It didn’t take lengthy for Cristiano Ronaldo to place the FIFA World Cup 2022 disappointment behind him. Back as a starter with Portugal’s nationwide group, Ronaldo turned the most-capped participant in males’s worldwide soccer on Thursday, scoring twice in a 4-0 rout of Liechtenstein in 2024 European Championship qualifying. The sport marked the debut of coach Roberto Martínez with Portugal.
Ronaldo transformed a penalty kick and scored off a free kick whereas making his 197th look with the nationwide group. He had tied Kuwait’s Bader Al-Mutawa with 196 caps after coming off the bench in Portugal’s loss to Morocco within the quarterfinals of the World Cup final 12 months.
Ronaldo was benched within the knockout rounds in Qatar and left the sector in tears after the defeat to Morocco. He had mentioned his return to the nationwide group was unsure after the World Cup, however ultimately determined it was not time “to throw in the towel.”
“To be in the national team, you have to be committed,” Martínez mentioned of Ronaldo. “It’s a new cycle. It is very important that a player shows commitment and that he can use his experience. Cristiano has that: A lot of experience and a lot of commitment to the national team.”
The 38-year-old Ronaldo can be the all-time scoring chief in males’s soccer and took his tally to 120 objectives after scoring together with his penalty kick within the 51st and a strong free kick from simply outdoors the world within the 63rd.
Portugal dominated from the beginning on the José Alvalade Stadium, and João Cancelo opened the scoring within the eighth minute. He additionally arrange Bernardo Silva’s close-range objective within the forty seventh and the penalty that Ronaldo transformed for the third objective. Ronaldo obtained a standing ovation after being substituted by Gonçalo Ramos within the 78th.
___197 instances within the colors of Portugal! @Cristiano Ronaldo breaks the boys’s worldwide cap document _ pic.twitter.com/WDq3Qt6Nv5
— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) March 23, 2023
He had develop into Europe’s most-capped participant in 2021 after surpassing Sergio Ramos’ mark of 180 appearances with Spain. Martínez arrived pledging to respect Ronaldo’s historical past and mentioned he nonetheless counts on Ronaldo. He made the ahead certainly one of his captains coming into qualifying for Euro 2024.
Martínez changed former Portugal coach Fernando Santos after ending his six-year stint with Belgium following the World Cup. “The result is very important,” Martínez mentioned. “It was an opportunity for me to get to know the players, the way we can get the best out of the players’ qualities. I get the attitude and the will to work. I am very proud of the result.”
Portugal remained unbeaten in eight matches towards Liechtenstein, with seven wins and a draw. Portugal has received every of its final 5 Euro qualifying matches towards Liechtenstein, all with out conceding a objective and whereas scoring 32 instances.
Portugal’s qualifying group additionally contains Luxembourg, Iceland, Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Its subsequent match is at Luxembourg on Sunday. The prime two nations from every of the ten teams qualify for the ultimate match in Germany.
