Portugal's Ronaldo shakes off World Cup doubters, scores 2 after sluggish start

Cristiano Ronaldo of Portugal celebrates scoring his team's first goal during the World Cup match against Uzbekistan in Houston on Tuesday. Michael Steele/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Michael Steele/Getty Images It did not take long for the questions to surface about the aging star. Cristiano Ronaldo was virtually invisible in Portugal's opening World Cup match against the Democratic Republic of Congo. Despite playing the entire game last week, he was essentially absent in the 1-1 draw. Gone were his flashes of excellence and otherworldly goalscoring ability. The whispers about the 41-year-old turned louder. The drumbeat on social media and chatter from television commentators grew: should the team captain limit his minutes? Was he a distraction? Were his teammates deferring to him too much during the game? As Ronaldo watched his fellow stars dominate at this thrilling tournament — Argentina's Lionel Messi scored a hat trick in his opener, followed by two goals in Argentina's second game; France's Kylian Mbappe and Norway's Erling Haaland have each scored four times — you could tell his poor performance bothered him. On Tuesday, as he took the field against Uzbekistan, he looked like the Ronaldo of old. It took all of six minutes for Ronaldo to shake off the doubters. Deep inside Uzbekistan's penalty area, Ronaldo struck a powerful right-footed volley into the net. He is now the first player (man or woman) to score in six World Cups. …