We are nearly two weeks into the World Cup and Cristiano Ronaldo belatedly showed up. The 41-year-old became Portugal’s most prolific player of all-time at the World Cup with his ninth and 10th goals, surpassing the great Eusebio. The difference is it took Ronaldo six World Cups. Eusebio played only one, 60 years ago in 1966.Meanwhile in Boston, England huffed and puffed but could not blow Ghana away. They had 79 per cent of the ball, hit 19 shots, many of them in the final half-hour but couldn’t make a breakthrough. It was only the fourth 0-0 of an otherwise entertaining tournament in which we have probably been spoilt for goals.“Very important the highs don’t get too high and the lows don’t get too low,” Thomas Tuchel, England’s head coach, said. “It’s not a low, it’s a difficult match of football, that can happen at any time.”And in the final game of the day, Colombia sealed their spot in the knockout rounds with a hard-fought 1-0 win against DR Congo. Who do they have to fend off if they want to finish top of Group K? Only Ronaldo’s Portugal…Here is what happened on day 13…Group K: Portugal 5-0 Uzbekistan
Group L: England 0-0 Ghana
Group L: Panama 0-1 Croatia
Group K: Colombia 1-0 DR CongoAre World Cup stars stat-padding?“I’m back!” Cristiano Ronaldo defiantly announced. The criticism he seemed to address wasn’t about the perceived absence of someone ever-present, as he became the first man to score in six World Cups. It was more about questions such as: why is Ronaldo still around? Can he still do it without burdening this talented Portugal team?Two goals against Uzbekistan in a 5-0 win was Ronaldo’s answer. “Oh my God, this is what he does!” his former team-mate, friend and hype man Rio Ferdinand said from his Airbnb in LA. Scoring against a World Cup debutant, a team ranked 59th in the world and who couldn’t beat Oman less than a year ago.“You can’t give Ronaldo an inch,” Uzbekistan coach Fabio Cannavaro said. “Because if you do, you’re dead.” These were his first major tournament goals from open play in five years. Did he not get an inch in any of those games at the European Championship in Germany or the last World Cup in Qatar?Cristiano Ronaldo has now scored in six different World Cups (Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images)The expanded World Cup is a game of inches. The gaps, in some cases, are bigger than usual. Kylian Mbappe could have had a hat-trick against Iraq, as could Erling Haaland. Iraq is another nation proudly making its inaugural appearance in this competition. The squad flew to the United States a place below Uzbekistan in the FIFA rankings. Haiti is even lower and has not played on its own soil for nearly five years — its qualification for the first time since 1974 is remarkable. Brazil was too much for them, and Vinicius Junior was involved in all three goals in a 3-0 win.None of these teams have rolled over. They have honoured the shirt and provided us with some of the stories of the World Cup. Heroes have been made out of goalkeepers from Cape Verde and Curacao. But if Vozinha and Eloy Room did so against Spain and Ecuador, it was because of the mismatch, the pressure they came under. DR Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi stood firm against Colombia for 75 minutes until Daniel Munoz’s deflected effort.By the same token, if the stars came out to play last week and Ronaldo belatedly emerged from “a difficult, dark week” to take his place in the World Cup constellation, it’s because a 48-team tournament should allow for more stat-padding and flat-track bullying. Some also feel the Trionda ball is giving attackers an advantage.In the mixed zone after the Uzbekistan game, Ronaldo was asked about Lionel Messi. He dodged it. Next question. Perhaps because Messi’s five goals have come against teams ranked in the top 30.Is England’s weakness actually its defence?A lot was made of Harry Kane’s miss, the three touches he made in Ghana’s penalty area, how closely Thomas Partey man-marked him and England’s overall difficulty breaking down the low-block set up expertly by Ghana coach Carlos Queiroz. If the focus fell on the spluttering attack, what about the defence? A clean sheet was an improvement on Croatia, wasn’t it? “But you can never, never for one second open spaces for counter-attacks,” Thomas Tuchel insisted.While Nico O’Reilly hit the woodwork, Kane hit a field goal instead of an actual goal and Marc Guehi had a header cleared off the line, Ghana looked sporadically and worryingly dangerous in the second half in Boston.Harry Kane fires the ball over at Gillette Stadium (Reuters/Brian Snyder via Getty Images)Anthony Gordon let a ball drop, goal-side, to Marvin Senaya on the way into the England penalty area. