Thierry Henry Exposes the Exact Moment Cristiano Ronaldo Hurt Portugal vs. DR Congo

Cristiano Ronaldo has scored a lot of goals by doing exactly what he did against DR Congo. But Thierry Henry saw it differently. He saw a problem.

Portugal settled for a 1-1 draw with DR Congo in Houston on Wednesday, and the frustration wasn’t just about the result. It was about how Ronaldo played. The 41-year-old Portugal captain spent most of the match isolated up front, barely involved in build-up play. Roberto Martinez left him on the pitch until the final whistle, a decision that drew sharp criticism from BBC pundit Chris Sutton.

But Henry — a World Cup winner with France in 1998 — broke down one specific moment that summed up Ronaldo’s afternoon. It happened when Bruno Fernandes had the ball with space to shoot. Ronaldo made a run, but instead of dragging a defender into the six-yard box, he cut directly into Fernandes’s path.

“One thing that’s important: the team needs to score, not you need to score,” Henry said on FOX Sports. “Cristiano Ronaldo has been in this situation multiple times. If you make that run here, you make the defender take a decision to go to the six-yard box. But because he wants to score, he goes into the path of Bruno Fernandes.”

Henry walked through what should have happened. If Ronaldo had angled toward the near post, the defender would have had to follow him. Fernandes would have had a tap-in at the back post. Instead, Ronaldo crowded his own teammate, and what could have been a simple goal turned into a blocked shot.

“The reaction of Bruno Fernandes behind — let it roll. Make a run, create space so I can tap it in,” Henry said. “It didn’t happen.”

Martinez Takes Heat for Keeping Ronaldo On

Sutton was even more direct. When Martinez subbed in striker Goncalo Ramos in the 83rd minute — for midfielder Vitinha, not Ronaldo — Sutton didn’t hold back.

“That is embarrassing,” Sutton said on BBC Radio 5 Live. “That is embarrassing for Roberto Martinez. Are we all watching a different game to Martinez? He is scared to take him off. He is not the manager.”

Sutton argued that the game had passed Ronaldo by. The Portuguese star, once a playmaker who created as much as he scored, has turned into a pure poacher. And when the poacher isn’t getting chances, Sutton said, the manager has to make a call. Martinez didn’t.

“Martinez has to be brave enough to be the manager,” Sutton said. “He is not the manager of the Portugal team and that is their issue.”

Ronaldo enters this World Cup with 229 caps and 143 goals for Portugal. He’s chasing history — no player has ever scored in six different World Cups. He’ll get another chance Tuesday against Uzbekistan, but the questions about his fit in this Portugal team aren’t going anywhere.