Ronaldo scores in six World Cups, Colombia advances, Panama eliminated

Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in Houston on Tuesday, lifting Portugal to a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan and becoming the first player to score in six different World Cups. The 40-year-old forward added another record to a tournament career that already defined Portugal’s attack, with the latest goals coming in Group K at the 2026 World Cup.

The performance underlined Portugal’s familiar formula: give Ronaldo enough service, and his finishing can still bend a match to his will. FIFA and Reuters both marked the milestone as a first, and the result gave Portugal another emphatic group-stage statement in a tournament where margin for error is shrinking by the day. In a World Cup spread across the United States, Mexico and Canada, Houston became the stage for a reminder that individual brilliance can still decide headlines.

Colombia offered a different model a day later, one built less on star power than on control and efficiency. Daniel Muñoz scored in the 76th minute on Wednesday to give Colombia a 1-0 victory over the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a result that secured a place in the round of 32 with a match to spare. The win moved Colombia to six points from two games and back to the top of Group K, turning steady results into an early knockout-stage berth.

That contrast gives Group K a sharp edge: Portugal have leaned on the singular force of Ronaldo, while Colombia have advanced through balance, structure and late execution. Colombia did not need a flurry of goals to keep pace. Muñoz’s finish was enough, and the result kept them among the first teams to lock up a place in the next round.

Panama, meanwhile, ran out of room. A 1-0 loss to Croatia eliminated Panama from the tournament, leaving no path to recover in the group. As Ronaldo keeps stretching the limits of individual achievement, Colombia’s progression and Panama’s exit have sharpened the larger question this World Cup keeps posing: when the stakes rise and the games tighten, does a team built around one unavoidable star hold up better than one built on collective consistency?