Inside the home of Houston’s world-famous rodeo, Cristiano Ronaldo enters the last-chance saloon. His sixth World Cup finals tournament will, with no little thanks to Fifa’s munificence, begin on Wednesday against the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and one of international football’s longest-running soap operas begins winding towards its denouement. Portugal have rarely looked better equipped to grant him the crowning achievement of his career and the question, as ever, concerns who is carrying whom.
One assumption seems reasonable: Ronaldo could wield a huge influence over the trophy’s ultimate destination. It remains to be seen whether that is channelled positively. Portugal can field arguably the best first-choice midfield in the tournament this summer, an experienced defence and an admirable array of wide forwards. At the heart of their attack stands, depending on your perspective, either a free-scoring icon primed to fire them all the way or a 41-year-old passenger whose presence sucks an otherwise fluent team into an inescapable void.
