Ronaldo credits Portugal teammates after World Cup milestone goals

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in Portugal’s 5-0 win over Uzbekistan in Houston and then moved quickly to share the credit with his teammates. The 40-year-old captain was named FIFA’s Player of the Match after a performance that pushed him into another layer of World Cup history.

Ronaldo became the first player to score in six different editions of the FIFA World Cup, and his two goals lifted his tournament total to 10, one more than Eusébio for Portugal’s all-time World Cup lead. FIFA also said Ronaldo became the second-oldest scorer in World Cup history, behind Roger Milla, while UEFA confirmed he now has 145 international goals for Portugal, the world record.

The numbers again put Ronaldo at the center of Portugal’s biggest moments, even as his public message pointed in the opposite direction. After Portugal’s opening 1-1 draw with the Republic of the Congo had exposed how difficult the group stage could become, Ronaldo called the Uzbekistan victory an “actuación sufrida,” a hard-fought performance, and stressed that the recognition belonged to the entire squad. The message fit the way Portugal played in Houston: the team controlled the first half, stayed organized, and then saw Ronaldo finish the job.

That tension between collective resilience and individual gravity has defined much of Portugal’s run under Roberto Martínez. Ronaldo remains the captain and the decisive reference point, but the 5-0 scoreline also reflected a side able to support him more efficiently than in the opener. Against Uzbekistan, the team did not simply survive around its star; it created the platform that let his finishing become another statistical milestone.

For Portugal, that balance is now the central question. Ronaldo’s records continue to expand, from 10 World Cup goals to 145 for his country, but his insistence on team-first language suggests the next phase will depend less on a single forward carrying the load and more on whether Portugal can keep turning difficult matches into controlled ones with Ronaldo still finishing them.