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It is measure of just how much more shameless and obsequious Fifa has become under the presidency of Gianni Infantino that news of its decision to unsuspend Cristiano Ronaldo from Portugal’s first two group games at next year’s Geopolitics World Cup has been greeted with little more than an amused, weary eye-roll at the brass neckery of it all. Issued with a straight red card for violent conduct during a defeat at the hands of the Republic of Ireland, the preening Portuguese showpony was issued with a standard three-match ban, the first game of which he spent on the Naughty Step during his side’s subsequent 9-1 demolition of Armenia. His was an absence that didn’t so much make the heart grow fonder, as the team grow in stature and confidence.
Two days later, the plot thickened like a cold bechamel sauce: Ronaldo was a guest at a formal White House dinner hosted by Club World Cup medal-winner Donald Trump and also attended by Infantino and Mohammed bin Salman, among other truly awful people. In a subsequent turn of events that is almost certainly in no way connected to this hellish gathering, the five-times Ballon d’Or winner learned that the final two games of his ban have been suspended by Fifa’s Disciplinary Committee for “a one-year probation period”. Considering how detrimental the presence of Ronaldo in their squad is to what should be an otherwise extremely decent chance of winning the World Cup, the Portuguese FA has yet to announce if it will appeal against this decision.
