TEARS FLOW AS CR7 BEGINS THE LONG TRUDGE BACK INTO THE TUNNEL
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that for most Goans the World Cup came to end on Saturday after their beloved Portugal came to grief at the hands of doughty Morocco in the quarterfinals.
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A lone goal by to Youssef En-Nesyri in the 42nd minute led to almost an hour of anxiety and frustration as Portugal piled on the pressure in the second half to no avail. Even after bringing on their talisman Cristiano Ronaldo, who broke the all time men’s international appearance with 196 caps.
At the end of it all, after the North Africans held out heroically despite an added-time expulsion, it was another record that eclipsed CR7’s imposing individual mark. Morocco became the first-ever African nation to make the World Cup semi-finals.
As Walid Regragui’s men celebrated, some of his charges graciously reached out to greet Ronaldo, the downcast Portuguese megastar who walked to the tunnel, dismayed, disconsolate and devastated.
After all his World Cup dreams lay in tatters. At 37, it’s unlikely the legend will grace the stage four years from now in North America. He left the scene on his likely swansong probably galled by his failure to make the starting eleven in two successive matches including the ill-fated quarterfinal.
But Portugal and their multitude of fans can wake up after the hangover of defeat on the morrow and look towards a new beginning post-CR7. With a few stars emerging – the 21-year-old hat-trick hero of the RO16 match against Switzerland Goncalo Ramos and the effervescent Bruno Fernandes to name two – Portugal can kick-start a whole new campaign to win the elusive title four years from now.
That’s going to count for little or no consolation for the moment as reality sinks in. Sorrow for most Portugal fans has been compounded by Ronaldo’s struggles with himself and the team with the Manchester United standoff in the background.
The fervent hope and prayer of Portugal’s loyalists was that CR7 would fight the demons and lift his side to glory in Qatar, thereby crowning his place in the pantheon of greats with football’s highest team accolade.
That, alas, will never be. And the tears welling up are flowing in torrents.
