Six days after grinding out a flat opening draw, Portugal arrived in Houston looking transformed, taking Uzbekistan apart 5-0 to move within touching distance of the knockout rounds. The man at the centre of it, as ever, was Cristiano Ronaldo, whose pair of first-half finishes carried him to a record no player had previously held.
Ronaldo needed only six minutes to settle any nerves, sweeping home João Cancelo's low cutback at the near post with a sharp first-time strike. The goal alone wrote him into the history books: at 41, he became the only footballer to find the net across six different World Cup editions, a run beginning in Germany in 2006 and now reaching North America as per ESPN. It was also his first goal at a World Cup or European Championship since the 2022 finals, snapping a barren stretch at major tournaments.
