 |
| The Time is now for Christiano Ronaldo |
Cristiano Ronaldo has sat patiently, and maybe angrily, in the shadows of his natural La Liga rival, Lionel Messi for three straight years now. The Fifa Player of the Year Award, now the Ballon d'Or and an award of Ronaldo's in '08, has gone to Messi again and again and again. He's watched Messi amass 72 goals this year, clean out the record books and wow even the not-so-fond-of-soccer United States. Ronaldo has pretty much watched the Argentinian steal away all the spotlight and praise that should be directed his way. But there is one way the Portuguese superstar can rediscover his limelight and that starts on Wednesday vs. Spain.
It may just be that perfect time for Ronaldo and his Portugal side to sneak up on the likes of Germany, Spain and Italy, win the Euro and put an official "champion stamp" in his soccer passport. Ronaldo is at the point in his career where he is finding a perfect mix between youthful ingenuity and veteran craftiness, or as some people like to call it, he's entering his prime. We all know that the 27-year-old can shred the twine with blistering free kicks, that has been his M.O. since day one, but there has always been something missing with Ronaldo. Some believe that he lacks a certain mental toughness that denies him the competency to push the giants of international soccer. It also may be true that Christiano has felt a bit slighted by his inferior Portuguese teammates who don't surround him like the Germans surround Schweinsteiger or the Spanish surround Iniesta and Xavi. But as we've seen so far in this tournament, Ronaldo has stopped feeling sorry for himself and has instead been the player Portugal has asked him to be for nine years now.
Portugal wasn't even supposed to pass through the Group of Death. Germany and Netherlands were far superior squads containing the firepower and experience that would oust both Denmark and Portugal with relative ease. The Portuguese attacking midfielder may have been the best player in the group, yet there was no way one single player was going to power anyone through to the next round, certainly not in this group. But Ronaldo was poised to sour that notion.
With Portugal somehow in the driver's seat to place second in the group after defeating Denmark(but losing to Germany like everyone else) they still needed to beat the Netherlands, who were surprisingly fighting desperately to pass through. Early in that game, 11 minutes in to be exact, Van Der Vaart tattooed a swirling shot into the bottom corner, almost certainly ending Portugal's dreams of pushing through to the knockout stages. The game wasn't officially over, but no one in their right mind believed that Portugal was going to stage any type of comeback, well no one named Christiano Ronaldo.
In the 28th minute Ronaldo changed the whole atmosphere of the group, and possibly even the tournament. He took a disgustingly perfect ball from Joao Pereira, applied a harmonious touch on the ball and buried it in the back of the net. As he slowly made his jaunt toward the sideline, he simply raised a finger in the air emotionless. There was this sort of "It's my time," look on his face and you could just sense the confidence oozing out of him. He summoned his teammates over for a group hug, told them to get him the ball and let him work his magic. After trying time and time again to get his teammates to score by feeding them perfect balls, Ronaldo realized that it was his time to score. As the clock ticked on toward the 75th minute, Christiano went on a furious run down the left flank as Nani bolted down the right side with the ball, then right before the two reached the box, Nani fed Ronaldo with the through ball of his lifetime. As Ronaldo met the ball, he made the sort of stop-and-turn that makes defenders wilt and that's just what Dutch back Gregory van der Wiel did. This was the kind of moment that would make the average player melt with excitement, the pressure of scoring one of the biggest goals in a country's history would have them force a shot right into the goalie's mitts. But not Christiano Ronaldo. The superstar left both van der Wiel and goalie Maarten Stekelenburg in the seats with the rest of the fans watching a master manufacture his craft. The finish was an afterthought, Portugal was moving on.
Ronaldo went on to score on a deft header in the 79th minute of the quarterfinal matchup against the Czech Republic to push Portugal onto a much anticipated semi-final matchup with Spain. Answering the challenge against the Netherlands was part one of what could be a career-defining tournament for the superstar. Beating Spain would almost feel like the precipice for Ronaldo, despite it not being the Euro 2012 Final. It's sort of ironic that for Christiano to put his first major stamp on the international stage, he must beat five of his Real Madrid teammates, and seven of his most bitter rivals. I think Ronaldo's up to the challenge. He has carried his home country this far, why can't he bring them back to the spot where he got his first taste of international disappointment? It's been eight years since Greece shockingly left him in tears on his home pitch in the Euro 2004 final, and in those eight years we've seen Ronaldo grow up from a highly talented teenager into a full-blown leader. He's no longer the pretty boy obsessed with women or engrossed in hype. Real Madrid was a winner in La Liga for the first time since 2008 thanks to him, I don't see why he can't do the same for Portugal.
It's now time for Ronaldo to make the transformation from leader into legend and it starts on Wednesday.
0 comments:
Post a Comment