Cristiano Ronaldo Shines as Portugal Dominates Uzbekistan 5-0

Cristiano Ronaldo roared back into the World Cup spotlight with a ruthless brace as Portugal tore Uzbekistan apart 5-0, on a day when England stalled, Croatia clung on and Colombia quietly punched their ticket to the knockouts.

Day 13 of World Cup 2026 ended with the second round of group games complete. The tournament, though, feels like it just caught fire.

Ronaldo’s statement night

The criticism had been loud. Too old. Too static. Holding Portugal back. Roberto Martinez ignored it all and kept Cristiano Ronaldo in his starting XI.

Six minutes later, the decision looked like the easiest call in football.

Joao Cancelo slid a pass into the box, Ronaldo spun sharply and drilled his finish inside the near post. One touch to control, one to announce himself. With that strike, he became the first player to score in six World Cups – another line in a record book already written in his handwriting.

The goal settled Portugal. It also set the tone.

When Portugal won a free-kick on 17 minutes, everyone in the Estadio looked at Ronaldo. Uzbekistan’s wall did too. Instead, he ran over the ball and left it to Nuno Mendes, who whipped a low shot from the edge of the box into the corner. A clever decoy, a team-first moment from a man often accused of the opposite.

By the 39th minute, the contest was done. Bruno Fernandes clipped a perfectly weighted pass into space and Ronaldo did what he has done for two decades: timed the run, trusted the touch, buried the chance. Clinical, inevitable, brutal.

An Uzbekistan own goal on the hour mark deepened the damage, before Rafael Leao added a late fifth in the 87th minute to complete the rout and underline the gulf in class.

At full-time, Ronaldo marched straight to a TV camera and delivered his message: “I’m back, I’m back.”

He is now Portugal’s all-time top scorer at World Cups, moving past the legendary Eusebio. The numbers keep coming, but his own focus stayed on the collective.

“I’m very happy but, for me, the most important thing is our work and the confidence we showed,” he said. “Obviously personal records are always nice but my goal is always to help the team achieve its objectives.”

On this evidence, Portugal’s objectives just got a lot more believable.

Colombia edge through, Mpasi resists

In the other Group K fixture, Colombia had to work far harder for their 1-0 win over DR Congo in Guadalajara.

For 76 minutes, Lionel Mpasi turned the match into a personal duel with Colombia’s attack. He dived, smothered, clawed shots away, and frustrated a side that had already secured their place in the round of 32.

The pressure finally told. Daniel Munoz arrived with 14 minutes left, breaking the stalemate and finally beating Mpasi to give Colombia a narrow but deserved victory. No flourish, no spectacle – just a hard, important win that keeps their momentum intact and confirms their progress from Group K.

England stall, Ghana stand firm

If Portugal’s display was a statement, England’s was a shrug.

Thomas Tuchel’s side, still glowing from a wild 4-2 win over Croatia less than a week ago, laboured to a goalless draw against Ghana in Group L. The game began with a crackle of tension as boos rang out for Thomas Partey, who is set to stand trial next year for rape and sexual assault, charges he denies. The noise faded; the football never really replaced it.

Ghana have been one of the most disciplined defensive units at this World Cup, and they showed why. England had the ball, but not the ideas. The first half ended without a single shot on target from either side, a damning statistic for a game featuring this much attacking talent.

Tuchel shuffled the pack. The tempo rose. Still, Ghana held.

Substitute Nico O’Reilly came closest, his header crashing against the bar. Then, with four minutes left, Harry Kane finally found space in the box – and lashed England’s best chance over. A familiar captain, an unfamiliar waste.

“Yeah, it’s one of those games, a difficult team to break down and obviously we had loads of possession of the ball,” Kane told the BBC. “Probably the last 15 minutes of both halves we were at our best and had some chances, I had a good chance and hit the bar with Nico [O’Reilly] as well.

“Look, we wanted the win but we take the point and we’re still in a great position in the group.”

The match carried a sub-plot too: cameras appeared to catch Djed Spence snubbing Partey in the pre-match handshakes, adding another layer to an already charged evening.

England leave with a point and control of their destiny, but the swagger from that Croatia win has faded. The final group game will reveal if this was a blip or a warning.

Modric hits 200 as Croatia cling on

While England huffed and puffed, Croatia simply survived.

At BMO Field, Ante Budimir’s 54th-minute goal gave them a narrow 1-0 victory over Panama in Group L – a result that keeps their World Cup alive and officially ends Panama’s.

The night, though, belonged to Luka Modric.

The 38-year-old collected his 200th cap for Croatia, becoming only the fourth player in history to reach that milestone. He did not treat it as a ceremonial lap. Modric, as ever, knitted the game together, spraying passes, dictating rhythm, dragging his team up the pitch when the legs around him began to tire.

Panama battled, but once Budimir struck, they never quite looked like denying Modric a win on his landmark night. Croatia stay in the race for the round of 32. Modric, impossibly, stays central to everything.

Who’s in, who’s out – and what comes next

With the second round of group games complete, the bracket is starting to take shape.

• Already qualified for the round of 32:
• • Mexico (Group A)
  • United States (Group D)
  • Germany (Group E)
  • France (Group I)
  • Norway (Group I)
  • Argentina (Group J)
  • Colombia (Group K)
• Already eliminated:
• • Haiti (Group C)
  • Turkey (Group D)
  • Tunisia (Group F)
  • Jordan (Group J)
  • Panama (Group L)

Twelve teams from Groups A to C will discover their fate on Day 14. The equation is simple, the margins anything but.

The top two in each group go through automatically. They are joined by the eight best third-placed sides. Head-to-head records come first when teams are level on points, then goal difference, then goals scored. If that still doesn’t separate them, the fair play score – based on yellow and red cards – decides who advances. Fewer cards, better score, bigger prize.

One rash tackle, one needless booking, could yet end a World Cup dream.

Trump to hand over the trophy

Away from the pitch, FIFA confirmed the image that will close this World Cup.

US President Donald Trump will present the trophy to the winners on 19 July, sharing the stage – and the silverware – with FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

“We will be together with the president [Trump] enjoying the final and handing the trophy to the winner, of course, together,” Infantino told Fox & Friends. “We are together all the time.”

Trump has been here before. Last year he co-presented the Club World Cup trophy with Infantino, only to linger awkwardly on stage and drift into Chelsea’s celebrations, leaving players bemused and the internet amused. This time, the stakes – and the scrutiny – will be far higher.

Vikings on the march

One team that won’t care who hands them the trophy, as long as they get it, is Norway.

They sealed their place in the knockout rounds and marked the moment in unmistakable fashion: the now-iconic Viking Row celebration, a thunderous, choreographed surge in front of their fans.

It was more than a viral clip. It felt like a statement of arrival from a nation that has long promised a generation, and is now delivering one.

Day 13 ended with Ronaldo shouting into a camera, Modric rewriting history and England searching for answers. The third and final round of group games starts next – and with qualification, elimination and reputations all on the line, the World Cup is about to get a lot less forgiving.