With all the hype surrounding Cristiano Ronaldo’s £80m move from Manchester United to Real Madrid, a harsh reality is being forgotten. For a man who craves the spotlight, while he may be basking in the glory at the moment, there is a very real possibility that next summer, as all eyes turn to South Africa, that Ronaldo will become the forgotten man of world football.
With just four games to go in the FIFA World Cup European Qualifying, Portugal sit in third place in Group One, four points behind second placed Hungary and a seemingly insurmountable seven points behind top spot. Are we set to see a World Cup finals without the famous Portugal shirts?
For a country, which boasts the most expensive footballer in the world and who have been consistent features in the latter stages of the past few major football tournaments, to miss out on the worlds biggest sporting event might be unthinkable but it is a very harsh reality for Ronaldo and his countrymen.
Indeed were it not for an injury time winner from defender Bruno Alves in Albania last week, Portugal’s stars may already be booking their holidays for the summer 2010. For Ronaldo in particular, it is unimaginable that the spotlight should shine not on him but on other top stars such as Lionel Messi and new Madrid team-mate Kaka.
In the space of five days in early September, Portugal face a crunch double header which will determine whether or not they will be at the 2010 World Cup. First up, they travel to group leaders Denmark knowing that nothing less than a victory will be enough to keep their qualification hopes alive. Winning the group is already beyond Portugal, but they must ensure at all costs they are at least in a qualification play-off.
This match is followed on the Wednesday with an equally difficult trip to Hungary, who they will be hoping will have dropped points at home to Sweden five days earlier. Even in this scenario, it leaves the Swedes as another legitimate threat to Portugal’s qualification hopes.
The good news for Portugal is that their qualification fate is in their own hands. Four victories from their remaining four games will be enough to at least get them into a play-off. Furthermore, they certainly have a squad capable of achieving those four victories.
Now they just need to home the Ronaldo sideshow doesn’t derail their qualification hopes.
Written by Danny Watson, a professional sports writer who blogs about football news.
Even as great as Cristiano Ronaldo is, I can’t see him guiding Portugal to four straight wins and a World Cup berth.
I am Portuguese myself and all I can say is this: Portugal does not deserve to be in SA next summer. There’s simply not enough professionalism, commitment and humbleness. Not to mention the three Brazilians who play for us without being born here.
Fuck them all, I say. Hope they lose to Hungary next Wednesday.
I love football, but Ronaldo to me represents everything that is wrong wth the game. THe players are turning into a pack of woman. Ronaldo is looking more and more like a WAG each day – the tan, the IT bag! They need to toughen up, like rugby players.
they will never win a thing