World Cup without the best player is gonna be like a garden without the rose.
While Egypt’s Mohammad Salah is almost there, spectators crave for one player with that elusive freekick taking style or his ‘siuu’ goal celebrations that can never be emulated.
The dream of Cristiano Ronaldo playing his final World Cup match in Qatar is still alive. But that is only if Portugal can beat an unheard team called North Macedonia ranked 65th in the world.
Macedonia is so alien, am not sure if they have South on their map.
Portugal missed out on automatic qualification after their 2-1 loss to Serbia last November in Porto where a draw was enough.
Tonite’s world cup decider is gonna be another nerve-wracking one.
PORTUGAL'S LIKELY SQUAD
A star-studded Portugal can boast of decorated players such as Rui Patrício (goalkeeper – Roma), Nuno Mendes (defender – PSG), Raphael Guerreiro (defender – Borussia Dortmund), Diogo Dalot (defender – Man-U), João Cancelo (defender – Man City), Pepe (defender – Porto), João Moutinho (midfielder – Premier League), Bernardo Silva (midfielder – Man City), Bruno Fernandes (midfielder – Man-U), Danilo Pereira (midfielder – PSG), Diogo Jota (striker – Liverpool), João Félix (Atletic Madrid), Cristiano Ronaldo (Man-U), etc.
The quality of the team indicates they will be a force to be reckoned in Qatar.
Top it all, Portugal has a dynamic coach in Fernando Santos since 2014 who keeps shielding his neck in-and-out like a turtle.
Macedonia’s best-known player is jersey # 10 - Enis Bardhi (midfielder) playing in the Spanish League.
Portugal has so many attacking options, it doesn’t matter who scores as long as the team wins. But am sure it will be none other than Ronaldo.
And Cristiano Ronaldo has a habit of writing his own screenplay on important occasions. Winning a World Cup at the age of 37 could be a fitting end to his rivalry with Messi. With that, we will know which of the two - no.7 or No.10 jerseys would be more iconic of our era.
And sadly after the World Cup, we will have two less contenders to debate on who is the greatest of all time.