At 41, Ronaldo is still the question Portugal cannot bring themselves to answer
Every Portugal squad of the last twenty years has carried the same argument, and the 2026 World Cup has not changed that. Roberto Martinez has named Cristiano Ronaldo in his group for a tournament that opens on June 11, and at 41 the most prolific scorer in international football history is heading to a sixth World Cup. The number is historic. The selection is not settled, and the noise around it has rarely been louder.
Ronaldo joined Portugal's training camp on June 1, captain's armband and all, and within a day the same question was back on every panel show. Is he the solution to Portugal's attack, or the problem the rest of the squad has to play around? My honest answer is that both sides have a point, and that the truth sits somewhere in the awkward middle where Martinez now has to live.
The case against picking him
The argument that Portugal are better without Ronaldo is not a troll position any more. Former United States striker Taylor Twellman put it bluntly, saying this is the best team Ronaldo has ever had around him going into a World Cup and that Portugal are at their best when he does not play. Look at the names and it is hard to dismiss. Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha and Joao Neves can run a midfield against anyone. Rafael Leao and Joao Felix give them pace and movement that a 41-year-old centre-forward simply cannot match over 90 minutes.
The worry is tactical rather than personal. A front line built around Ronaldo tends to pull Portugal into crossing and waiting for a moment, when their younger forwards are at their most dangerous running in behind and pressing high. If the captain starts every game on reputation, Portugal risk becoming slower and more predictable than the talent in the squad suggests they should be.
The case for keeping him
And yet. Ronaldo has scored goals at a rate that would embarrass most strikers half his age, and a knockout tournament can turn on one finish from a man who has spent his whole career producing them. Martinez framed it well when he said there is a debate precisely because there is only one Ronaldo, an icon who changed the game. You do not casually bench that, and you certainly do not do it on the eve of a World Cup that could be the last act of his international career.
There is also the matter of what is missing from his collection. Ronaldo has a European Championship and two Nations League titles, but never a World Cup, and at 41 this is almost certainly his final shot at it. A captain that motivated, in a squad this strong, is not nothing. Used well, off the bench or in the right matchups, he could still be the difference in a tight knockout game rather than a passenger.
Why the question matters more than the answer
Here is where I land. Portugal's problem is not whether Ronaldo is in the squad, it is whether Martinez has the nerve to treat him like a squad player rather than a guaranteed starter. The worst outcome for Portugal is not Ronaldo on the bench, and it is not Ronaldo up top. It is a manager so worried about the headline that he picks his team around one name instead of around the game in front of him.
If Martinez can use Ronaldo as a weapon rather than a fixture, Portugal might just have the depth to go deep into this tournament. If the captain's status starts dictating selection, a genuinely brilliant squad could end up smaller than the sum of its parts. That is the real Ronaldo question at this World Cup, and the answer will tell us far more about Martinez than it does about a 41-year-old who has already proved everything he needs to.
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