How Do You Stop a
Superstar Like Cristiano
Ronaldo?
Since the U.S. men’s national soccer team began its string of participating in seven straight World
Cup tournaments in 1990, it has faced world champions
and all-time greats.
They have never, however, had to figure out how
to stop the likes of Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
A dozen years into his storied career, any superlative
that can describe the reigning FIFA World Player of the
Year has been used. Ronaldo is ridiculously fast, sometimes appearing faster with the ball than without it. He
has unmatched foot skills, and he is as driven a competitor as the human race can produce.
World-wide, he has one peer. “Messi is an artist
turned footballer,” said Arsenal coach Arsène Wenger,
referring to Argentina’s Lionel Messi. “But Ronaldo is
an athlete.”
He doesn’t like to just beat opponents as much
as obliterate them, even if it means running up the score,
ripping off his shirt and flexing for the cameras, as he
did in last month’s UEFA Champions League final. Still
just 29, he has scored more than 300 goals for club and country,
including an outrageous 51 this season as he led Real Madrid to the
European club title.
“If he has a good day, he can do anything,” said Jermaine
Jones, a physical midfielder for the U.S. who figures to shoulder part
of the burden of slowing down Ronaldo. “He is a perfect player. But
you wake up in the morning, he feels good, you feel good, and then
you go have a battle.”
As the U.S. prepares to face Ronaldo and Portugal on Sunday in
Manaus—the second match for each team in the World Cup’s group
stage—everything is falling into place for the Americans, who won
their crucial opener against Ghana on Monday. Portugal, beaten 4-0
by Germany in its first game, has lost three of its top players to suspension or injury. A win would clinch a spot in the knockout round
for the U.S.
Also, Ronaldo may be slightly hobbled. He has been suffering from chronic tendinitis in his knee the past month.
He cut short his training on Wednesday to treat the injury
with ice, a common occurrence of late.
But then, even Ronaldo on one leg is as frightening a
prospect as any U.S. team has ever faced.
The U.S. has lined up against top players before in the
World Cup. The results have been respectable—surprising, even. The 1994 team played Brazil’s Romario at the
height of his career; it lost 1-0. In 2002, the last time
the U.S. faced Portugal in the World Cup, the Portuguese
featured Luis Figo, who had been named the world’s top
player in the previous year. The U.S. won, 3-2. In 2010
England brought Wayne Rooney; the Americans managed a 1-1 draw.
But those stars weren’t at the level of Ronaldo, who beats
opponents every which way. He scored eight goals for
Portugal in qualifying—three with his head, three with
his right foot and two with his left. More troublesome,
he scored about one-third of his 51 goals for Real Madrid
this year by sprinting into open space on one of his deadly diagonal runs, picking up a pass and bearing down on
a hopeless goalkeeper.
Unfortunately for the U.S., there is no corollary in soccer
to the rules in American football allowing contact with
receivers at the line of scrimmage. It is almost impossible
legally to slow an opponent before he gets the ball.
“The whole back line has to be very aware of where he
is at every moment,” said U.S. defender Omar Gonzalez. “Once he starts to pick up speed, you can’t slow him
down. So if you are one-on-one with him you have to try
to hold him up until you can get some help.”
Ronaldo also roams the field like a predator, lining up
on the left, right or in the center at any given moment.
Homework in the video room can only do some much.
“You can know exactly what Cristiano Ronaldo will do
but that doesn’t mean you can stop him,” U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said recently.
What to do, then?
“Well, you can foul him,” said the U.S.’s DaMarcus Bea ͱ