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford later raced outside his box to confront Caleb Yirenkyi, one of those brave and foolish moments that could, on another day, have yielded a red card. To make matters more anxious, Ezri Konza then slid in on Prince Adu in the England penalty area without getting the ball.Many expected the referee to point to then spot. The linesman seemed to raise his flag instead. It was a let-off. This vulnerability, borne out of England’s desire to commit men forward and break the deadlock after going 56 minutes without a shot on goal, should give Tuchel some preoccupation even if, in Pickford’s opinion, “the lads’ defending” in the latter stages was “top drawer”.Croatia scored a couple of beauties against England, goals that are hard to defend. Except Jude Bellingham gave the ball away for Martin Baturina’s initial, ultimately futile equaliser. If recent World Cups have told us anything, you either need to play dull, Deschamps-style tournament ball, restricting opponents by making your own uber-talented team play with the utmost restraint, or you need your goalkeeper (Emiliano Martinez) to help win shoot-outs while Lionel Messi does the rest.If England are to make good on their potential this tournament, Tuchel surely has to tighten them up a little.Are ‘joke’ VAR concerns serious?Carlos Queiroz felt that the VAR “was on vacation” and “went for coffee” after two key incidents went against his Ghana team in the second half of its 0-0 draw with England.First, he was upset about the aforementioned Pickford collision with Prince Adu. Queiroz said in his post-match press conference that it was a “clear shock” and that Pickford “should have been sent off, there is no doubt about that”.Then, with just 12 minutes left, the Konsa incident was, in his opinion, a “clear penalty and red card”. The former England striker Wayne Rooney also said afterwards he believed this was a “penalty” and that Konsa took a “huge risk” as he “gets the man, not the ball”.Should this have been a penalty for Ghana against England? (Mattia Ozbot/Getty Images)Queiroz tried to make light of the situation afterwards with a series of jokes about the decision-making. “Is VAR still working in the World Cup?,” he asked. “Do we still have VAR? I have doubts about that.” He returned to the same theme afterwards, saying: “The VAR referee was on vacation second half apparently”.“Once again, the VAR went for coffee,” Queiroz continued afterwards. “I like to take my coffees once in a while! It’s a clear penalty and a red card (on Konsa). Do you have any doubts about that, or was it only me who was at the game?”At the end of the press conference, Queiroz appeared to apologise for his repeated jokes about the officiating. “I am sorry for my sarcasm,” he said, “but if I say this kind of thing seriously, they punish me. So I am joking.”He isn’t the only one to feel aggrieved. Algeria complained to FIFA after its 3-0 defeat to Argentina, believing Messi should have been sent off for a studs-up challenge on captain Aissa Mandi’s calf and Achilles tendon. Messi stayed on and the rest is literally history, as he scored his first ever World Cup hat-trick.What to know about Wednesday’s gamesEveryone thought Brazil’s attention span would be dominated by Neymar and his race to be fit in time for selection against Scotland. Instead Carlo Ancelotti continues to come under pressure to start Endrick.The memes have been out of control and Matheus Cunha’s impressive double against Haiti in Philadelphia did little to persuade fans online and back home that he is the man to lead the line for the gold and green.The Endrick obsession is something to behold. Scotland have never made the knockout stages of the World Cup and the atmosphere in Miami Gardens could top what we have seen from the Tartan Army in Boston.Groups A, B and C will also wrap up as we enter the final round before the knockouts begin. Of the co-hosts in action, Mexico have already won their group. They play the Czechs. My colleague Josh Kloke is billing Canada-Switzerland as the biggest game in the history of the men’s national team. And here’s why.Will Jesse Marsch get on better with Murat Yakin than he did with Julen Lopetegui? Might more handshakes be angrily pulled away from? It’s almost time to find out.Today’s gamesGroup B: Switzerland v Canada
