Ronaldo scores twice and breaks World Cup record as Portugal lead Uzbekistan 3-0 at half-time

Cristiano Ronaldo etched his name further into World Cup history during Portugal’s World Cup 2026 qualifier against Uzbekistan, scoring twice in the first half to give his side a 3-0 lead at the break and become the first player ever to score in six different World Cup tournaments.

The 41-year-old opened the scoring within six minutes, finishing from close range after a composed build-up involving right-back João Cancelo. Ronaldo added a second before half-time, though the afternoon’s story was not his alone to tell.

Speaking at half-time in the ITV studio, Gary Neville pointed to Portugal’s full-backs as the key enablers behind Ronaldo’s resurgence. Before kick-off, Neville had questioned whether wide forwards Félix and Neto were best suited to delivering the kind of service Ronaldo demands — and he felt the answer had come from an unexpected source.

“Mendes and Cancelo have both delivered in that first part of the game,” Neville said. “And yes, the man turned up.”

Neville was particularly taken with the simplicity of Cancelo’s approach for the opening goal. “This first one comes from the underlap. Full-backs don’t just overlap anymore, they go on the inside. But this time, it’s a more simple movement by the full-back. The right-back, Cancelo, just supports from behind. He waits, he lets Neto do his stuff, and then he joins in. He just takes a couple of touches and swings it round. Just classic.”

Nuno Mendes then doubled Portugal’s advantage with a free-kick — a set-piece that Ronaldo had appeared ready to take himself — before the interval.

Roberto Martinez’s side have looked a cohesive unit rather than a team built around a single ageing star, with the full-backs’ willingness to combine and deliver providing the platform for Ronaldo to do what he does best. Whether that balance holds across a full tournament remains to be seen, but the first half against Uzbekistan offered a compelling case that Portugal’s World Cup ambitions rest on more than one man.