A Penalty For The Ages
Cristiano Ronaldo finally has a World Cup knockout goal to his name. In a Round of 32 clash at BMO Field in Toronto that swung one way and then the other, the 41-year-old converted a second-half penalty to level the scores against Croatia, sending Portugal on to a 2-1 win and a Round of 16 date with Spain. It was, remarkably, the first goal Ronaldo has ever scored in a World Cup knockout match across six tournaments, a gap in an otherwise overflowing trophy case that has followed him for two decades.
The penalty arrived after a VAR review picked up Nikola Vlasic wrestling Renato Veiga to the ground at a corner, and referee Espen Eskas pointed to the spot without hesitation. Ronaldo sent Ivica Livakovic the wrong way to wipe out Ivan Perisic’s early opener, a close-range finish that had given Croatia the lead and had Toronto’s large Croatian contingent in full voice.
Ramos Seals It In Stoppage Time
Portugal needed a second moment of quality to actually win the game, and it came from Goncalo Ramos, who rose above a tiring Croatian back line to head home a stoppage-time winner. Croatia thought they had snatched a leveller of their own deep into second-half injury time when Josko Gvardiol prodded the ball home, but the goal was ruled out after replays showed Bruno Matanovic had flicked it on from an offside position moments earlier.
The disallowed goal capped a frustrating night for a Croatian side built around 40-year-old captain Luka Modric, who started and led the team in what was already a landmark occasion before a ball was kicked. Modric’s presence opposite Ronaldo, who turned 41 in February, meant Tuesday’s match in Toronto was the first in World Cup history to feature two outfield players both over 40 on the same pitch.
A Record Ronaldo Never Had
For all his individual scoring feats at club level and across five previous World Cups, Ronaldo had never before found the net once the group stage ended, a quirk that stood out increasingly as his career entered its twilight. Portugal were eliminated at the last 16 in 2018 and the quarter-finals in 2022 without a knockout goal from their captain, so Tuesday’s penalty carries symbolic weight beyond the three points. Ronaldo had also seen an earlier effort chalked off for offside, a dipping half-volley that replays suggested might have been one of the goals of the tournament had it stood.
Path Ahead
Portugal’s reward for surviving Croatia is a heavyweight last-16 meeting with an unbeaten Spain side that has not conceded a goal all tournament. Roberto Martinez’s team will need more from midfield than they showed for large stretches against Croatia, but with Ronaldo finally off the mark in the knockout stage and Ramos in form in front of goal, Portugal go into the next round with belief that this could be the run that finally delivers a first World Cup for the country’s greatest-ever player. Croatia, by contrast, exit the tournament with Modric’s international career almost certainly at its end, a quiet finish for a player who redefined what was possible for a midfielder in his late 30s and beyond.
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