[ad_1]
SportsPulse: Fox Sports's Alexi Lalas breaks down the most intriguing intrigues entering the weekend and looks up to where Ronaldo, Messi and Mexico can go.
United States TODAY HUI Sports
Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the match of the 16th FIFA World Cup Russia, between Uruguay and Portugal. (Photo: Francois Nel, Getty Images
MOSCOW – The Cristiano Ronaldo World Cup ended Saturday in Sochi with a loss of control, a big word shouted in the face of the referee and the
A few hours earlier, in Kazan, Lionel Messi 's campaign was coming to an end, with a nod, confusion over where everything is going to be. was badly spent, and the unusual feeling of not being good enough for a time
their attempt to win the big, the biggest prize of the sport, stop … Not only for this year, but probably for a long time
Each of them has had a career that is dreaming, with richness and celebrity (one embraces, the other tolerates), and trophy cabinets loaded with sparkling chalices, which testify to their brilliance
Take the L: Antoine Griezmann celebrates the e goal with the Fortnite dance
Last great?: Messi comes back to life when a new star appears
Learn more more: Why Cristiano Ronaldo is the most arrogant athlete of sport
Yet everyone reserved a space in the cabinet and his heart, for the World Cup, and it will surely now be a hole that remains unsatisfied. No one will feel too sorry for them because it's a kind of unique sting that mere sports mortals never experience.
Players who have found fame at every turn, be it in football or any other discipline, have an inherent sense of believing that they can do anything, that no task or purpose or fulfillment does not exceed them. That's what makes them great and keeps them running despite the fact that they're already the best, but that's also what makes days like this hurt.
For Ronaldo and Messi, Each France was too deep, too strong, too focused and fearless and ultimately resilient for Argentina, even after Messi enjoyed a small fortune when his goal effort deviated Gabriel Mercado to give the team advance.
Ronaldo's Portugal could have been the reigning European champion. However, he had holes and softness in various positions and found that the perfect record of Uruguay during the group stage was not an accident. No goal for Ronaldo, which means that he has never scored in the knockout round at a World Cup, and even if he has another chance, he does not will not be up to 37 years old.
Curiously, Messi shares the same went further in the tournament, reaching the final in 2014 and being named the best player of this event.
He was not the best player of the game on Saturday, excellently outclassing Kylian, a 19-year-old Frenchman. Mbappe, who won an early penalty, scored two goals to seal a 4-3 triumph and a place in the quarter-finals.
Ronaldo also found a high-level opponent, Edinson Cavani pulling both goals from Uruguay through a well. -timated head to finish an excellent move, then a wonderful curling effort in the second half, before screwing up wounded.
Ronaldo lost not only the game but also his cool. In the 90th minute, he continued on one of his glittering runs and threatened danger, only to slice a wild effort comically wide of the target after he stepped aside on the side of his foot. Then he was bawling in the face of the official, unfairly as it turned out that Ricardo Quaresma did not deserve the free kick required by Ronaldo, after diving in the midst of rare contacts. The yellow card received by Ronaldo meant that he would have missed the quarterfinals anyway, even if a miracle had occurred.
This was not the case and Messi either, despite a fine end of the match that Sergio Aguero agreed to add at least some tension at the last moments. Too little, too late.
And too late for both when it comes to world cups. They each had four cracks now, and Argentina in 2014 apart, never got along with the touching distance.
This is not a criticism or particularly a failure, even given the remarkably high standards that they set for themselves. Countless great players have never won the World Cup, and they have lived with him.
It's just a void, and a kind of weirdness. Since it is so rare that we find two big names at the same time, so it seems strange that none of them can hoist this elusive trophy. It's as good. While the World Cup embraces the power of the stars, it does not depend on it. Ronaldo and Messi will miss the event, but not too much.
It is a pain that they will carry with them because their ego, even that of Messi, claims it. If they were the type to be content to be short, never, they would not be the Ronaldo and Messi we know.
Source link
