{"id":251201,"date":"2022-11-17T20:49:05","date_gmt":"2022-11-17T21:49:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=251201"},"modified":"2022-11-18T10:59:41","modified_gmt":"2022-11-18T10:59:41","slug":"explosive-tv-interview-threatens-world-cup-quest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=251201","title":{"rendered":"Explosive TV interview threatens World Cup quest"},"content":{"rendered":"

There aren't many bigger names in any walk of life than Cristiano Ronaldo<\/a> – which can certainly have it's positives, but when things are going sour for the world's most famous footballer, the impact on those around him can be seismic.<\/p>\n

The Ronaldo soap opera reached a new level earlier this week, when he went on television for an explosive interview with Piers Morgan, taking aim at the club and coach Erik ten Hag<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It's left his nation in a peculiar situation, where their star player and captain has become persona non grata at his club side, but remains an integral part of Portugal's plans at this tournament.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Pure chaos' that rocked do-or-die WC game<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

\ufeffREAD MORE:<\/strong> Sam Kerr stars in 'unreal' Nike World Cup ad<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Absolutely catastrophic' France implosion brewing<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

There's really two ways this can go – the drama can be put to the side, Portugal rally around their talisman and go on a deep run, or everything implodes completely.<\/p>\n

Recent footage of Ronaldo's club and country teammate Bruno Fernandes suggests the latter is possible<\/a>, but at age 38, Ronaldo knows this is his last World Cup and last chance to lift the trophy.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The other thing to note is that the talent that Portugal have at their disposal rivals anything that they've had in the Ronaldo era. Joao Cancelo is the best fullback in the world, Ruben Dias is one of the best centre halves, and young attacker Joao Felix was sold for a whopping $195 million a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n

World Cup previews:<\/strong> All 32 squads<\/strong><\/a> |<\/strong> Group A<\/strong><\/a> | Group B<\/strong><\/a>| Group C<\/strong><\/a> | Group D<\/strong><\/a> | Group E\ufeff<\/strong><\/a> | Group F\ufeff<\/strong><\/a>|<\/strong> Group G<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

They have a senational chance to make some noise in this tournament, and if Ronaldo's ego can be put to the side, they still might.<\/p>\n

Teams (FIFA World Ranking):<\/strong><\/p>\n

Portugal (9)<\/strong><\/p>\n

After a shock 90th minute Serbian goal relegated Portugal \ufeffto the play-off path<\/a>, they dusted themselves off and comfortably saw off both Turkey and then North Macedonia to qualify for Qatar.<\/p>\n

Ghana (61)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ghana came through African qualifying thanks to the much-maligned away goals rules, drawing 1-1 in Nigeria after a 0-0 at home a few days earlier. \ufeff<\/p>\n

Uruguay (14)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A 1-0 win over Peru on the penultimate matchday was enough to secure qualification for Uruguay, as they finished third in South American qualifying behind Brazil and Argentina.\ufeff<\/p>\n

South Korea (28)<\/strong><\/p>\n

An incredibly easy campaign for South Korea saw them wrap up a spot in Qatar with multiple games to spare, as both they and Saudi Arabia dominated the rest of their group.<\/p>\n

F\ufeffixtures:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Uruguay vs South Korea – Friday November 25, 12am<\/p>\n

Portugal vs Ghana – Friday November 25, 3am<\/p>\n

South Korea vs Ghana – Tuesday November 29, 12am<\/p>\n

Portugal vs Uruguay – Tuesday November 29, 6am<\/p>\n

Ghana vs Uruguay – Saturday December 3, 2am<\/p>\n

South Korea vs Portugal – Saturday December 3, 2am<\/p>\n

\"Dwight<\/p>\n

\ufeffPrediction:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Plenty of intrigue in this group – Uruguay and Portugal look the strongest teams, but Ronaldo is a shadow of his former self. The rapid decline of the superstar could prove an issue.<\/p>\n

The other two teams in this group are no mugs, either, and it's looking like one of the more open groups.<\/p>\n

1st: Uruguay<\/p>\n

2nd: Ghana<\/p>\n

3rd: Portugal<\/p>\n

4th: South Korea<\/p>\n

\ufeffFor a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There aren't many bigger names in any walk of life than Cristiano Ronaldo – which can certainly have it's positives, but when things are going […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251201"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=251201"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251201\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":251203,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251201\/revisions\/251203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=251201"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=251201"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=251201"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}