Neither Cristiano Ronaldo nor Lionel Messi will lift the World Cup in the Luzhniki Stadium on July 15 after Portugal and Argentina were eliminated in the round of 16 on Saturday. The two greatest players in the game's history are destined to retire from international football without its most valuable prize because it would be a Herculean task for Ronaldo, 33, and Messi, 31, to go all the way at Qatar 2022.
Although the World Cup in Russia has lost its two most glittering names, some people might be relieved that the event would henceforth be more about teams than individuals. Uruguay and France, the teams that sent Portugal and Argentina home respectively, thoroughly deserved their win. In other words, the fans of Ronaldo and Messi have nothing to complain about except to bemoan the failure of their heroes to lead from the front.
Ronaldo and Messi would not be proud to look back at their World Cup record because the Portuguese has no goals in 514 minutes in knockout games while Messi could not score a goal in 756 minutes of knockout action. That the two legends who have won the world player of the year award five times each in the last 10 years could not rise to the occasion in the World Cup certainly dents their claims to sit alongside Pele, Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane in the pantheon of football immortals.
Nailing the World Cup with your country's limited team will always be a greater achievement than winning everything in club football with expensive squads comprising world's best players picked from different countries. Ronaldo and Messi would know that.
There is no doubt that the World Cup here has lost a bit of sheen after the exit of the two mega stars, but the show must go on because the trophy on July 15 will be given to the best team, not to the best player.
