Every nation has now played once and the standouts so far have been Spain, Saudi Arabia, Japan, France and Brazil. Dare we say England?
Day five of the World Cup saw four matches but it was all about Cristiano Ronaldo.
1. Ronaldo, a high maintenance pest?
Fans wanted to see what Cristiano Ronaldo would do next after he left Old Trafford on Tuesday in a blaze of acrimony following THAT interview.
Before the game against Ghana, Ronaldo was labelled a “high maintenance pest” by a Daily Mail football writer, whose colleague similarly thought the Portuguese megastar was not made for modern football at his age.
At 37, and suddenly unemployed, Ronaldo looked like he had something to prove. He scored again, something he has done all his life, but this one felt more special.
It capped Ronaldo’s first performance since he sent the footballing world potty after his own bitter split from Manchester United that arose from his bombshell television interview with Piers Morgan.
2. This was history
Ronaldo made it a jaw-dropping 118 goals in 192 Portugal appearances by converting a second-half penalty in a match that saw a dreary first half replaced by a second 45 dripping in thrills.
With that, Ronaldo became the first player to score in five different World Cups, a run that started in Frankfurt in 2006, thanks to a penalty against Iran.
He is now in uncharted territory having gone past the feats of Pele, Uwe Seeler, Miroslav Klose and Lionel Messi.
Ronaldo is also in the company of Croatia’s Ivica Olic and Denmark’s Michael Laudrup as both a country’s oldest and youngest goalscorer at the tournament.
3. Cries of ‘Siu’
To many, it didn’t matter that Ronaldo doesn’t possess the gazelle-like speed of his youth or doesn’t operate at his Ballon d’Or peak winning years at Real Madrid.
In the match against Ghana, he might have shared the limelight with whiz kids Joao Felix and Rafael Leao, whose strikes cancelled Andre Ayew’s leveller and ensured a 3-2 victory for Portugal, but he remains a superhero to many.
He might not have done on the pitch what in the past only seemed possible on a computer screen, yet he continued to spark cries of “Siu”, the sound to his iconic celebration, among his adoring fans.
4. Richarlison ‘on fire’ for Brazil
While Ronaldo is aware there won’t be too many more opportunities of this kind – his time in the Champions League will be over if he moves to Saudi Arabia – Richarlison, who has yet to score in the Premier League for Spurs this season, is on fire for Brazil.
His two goals against Serbia have shown that the younger Brazilian players are growing up fast as they are playing in the bigger leagues.
Age is just a number though: captain Thiago Silva, at 38 years and 63 days, became the oldest player to play for Brazil in a World Cup match. That record will be broken if 39-year-old Dani Alves gets a run out.
5. Suarez on his last legs?
Even as the fate of Lionel Messi and Ronaldo remains unclear, Luis Suarez looked a player on his last legs in the goalless Uruguay-South Korea tie.
His stats: zero shots, zero chances created, two touches in the opposition box and seven passes. One of those was kick-off. He had 18 touches and won a single duel.
This is the man who made the “save of the tournament” in 2010. His last-minute handball on the line enabled Uruguay to reach the semis, and he warmly accepted the red card, saying it was “for the greater good of the team”.
In 2014, he beat England on one leg in before taking a bite out of Giorgio Chiellini; and reaching the quarter finals in 2018.