Goonersworld

ChVint22 wrote:I saw the incident and I don't think it hit the camera. Unless it was something different.

Fabrestuta wrote:

ChVint22 wrote:I saw the incident and I don't think it hit the camera. Unless it was something different.

Doesn't matter, if someone took a swing at you and missed you still wouldn't be too happy about it.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa – With Portugal’s comeback hopes against Spain fading quickly, Cristiano Ronaldo – its captain, star and supposed savior – found himself with just enough space to attempt a long, 30-yard shot.

Spain led 1-0 and while it wasn’t a prime scoring chance, here deep into the desperate 89th minute, with Portuguese scoring opportunities scarce, it was at least something.
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So here was the highest-paid player in the world ($17.1 million a year). Here was the hero of one of the world’s biggest clubs, Real Madrid. Here was the focus of television ads and magazine covers.

And here came a shot that was mostly muffed, pathetically skidding slow and wide of the net.

Soon came boos and whistles and screams of anger from the Portuguese faithful. Ronaldo continued to wear a look of deep frustration and minutes later when the game was done and Spain had won, he walked solemnly off the pitch. With a camera in his face he spit at the ground. He stopped to speak to no one on either team, skipped the traditional postgame jersey trade and just hustled to the tunnel.

Just like that, just like Portugal’s World Cup hopes, Cristiano Ronaldo, the Invisible Man, was gone.

There was no shame in losing to this tremendous Spanish side. They entered this tournament as the favorite having ceded no position heading into a quarterfinal game with Paraguay on Saturday.

“I think Spain’s victory is justified,” Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz said.

The performance of Ronaldo is a different issue and will be sure to dominate discussion in Portugal.

It’s one thing to lose. It’s another to lose with your best player appearing so disinterested and distrustful. Ronaldo was seemingly born for a moment like this, the chance to allow his own ability to deliver a dramatic victory on the game’s grandest stage. Instead, there was little sense of urgency. It wasn’t until the 16th minute that he had a significant possession. In what should’ve been the furious second half, that meager miss was his only shot.

For Ronaldo, the expectations are different, the demands greater. Talent has delivered him riches and fame. It also brings pressure and responsibility.

In four World Cup games in South Africa, his brilliance came out in bits. While he kept being named “FIFA Man of the Match,” he was sheepish in accepting the award. That honor is voted online by fans worldwide, which means it can break down into a popularity contest.

He spent far too much time rejecting the team concept, instead resorting to public pouts and referee complaints.

For his great ability, Ronaldo again struggled to engage his teammates. If he wasn’t going to produce some individual genius to carry Portugal, then he needed to lift his teammates to heights they didn’t believe possible. He needed to lead this team. Somehow. Some way.

When he didn’t, when what appeared to be a heartless, defeated effort was over, those fans let him have it.

The first press conference question for Queiroz, the Portugal coach, was whether he regretted naming Ronaldo the captain of the team and not choosing someone with better leadership skills.

“That question is out of order I must say,” Queiroz declared.

In most circumstances it would be out of order. The consensus is that Ronaldo is one of the top two players in the world (along with Argentina’s Lionel Messi). Who else was going to be the captain?

Then again, after watching Ronaldo, it was a question in perfect order.

“We believed that he can do it,” Queiroz said. “He is our leader, our captain. This is a decision that belongs to the federation and our national team coach. Because we did that you must believe we did it for the right reasons and he can do it.”

Only he didn’t.

On his club team, Real Madrid, Ronaldo is a better team player. The theory goes that, while surrounded by some of the best players on the planet, he is more confident in giving up the ball or helping set up a teammate for a scoring chance. On Portugal, where he is clearly the brightest star, that confidence appears to fade.

For Portugal, this felt like a wasted opportunity to do something special. The Portuguese are no weak sister. They made the semifinals in 2006. Yet there needs to be great fortune for a nation of just 10 million to make a run at a World Cup, certainly when Brazil (population: 193 million), Germany (81 million) and Spain (47 million) and Argentina (40 million) are on their games.

That good fortune is having one of the best players in the world on your side, something Portugal just can’t count on happening every time.

Right now is when they have Cristiano Ronaldo, who all the hype says was capable of making magic. So it is right now when Portugal fans traveled to the end of the continent to see their great player lead them.

Instead, he walked silently into the tunnel with his countrymen’s boos falling all about him.

TheLittleMozart wrote:I don't he he actually spit at the camera to be honest.
He certainly spits downwards towards the camera but i dont think by any means he was trying to aim for the thing, simply to show his disgust at his team loosing to Spain in the World Cup.

Popey wrote:

TheLittleMozart wrote:I don't he he actually spit at the camera to be honest.
He certainly spits downwards towards the camera but i dont think by any means he was trying to aim for the thing, simply to show his disgust at his team loosing to Spain in the World Cup.

agree!