One last dance: Ronaldo, Portugal and the World Cup that has always eluded him

There is a particular kind of pressure that comes with a last chance, and Cristiano Ronaldo is carrying it into this World Cup. At 41, in what is almost certainly his final appearance at the tournament, he leads a Portugal side chasing the one honour that has always slipped through his fingers. He has won everything else the game can offer, at club level and with his country at the European Championship, but the World Cup, the prize that defines the very greatest, has eluded him across two decades. This is his final run at it, and everyone knows it.

Portugal open their campaign against Congo DR, a nation back at the World Cup for the first time in over half a century. For the opponents, simply being here is the achievement, the kind of return that means more than any single result. For Portugal, it is the first step on a road that, for once, looks genuinely passable. This is not a one-man team leaning on an ageing icon. It is a deep, talented squad with the quality to win the whole thing, and that is precisely what makes the Ronaldo subplot so compelling.

The team behind the icon

For years the criticism of Portugal was that they were Ronaldo and a supporting cast. That is no longer true, and it may be the most important fact of their tournament. This generation is rich in talent across the pitch, blessed with creators, runners and defenders who would walk into most international sides. The uncomfortable question that has hovered over recent Portugal teams, whether the captain helps or hinders a squad this good, is one their manager has to answer in real time, balancing reverence for a legend against the cold demands of winning.

That tension is the human drama at the heart of their campaign. Ronaldo remains a phenomenal goalscorer and an unrelenting competitor, but he is 41, and tournament football is brutal on legs that have run for twenty years. How Portugal manage him, when to lean on him and when to protect the team's shape around him, could decide how far they go. Get it right and the icon becomes the perfect final piece. Get it wrong and a golden generation risks being remembered for what it could not quite achieve.

Here is how the groups are taking shape as the tournament unfolds.

Why this resonates beyond Portugal

Even neutrals will feel the pull of this one, because sport rarely offers a narrative this clean. The greatest goalscorer the men's game has known, in the twilight of an extraordinary career, reaching for the single trophy that would complete it. There is something almost mythic about a last attempt at an unfulfilled ambition, and whether you have spent years marvelling at Ronaldo or arguing against him, it is hard not to be drawn to how this final chapter ends.

The romantic version writes itself: an inspired farewell run, the captain lifting the trophy that defined his rivals and eluded him, a perfect closing of the circle. The realist's version is harsher. World Cups are unforgiving, the field is stacked with contenders, and age eventually wins every argument. Portugal are good enough that neither outcome would shock anyone, which is exactly why their journey is among the most watchable in the entire tournament.

The last act begins

It starts against Congo DR, a fixture that frames the whole story neatly: a nation savouring a long-awaited return on one side, a legend chasing a long-denied dream on the other. For Ronaldo, the maths is simple and merciless. There will be no next time. Whatever Portugal are going to achieve with him, they have to achieve it now, over the coming weeks, before the window closes for good.

That is what makes this Portugal team essential viewing. Not just because they can win it, though they can, but because of who is leading them and what it would mean. The last dance has begun, and the only question left is whether it ends in triumph or in the quiet ache of a brilliant career denied its final prize. Either way, you will not want to look away.