernandes had said of Cristiano Ronaldo, the night before. And that was before Lionel Messi scored his hat-trick. Messi featured in high-spec adverts for the tournament’s official beer on the stadium concourse screens. Ronaldo featured in adverts for plastic images of himself.
But while the 38-year-old Argentinian was the talk of America, coast to coast, yesterday, the 41-year-old Portuguese’s legitimacy is in question after a performance for the ages by Congo, whose very presence here has defied fate.
There was no doubting the expectation. For all the debate about his presence which has raged from Lisbon to Porto, a hell of a lot of fans were wearing the name ‘Ronaldo’ on their No 7 replica shirts and the noise ratcheted up each time he touched the ball in the early stages.
A generous interpretation of what unfolded would highlight the way he worried defenders in the first half, moving into offside positions, drawing anxious Congolese deeper with him and creating space in front of goal.
But his biggest contributions were symbolic – setting off Portugal’s tournament with the toe of his right boot and remonstrating with a referee who booked Bernardo Silva early. When substitute Francisco Conceicao slipped a pass to him in the right side of the penalty box as the second half wore on, he could only screw it wide. Conceicao located him again. Ronaldo missed again.
Cristiano Ronaldo endured a frustrating outing as Portugal were held by DR Congo
The sound of a ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’ chant were audible in that enormous moment and the man in question, looking to the heavens for some inspiration – a kind of internal turmoil written across his face – seemed to hear and acknowledge it. But the painful and inconvenient reality was that the world’s fifth ranked side needed him substituted and someone to inject the pace and physicality which was missing.
There was no such change. In every way, he seemed immovable. When Goncalo Ramos, the PSG striker, was introduced, seven minutes from time, it was his club teammate Vitinha, not Ronaldo, who made way. The decision defied all rationale.
Portugal’s attacking woes exposed
There was not enough pace behind that lumpen front line, either. Bruno Fernandes had been the one harrying, chasing and leading, looking to close down, when Portugal’s bright opening saw Pedro Neto crossing for the sixth-minute Joao Neves headed opener, which was the quickest of the tournament.
But DR Congo were the ones with all the energy. Quicker, better ball carriers and the ones with the legs when they got the chance, even though Portugal had dominated possession. Their six shots to two by half time revealed everything about the African nation back on this stage for the first time since appearing as Zaire in 1974.
Wissa the danger despite Newcastle troubles
Yoane Wissa, who scored just once for Newcastle United last season, was the attacking fulcrum and a real danger. Cédric Bakambu, the 35-year-old Real Betis forward brought a wonderful touch, slaloming through the static Portuguese in the first half and shooting, when he might have laid off for Wissa, who was calling.
Yoane Wissa struggled for Newcastle but scored for his country as they earned a valuable point
Congo’s equaliser was scandalous from a Portuguese perspective; Tomás Araújo standing and staring as Arthur Masuaku, who Sunderland have loaned out to Lens, crossed for Wissa to leap and score. The slackness, equally evident when Bakambu muscled Fernandes off the ball in Portugal’s box and struck the post, was cast into contrast by the African nation’s own defensive work.
Chancel Mbemba is another name they will be chanting on the streets of Brazzaville today. He was the one with Ronaldo in his eyeline for much of the game and when the moment required, the one shut him out.
The embarrassment might have been an even more profound because Congo should have scored a winner from Bakambu, who screwed wide the ball Noah Sadiki laid into his path. When Mbemba looked set to race past Araújo at the death, the defender just man-handled him to earth.
To the very end, Ronaldo yearned for a contribution. Before Portugal’s last corner was swung in, he made a coded gesture, requesting the ball which sailed over his head. At the end of it all, he trudged towards the tunnel, leaving his teammates behind him, until he seemed to remember there were others and checked himself. But when the team approached their fans, there was no sign of him. He had left the stage. His tally: 25 touches, three shots, none on target.
