The dust has barely settled on Portugal's frustrating World Cup curtain raiser against DR Congo, and already the noise is deafening. It was a flat, di...
The dust has barely settled on Portugal's frustrating World Cup curtain raiser against DR Congo, and already the noise is deafening. It was a flat, disjointed display from Fernando Santos' side, a point that felt more like a defeat given the quality in their ranks. But the real story, as it so often is, revolves around one man. Cristiano Ronaldo.For the watching Thierry Henry, the scene was all too familiar. The Arsenal and France legend, speaking exclusively to GoalZaza, did not mince his words. He accused Ronaldo of playing for himself, of prioritising personal milestones over the collective effort. When you have a team packed with talent like Bruno Fernandes and Bernardo Silva, yet the ball keeps dying at the feet of a man trying to fashion his own opportunity from nothing, you have to question the tactical discipline. Was it a lack of service, or a lack of willingness to provide it to others Henry, for one, thinks he knows the answer.He has a point. At 41, Ronaldo is a statistical anomaly, a goal machine that defies the natural order of athletic decline. But international football is not the Saudi Pro League. You cannot steamroll a packed low block with sheer force of will alone. This Portugal side often looked predictable, their transitional play bogged down as Ronaldo dropped deep to demand the ball, only to check back and take aim from range. It was selfish, perhaps even desperate. You have to wonder if the armband weighs heavier than the goals tally in that head of his.Portugal did not lose, but the performance raised serious questions about tactical flexibility. Can Santos accommodate a talisman who appears to operate outside the team structure The rest of the squad looked stifled, their creative instincts blunted. It was a classic case of a side stuck between systems, trying to feed one man while the game passed them by. For a nation with genuine aspirations of going deep into the tournament, drawing with a side like DR Congo is a warning sign. Henry saw it, and now the world has seen the footage.The pressure is on. Ronaldo will likely respond, because that is what he does. But the question lingering around the Portuguese camp is not about his finishing. It is about his football. And as Henry knows better than most, even the greatest individual star cannot carry a team if he is rowing in a different direction to the rest of the boat.
