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Cristiano Ronaldo wrote himself into the World Cup record books as Portugal thrashed Uzbekistan 5-0 in Houston.
Ronaldo became the first player to score at six World Cups when he broke the deadlock early on.
He scored his second of the game shortly before the half-time interval. He now trails early Golden Boot pacesetter Lionel Messi by three goals.
Nuno Mendes, Rafael Leao and an unfortunate Abdukodir Khusanov own goal completed the rout, as Portugal bounced back from their opening 1-1 draw with DR Congo.
We still have plenty of World Cup football on the agenda today.
Right now, England are in action against Ghana — you can follow live coverage of that match in Boston here.
We also have Panama vs Croatia, kicking off at 7pm ET, which you can follow here.
And later on at 10pm ET, Colombia play DR Congo — our coverage is live here.
Just one group game remains for Portugal at this World Cup, as they take on Colombia on Saturday, June 27.
That match will kick off at 7.30pm and will take place in Miami.
Uzbekistan have their final group game which is a must-win if they want to stay in the tournament.
That one is against DR Congo on Saturday, June 27 at 7.30pm in Atlanta.
Portugal top Group K ahead of the game between DR Congo and Colombia in a few hours.
But with one final game to go, against Colombia on Saturday, they could still finish anywhere from first to third but a top-two finish is now highly likely.
The winners of Group K will head for Kansas City for a last-32 game on July 3 against one of the third-place teams from groups D, E, I, J or L.
The Group K runners-up will face the second-place team from Group L in Toronto on July 2. Group L comprises England, Ghana, Panama and Croatia.
Here’s a look at how that result changed the Group K table… Colombia and DR Combo are still to play their second group game.
Missed today's game and want to know how close Ronaldo was to scoring a hat-trick?
Want the inside scoop on Portugal's new free kick routines?
Look no further than The Briefing, where our writers tuck into the game's biggest topics. You can read it on the link below.
GO FURTHER
Cristiano Ronaldo makes World Cup history and silences his skeptics as Portugal crush Uzbekistan
There are 22 years and 183 days between the ages of Uzbekistan's Bekhruz Karimov (18 years, 320 days) and Cristiano Ronaldo (41 years 138 days), the biggest age gap between two starting players in a match in World Cup history.
After this game there have been 139 goals scored in this year's World Cup from 45 games, the most ever in the group stages of a single World Cup tournament, overtaking the 136 scored in 2014 (48 games).
Opta tell us Uzbekistan are the fifth consecutive debuting Asian nation to lose both of their opening two matches at their first World Cup tournament, after Japan in 1998, China in 2002, Qatar in 2022 and Jordan in this tournament.
At the age of 41 years, 138 days, Cristiano Ronaldo became the second-oldest scorer in World Cup history behind Roger Milla in 1994 for Cameroon against Russia at 42 years, 39 days.
He is the oldest European player to score a goal in a major tournament, including the European Championships.
Ronaldo has scored 10 goals at the World Cup, making him Portugal's leading World Cup ahead of Eusebio on nine.
Ronaldo made his 24th World Cup appearance, with only Lionel Messi (28) and Lothar Matthäus (25) having made more, with Ronaldo levelling Miroslav Klose and going past Paolo Maldini (23).
With Ronaldo acting as his decoy, Nuno Mendes became only the second Portugal player to score a direct free-kick at the World Cup.
Can you guess who the other one is? Yes: Cristiano Ronaldo vs Spain in 2018!
It's no surprise, but Ronaldo was not hugely involved in Portugal's general play, as his match dashboard illustrates.
But it also shows he was involved in more attacking sequences than anyone else on the pitch.
Unlike against DR Congo, the legend came to life when he needed to, becoming the first man in history to score at six different World Cups.
Khusanov looked devastated at full time and close to tears — a win against Portugal for Uzbekistan was always unlikely but their hopes are not completely over.
They are slim, however, with The Athletic's forecast tool predicting a nine per cent chance that they can advance to the round of 32.
We saw another own goal today in what feels like a tournament full of them at this World Cup.
So how does this compare to past editions of the competition?
We could be on course for a highest-ever tally.
It was difficult to identify the primary emotion Cristiano Ronaldo felt when he finally ended his goalscoring drought at major tournaments.
It had been some time since he scored a penalty against Ghana in Portugal’s opening match in Qatar 2022, with 10 goalless games at World Cups and a Euros since then. For context, his old pal Lionel Messi had scored 11 World Cup goals since Ronaldo’s last one.
The roar that followed his sixth-minute opener felt like a mixture of relief, delight and an awful lot of pent-up frustration. With Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland all scoring at least twice in each of their appearances so far, Ronaldo was being left behind. Not anymore.
Ronaldo speaks after another historic day
After the match, Cristiano Ronaldo spoke about the criticism he faced after not scoring in Portugal’s opening game. He said he was happy with the qualification, admitting the team had been through a difficult week, but he stayed focused throughout.
Ronaldo closed with a message: “A quem trabalha Deus ajuda” “God helps those who work”
Portugal claimed their third World Cup win by a margin of five or more goals, after a 7-0 victory against 2010 against North Korea and a 6-1 triumph against Switzerland in 2022.
Their dominance in every area is clear from both the scoreline and the post-match statistics.
Is this progress from Cristiano Ronaldo?
When he stepped aside to let Nuno Mendes take the free kick instead of taking it himself for Portugal's second goal, it worked wonderfully.
It was not an entirely unselfish performance from Ronaldo but it was a step in the right direction.
The first game was pretty disastrous for Ronaldo, but he responded emphatically today.
Two first-half goals and he has finally taken himself off free-kick duty, a decision which allowed Mendes to score Portugal's second goal.
He probably should have had his hat-trick given some of the opportunities he had in the second half, but two goals certainly can't be sniffed at.
Cristiano Ronaldo is now the oldest and youngest scorer for Portugal at a World Cup.
History.
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