Cristiano Ronaldo bows out, ceding centre stage to Lionel Messi

'Decline is a prospect to fill Ronaldo with dread', writes Richard Jolly noting that the next chance Ronaldo will get on the globe's grandest footballing stage, he'll be 33.

Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal reacts during their 2-1 win over Ghana on Thursday at the 2014 World Cup in Brasilia, Brazil. Despite the win, Portugal were eliminated from the tournament, finishing third in Group G. Adam Pretty / Getty Images / June 26, 2014
Powered by automated translation

They exited the World Cup on the same day, one in disgrace, the other distraught. Brazil can bid farewell to Luis Suarez and Cristiano Ronaldo, the striker expelled from the Uruguay hotel as part of his four-month ban from football activity, as Fifa terms it, the winger eliminated even as his country claimed three points.
Ronaldo can scarcely have enjoyed a win less. This was a pyrrhic victory, a meaningless triumph, a success in name only. His 50th international goal brought more of a resigned look than a celebration. He greeted the final whistle with a frown. His trip across the Atlantic has been unrewarding.
Click here to visit The National's World Cup 2014 landing page
He was Portugal's rescuer against the United States, supplying the cross for Silvestre Varela's 95th-minute leveller. He was their match winner against Ghana but the task was too great. Portugal needed three points and for Germany to defeat the Americans. They also required a five-goal swing. It was rarely threatened even if Ronaldo, with typical persistence, had six efforts on target himself.
A dream died in slow motion. Spain crashed and burnt, their fate sealed within a week. Portugal made a similarly shocking start, but their agony was prolonged. The opening 4-0 defeat to Germany proved too heavy. Portugal's goal difference was beyond repair.
The focus will be on Ronaldo: he could have had a hat-trick and, indeed, spurned two good chances in the 10 minutes after his decider. Rather more blame should rest with Pepe, whose brainless red card condemned his teammates to playing the majority of the game against Germany with 10 men.
Talent has been undermined by indiscipline: it is the same story for Ghana, who expelled Sulley Muntari and Kevin-Prince Boateng from their camp. Their self-destructive streak was rather summed up by the hapless John Boye, who scored one own goal, slicing Miguel Veloso's cross into his own net, and came remarkably close to a similar second.
The surprise was that Ronaldo was not involved in the opener. The magic came from Joao Moutinho, with a display of trickery in the build-up. Otherwise, inevitably, much revolved around Ronaldo.
He struck the bar in the fifth minute with an effort of typical audacity. Had it been someone else, it might have been deemed a cross. Yet this was Ronaldo and he was clearing looking at the net as he arced his cross over Fatau Dauda.
It also served as a metaphor for Portugal's centre-forward problems; rather than even looking for Eder, the third striker to start in as many games, Ronaldo took the direct route.
A typical bombardment of the goal began from an acute angle. It continued when he hung in the air to meet Nani's cross. The force of Ronaldo's header sent Dauda flying into his own net.
Because of a point-blank block, the ball stayed out. Dauda provided one of this tournament's great celebrations, the difference being that the others have come from those who have scored, not stopped, goals.
Theirs made for an entertaining duel. Dauda was badly at fault, spilling Nani's cross, when Ronaldo scored. He was excellent otherwise, his eccentric acrobatics frustrating Portugal.
Ghana's mercurial brilliance was apparent in their equaliser, too, Kwadwo Asamoah providing his contender for best cross of the tournament with an outside-of-the-boot ball Asamoah Gyan headed in.
It brought a record for Gyan, the first African to score six World Cup goals. Ronaldo has three, a comparatively meagre return for a magnificent achiever.
His has been a World Cup career of diminishing returns: a semi-finalist in 2006, he made it to the last-16 in 2010. Now has come the group stage exit. It scarcely bodes well for Portugal's prospects in four years' time.
Nor, indeed, does the fact that Ronaldo will be 33 when world football reconvenes in Russia. His bronzed figure and his addiction to bling can camouflage his machine-like efficiency. He is still in his twenties but he has scored 425 goals in 683 games for club and country. There is only so long any player's frame can support such a workload before he slows down.
Decline is a prospect to fill Ronaldo with dread. Much like leaving a World Cup early and ceding centre stage to Lionel Messi and that is what he has had to do.
sports@thenational.ae
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE