Houston, June 24: Cristiano Ronaldo had a simple but strong message as the final whistle sounded after Portugal’s big win at the World Cup on Tuesday.

“I’m back,” he said directly into the television camera. “I’m back.”

Ronaldo became the first player to score in six different World Cup tournaments by getting two goals in Portugal’s 5-0 win over Uzbekistan, quieting critics after his forgettable performance in the team’s 1-1 draw with Congo in the opener.

Even though criticism is not anything new to the 41-year-old superstar, he admitted that the intense negativity directed toward him this week was difficult.

“But it’s always like that,” he said in Portuguese. “It doesn’t matter, because it’s been 23 years on the job and when things go well, ‘Cristiano is good,’ when things go bad, Cristiano is a retired player, is old.’ It will always be like that. But we responded well today, me and my teammates, which is what we wanted.”

Ronaldo made history in the sixth minute when João Cancelo crossed the ball to him and he shot with his right foot to make it 1-0. He ran toward the bench and celebrated with his teammates.

He added another in the 39th minute when he got a pass from Bruno Fernandes and scored with his right foot just inside the near post to make it 3-0.

“As a defender you need to be ready and you need to be close to him in the box,” said Uzbekistan coach Fabio Cannavaro, a standout defender in his playing days who led Italy to the 2006 World Cup title. “If you give him one centimetre in the box you are dead.”

Ronaldo was named man of the match for his performance, the latest of many in his incredible career.

Portugal coach Roberto Martínez raved about the professionalism and poise Ronaldo showed this week amid calls from outsiders to bench him.

“He’s a human being,” Martínez said. “He’s allowed to have emotions. He’s allowed to have feelings. What is impressive with him is the answer. Whatever he feels, the answer is to get back on the training ground and practice and work and demand from himself. That professionalism is what’s (led) to the longevity.”

The goals on Tuesday make him the second-oldest player to score at a World Cup behind Cameroon forward Roger Milla, who was 42 when he scored at the 1994 tournament in the United States.

Ronaldo and Argentina captain Lionel Messi became the only men in history to play in six World Cup tournaments this year. Ronaldo’s scoring streak started in his debut in 2006 and he also netted goals in 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022.

While he shares the record for most tournaments with Messi, he stands alone in scoring a goal in each edition after Messi failed to score at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Ronaldo’s two strikes against Uzbekistan gave him 10 career goals in the tournament. Messi has 18 after a hat trick in Argentina’s opener against Algeria and two more goals Monday against Austria that made him the all-time leading scorer in tournament history.

Ronaldo’s latest performance extended his record by giving him 145 international goals, and his 10 career goals in the World Cup moved him past Eusébio’s nine to make him Portugal’s all-time scoring leader at the tournament.

Tuesday’s game was the 230th of Ronaldo’s international career, which is the most in history.

This is likely to be the final World Cup for Ronaldo, who won the European Championship with Portugal in 2016 and the Champions League five times with Manchester United and Real Madrid.

At the age of 10, when most children are still discovering their interests, Srinagar’s Suhaib Feroze Jeelani was already representing his state at national-level rugby tournaments. For nearly a decade, rugby shaped his sporting identity. But a single thought kept bothering him.

“What if the team’s defeat comes because of one mistake? I wanted my performance to define my success and failure,” says Suhaib.

That thought changed the course of his life.

In 2018, after almost ten years in rugby, Suhaib made a bold decision. He walked away from the familiarity of a team sport and embraced martial arts, an individual discipline where every victory and defeat rests solely on the athlete’s shoulders.

The transition was anything but easy.

“Rugby is a full-contact team sport. Martial arts was completely different. I had to learn everything from zero. It took me a lot of time to make that transition,” he said while speaking to Greater Kashmir

What began as a difficult experiment soon turned into an extraordinary success story.

Suhaib said that, within a year he announced his arrival by winning a silver medal at the All India Inter-University Championship in 2019. The same year, he struck gold at the 4th North India Championship.

The victories kept coming.

He won gold medals at the Senior National Championships in 2020, 2021 and 2022, besides clinching Federation Cup titles in 2021 and 2022. His consistency made him one of the most dependable martial artists.

However, his ambitions extended beyond India’s borders.

Suhaib said that in 2022 he represented the nation at the international stage, securing a silver medal at the Asian Championship. The achievement, he said firmly established him among the continent’s elite martial artists.

Then came the year that transformed his career forever.

In 2023, he said that he captured the gold medal at the National Games, often referred to as India’s Mini Olympics.

“National Games is the biggest tournament in the country. Winning gold there was the most significant achievement of my life,” said Suhaib.

The same year, he added more glitter to his resume by winning gold medals at the Senior National Championship, Federation Cup and All India Championship.

His international journey also continued to flourish. In 2024, he brought laurels to the country by winning a bronze medal at the World Championship, a feat that underlined his ability to compete against the world’s best.

In all, Suhaib has accumulated numerous medals at national and international levels, including an Asian Championship silver and a World Championship bronze, achievements that have made him one of Kashmir’s distinguished martial artists.

Yet, the journey has come at a cost.

“Years of intense training and competition have left me battling injuries. Finger dislocations, ankle injuries and an ACL tear have forced me away from regular training for nearly two years”, said Suhaib.

“The last major tournament I played was the World Championship. Since then, I have been recovering from injuries and haven’t trained properly,” he said.

At 27, with nearly 17 years of sporting experience behind him, Suhaib’s ambitions have evolved.

Today, my dream is no longer confined to personal medals.

“I want to train as many athletes as I can, athletes who can represent India in the next five to ten years. That is my goal now,” he said.

His message extends beyond martial arts.

“I request every parent to encourage their children to participate in sports. It doesn’t matter whether it is martial arts, football or any other game. Sports teach discipline and shape lives.”

Suhaib remembers a time when pursuing sports in Kashmir was far from easy.

“When I started, there was hardly any sporting culture, infrastructure or equipment. Today, facilities are much better and opportunities are increasing.”

But there is one change he still wants to see.

“Keep sports away from politics and favouritism. Athletes work incredibly hard and make enormous sacrifices to reach national competitions. They deserve fairness and justice.”

From a young rugby player in fourth grade to an international medallist and now an aspiring mentor, Suhaib Feroze Jeelani’s journey is a story of courage, reinvention and resilience, a reminder that sometimes the most defining victories begin with the courage to change direction.