DBasia.news – The Portugal national team will continue to rely on Cristiano Ronaldo for the 2022 World Cup. Having a 37-year-old player is like a double-edged sword.
Ronaldo’s quality certainly does not need to be doubted. He is considered one of the best footballers of all time.
His mentality and experience have also been tested. He has led the Portugal national team for more than a decade.
But it is undeniable, Ronaldo’s performance has begun to decline with age. CR7 has even lost his place in Manchester United’s main squad.
Constantly relying on Ronaldo also makes Portugal’s game scheme easy for potential opponents to anticipate. The chances for Fernando Santos’ team to win the 2022 World Cup have become relatively tough.
The Ronaldo-centric polemic was not denied by the Portuguese player, Danilo Pereira. But he believes his team still deserves to be placed as a champion candidate.
“It’s normal that there is this (Ronaldo-centric) talk because people think we are playing for Cristiano. But that’s not the case, because we play to win the game,” said Danilo Pereira as quoted by the Daily Mail.
“There will be criticism because Cristiano is a player who sells. He is a player who is talked about every day.”
Pereira was not surprised by the fact that Ronaldo has always been in the spotlight when the Portugal national team competed. Even though Selecao das Quinas still has other stars who are just as qualified.
The Portuguese players are considered to have accepted these conditions. They are even ready to provide support for Ronaldo to perform optimally at the 2022 World Cup.
“Even if Ronaldo is bad or good, people will talk. It’s normal for Cristiano who is the best player to get more attention than others,” he added.
“We will give him the ball more. We will try to get him to score and he will demand that too.”