Cristiano Ronaldo continues to shine at the 2018 World Cup. After his opening game three-goal masterpiece and epic performance, Ronaldo scored the only goal in a 1-0 win for Portugal against Morocco on Wednesday. One of the most famous soccer players in the world proved why he's so valuable as in the fourth minute he soared past Europe's all-time leading scorer— Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas— to get international goal No. 85 and the game-winner in a contest that had great stakes.
Praise is flooding in for Ronaldo after Portugal's victory over Morocco and with good reason. A win meant moved Portugal four points ahead and to the top of Group B, while defeating Morocco meant an early exit for the North African team in their first World Cup appearance since 1998.
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After witnessing Ronaldo's hat-trick against Spain, Morocco coach Herve Renard even opted to deploy his players in a way that might limit the great Ronaldo's effectiveness. It didn't make a difference. Within minutes of the start of the match, Ronaldo broke loose from coverage by Manuel Da Costa to make a beautiful header past goalkeeper Monir El Kajoui.
This is a tournament where Ronaldo continues to impress and outshine his past World Cup performances by miles. He's scored with his right, left foot and head, he's scored off a penalty and direct free-kick, he's scored from inside and outside the box and he's the oldest player in World Cup history to ever score a hat-trick. He's done all of this in two games.
One of the most successful Irish footballers of all time, Roy Keane said of the debate between Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, “There’s been great debate over the last few years with him (Ronaldo) and Messi but over the last six months I think he has gone onto another level. I think he’s out there on his own, the way he’s started the World Cup and the way he finished last season.”
Ronaldo leads the World Cup with four goals, followed by Denis Cheryshev and Deigo Costa with three goals and Romelu Lukaku, Harry Kane and Artem Dzyuba with two. He is now trailing only Iran's Ali Daei who sits atop the international goalscorers list with 109.