Cristiano Ronaldo had the defining World Cup performance we’ve been waiting for

When Gerard Pique fouled Cristiano Ronaldo late in the game to give Portugal a free kick, there was a sense of inevitability about what was to come. That feeling of inevitability was odd, considering that Ronaldo had been quiet in the second half of the game. He scored two in the first, one from a penalty and the other from a David de Gea mistake, but in the second half he didn’t have a shot on goal. Add that to the fact that Ronaldo, as good as he is and was at taking free kicks, has not been all that good at them in recent years.

Yet, when he placed the ball down, took his steps back, stood in his patented superhero stance with his legs spread apart, closed his eyes and then let out a deep breath, the shot that was to come felt destined for the back of the net.

Back in April, I wrote that there’s no comparison to Ronaldo and that there’s no need to try to compartmentalize him with our preconceived ideas about a player’s career. No one has been as good as he is, for as long, and has maintained such a high level of performance at 33 years old — an age where players have usually severely declined and are on their way to a smaller club for one last big paycheck.

Ronaldo at 33 is still in his prime. This previous season he scored 44 goals in 44 appearances for Real Madrid, he won the Champions League for the third season in a row, scoring in every game except for the final, and is now having his best World Cup tournament, after just the first game.

After his first goal, Ronaldo became only the fourth player in history to score in four World Cup tournaments. He put himself in the company of Pelé, Miroslav Klose and Uwe Seeler. He’s the only player to ever score in eight straight international tournaments. But though he has scored in four World Cup tournaments, he had only scored a goal in each of the previous three. After his performance against Spain, he’s doubled his previous tally.

Diego Costa’s elbow and clinical finishing ability cancelled out Ronaldo’s first goal with 20 minutes left in the first half.

Right before the halftime whistle, what was a speculative shot by Ronaldo, with his weaker left foot — if we amuse ourselves for a second by assuming that he has a weak foot — was spilled by De Gea to give Portugal the lead again. Costa, playing the perfect villain, scored again to put things back on level terms.

Then Nacho, the man that Ronaldo baited and victimized to win the penalty for the first goal, the man that Ronaldo smiled at after he scored the penalty, scored the goal of the tournament so far by hitting the ball so well and with so much venom from 30 yards out, that he instantly joined the divine class of fullbacks who have scored scorchers in the World Cup. Philipp Lahm and Giovanni van Bronckhorst are somewhere having wine and toasting to their new addition.

So the stage was set for Ronaldo and only him. Because if Portugal were going to get anything out of the game, it would have to be through him. Their strategy was to defend in blocks and then release the ball to Ronaldo, hoping and trusting that he would lead them to success. It would have been a risky plan, if Ronaldo was an ordinary player. But when the burden is on Ronaldo, a player who has been the first or second best player in the world for over a decade, someone who lives for the biggest moments, one of the greatest goal scorers to ever live, it’s less of a risk and the sensible thing to do.

When Pique fouled Ronaldo with time running out, the resulting goal felt inevitable because he has been so ridiculous this year that all the context about his scoring rate from free kicks and his quiet second half felt like nonsense. He was going to score. It didn’t matter what his chances were, the gravity of the moment, anything. He was going to score because he’s Ronaldo and he’s built to score in those moments.

It’s incredible what Ronaldo is doing at this point in his career, and he’s already given us one of the best performances of the tournament by the first game. He dragged his team to a stalemate against a much more talented side by scoring three goals. The scary and exciting thing is, it still feels that there’s so much more to come from him in this tournament. At 33, he looks on the verge on having the defining World Cup performance that he’s been missing from his career.