Ronaldo scores twice as Portugal thrashes Uzbekistan, sets World Cup record
Ronaldo’s two goals in Houston pushed Portugal past Uzbekistan 5-0 and made him the first player to score in six World Cups.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice and Portugal beat Uzbekistan 5-0 in Houston on Tuesday, turning a shaky opening draw into a commanding Group K win and pushing the 41-year-old into another slice of World Cup history. The result also gave Portugal its first victory of the tournament after the 1-1 debut against Congo DR.
Ronaldo opened the scoring in the 6th minute and struck again before halftime, taking his World Cup total to 10 goals. That moved him past Eusébio as Portugal’s leading scorer in World Cup play and made him the first player to score in six editions of the tournament. Before kickoff, FIFA had already noted that Ronaldo had scored in five World Cups, from 2006 through 2022, and that he arrived in 2026 with eight World Cup goals.
The performance came at a useful time for Portugal’s manager, Roberto Martínez, who had been under pressure to show that the team could do more than lean on its captain. Portugal’s opening draw against Congo DR had drawn scrutiny, especially because Ronaldo stayed on the field for all 90 minutes, but the response against Uzbekistan was built on a cleaner collective showing and far greater control. Martínez praised that team effort, while Nuno Mendes pointed to the performance as a sign of where Portugal can go next, with Colombia ahead in the group.
The numbers around Ronaldo remain extraordinary even in a tournament defined by shifting records and familiar rivalries. Days earlier, Lionel Messi had joined him as only the second player to score in five World Cups, a reminder of how long Ronaldo has remained central to the sport’s biggest stage. Ronaldo’s six-tournament scoring run, combined with his 10 World Cup goals, gives Portugal a captain who still changes the ceiling of what it can expect in major tournaments.
Portugal’s 5-0 win left it top of the group with four points and restored order after the frustration of the opening match. Uzbekistan, meanwhile, remains focused on its next test against Colombia in Mexico City, while Portugal now carries both momentum and a harder question: how to keep evolving around Ronaldo without pretending his presence still does not alter the frame of the entire tournament.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
