World Cup a fitting stage for Ronaldo’s awesome talent

Portugal may be a side with obvious limitations but they do possess a great player in his prime

Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo in action against the Republic of Irleland’s Alex Pearce and David Meyler during the recent friendly international at the MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Photo: Justin Lane/EPA

The original motivation for Martin O’Neill to attend today’s game between Germany game against Portugal was, he said, to weigh up the top seeds from Ireland’s qualifying group.

But after the way Portugal romped past his weakened side in New Jersey last week, the northerner would probably draw some summer consolation in Salvador from a another big win for Paulo Bento’s side.

The former Sunderland boss might quite fancy the Portuguese winning the title so as to put the 5-1 defeat in a more favourable context.

But that’s a long-shot at best and an absolute impossibility unless their star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, tops even his own performance at Euro 2012.

Then he hauled his side almost single-handedly to the semi-finals where they came close to eliminating Spain before losing in a penalty shoot-out that ended even before he had had the chance to contribute.

Painful period

Given his form this season, almost anything seems possible.

The 29 year-old has been outstanding, ending a long and painful period in the shadow of his rival Lionel Messi to utterly eclipse the Argentine with a succession of stunning displays that powered Real Madrid to Champions League success.

The challenge here is rather more daunting, though, with a generally ordinary Portugal team looking ill-equipped to take on the world’s best, even if their captain is firing on all cylinders . . .something that, after recent knee and thigh problems, cannot be taken completely for granted.

A decade ago, when Ronaldo was still in the process of making his name, the Portuguese were just a top class striker short of lifting the Euro 2004 title on home soil.

Then manager Felipe Scolari’s critical error may have been to stand by some slightly second-rate ones rather than taking a bigger chance on the youngster who came off the bench to score his second goal of the tournament in the final defeat by Greece.

Now, he is head and shoulders above anyone else in terms of importance. Joao Moutinho may have the most assists in qualifying, William Carvalho may be a rising star and the team’s central defensive pairing of Pepe and Bruno Alves might still just about make a list of the international game’s best.

But Bento knows the game plan has to revolve entirely around Ronaldo with the general message from the bench being: “Give it to him!”

The former Manchester United star’s record in World Cups in not actually that great with just two goals in 10 games.

But he played an important part in the side reaching the semis in 2006 and was phenomenal at times in the last European Championships as Portugal, bounced back from a defeat against Germany to qualify for the quarter-finals thanks to a dramatic win over the Netherlands after which he was again absolutely central to the defeat of the Czech Republic.

Overall, he was the tournament’s joint top scorer and had the most attempts on goal, on and off target, rather easily outstripping the efforts of his nearest rival, Mario Balotelli.