{"id":2000116934,"date":"2026-06-24T09:36:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/?p=2000116934"},"modified":"2026-06-24T09:36:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T07:36:58","slug":"cristiano-ronaldo-becomes-first-player-to-score-in-six-world-cups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/cristiano-ronaldo-becomes-first-player-to-score-in-six-world-cups\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo becomes first player to score in six World Cups"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 41-year-old Al-Nassr forward scored twice at NRG Stadium in Houston, helping Portugal secure their first win of the tournament after opening their campaign with a 1-1 draw against DR Congo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ronaldo opened the scoring in the sixth minute when he met a cross from Jo\u00e3o Cancelo with a first-time finish from close range. The goal ensured that he became the first footballer to find the net in six separate World Cup tournaments, adding another milestone to a career already filled with records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portugal doubled their advantage in the 17th minute through Nuno Mendes, who surprised the Uzbek defence with a cleverly worked free-kick routine. Ronaldo struck again six minutes before halftime, finishing a swift counterattack after being set up by Bruno Fernandes to give Portugal a comfortable 3-0 lead at the break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Portuguese continued to dominate after the restart. Uzbekistan’s goalkeeper Abduvokhid Nematov was credited with an own goal in the 60th minute after a Portugal free-kick caused confusion in the penalty area. Rafael Le\u00e3o completed the rout in the 87th minute with a close-range finish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uzbekistan thought they had pulled a goal back in the first half when Azizjon Ganiev found the net from long range, but the effort was ruled out following a VAR review that identified a foul in the build-up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond his historic achievement, Ronaldo also surpassed legendary striker Eusebio to become Portugal’s all-time leading World Cup goalscorer with 10 goals. He is now the second-oldest player to score in a World Cup match, behind only Cameroon’s Roger Milla, who scored at the age of 42 during the 1994 tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The veteran striker’s performance came just days after he faced criticism for a subdued display against DR Congo, where he failed to register a shot on target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking after the match, Ronaldo said he was unfazed by the scrutiny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was a very tough week, a difficult week,” he said. “The public criticism was very harsh on us, all the players and especially on me and the coach. But that’s how it is.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: “Whenever things are going well, Cristiano is great. When they’re not, he’s finished and too old. It will always be that way.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The victory lifted Portugal to four points from two matches and strengthened their position in Group K as they seek a place in the knockout stage. Colombia lead the group with six points after defeating DR Congo 1-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Portugal will conclude their group-stage campaign against Colombia on June 28, while Uzbekistan, still searching for their first point of the tournament, face DR Congo on the same day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring third goal with Jo\u00e3o F\u00e9lix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cristiano Ronaldo made FIFA World Cup history on Tuesday as he became the first player to score in six different editions of the tournament, leading Portugal to a commanding 5-0 victory over Uzbekistan in Group K of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000116936,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[151],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000116934","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-editors-choice","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000116936,"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/06\/ANI-20260623194624.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1600,"height":1200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/06\/ANI-20260623194624.jpg","width":1600,"height":1200},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/06\/ANI-20260623194624.jpg","width":1600,"height":1200},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/06\/ANI-20260623194624.jpg","width":1600,"height":1200},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/06\/ANI-20260623194624.jpg","width":1600,"height":1200},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.igihe.com\/en\/2026\/06\/ANI-20260623194624.jpg","width":1600,"height":1200}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000116934","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000116934"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000116934\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000116937,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000116934\/revisions\/2000116937"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000116936"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000116934"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000116934"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000116934"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000116934"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000116934"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}