Hosts Qatar will lock horns with Ecuador in the first match of the 2022 World Cup on Sunday (today) at the Al Bayt Stadium.
Since Germany 2006, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, the outstanding players of their generation, have been the undisputed poster of every subsequent tournament.
If both things go as planned in Portugal and Argentina, the two legendary rivals could meet in the final in Qatar in December.
However, Brazil will be among the teams looking to stop that, with 30-year-old Neymar looking to make up for lost time in his third World Cup tournament.
All three players are widely regarded as the best of their generation and have achieved great success at every conceivable level in their club careers, but none have won on world football’s biggest stage.
Ronaldo’s World Cup record
Appearances: 17 Wins: 7 Goals: 7 Assists: 2 Man of the Match: 6 Best finish: 2006 semi-finals, 4th.
Ronaldo has won Euro 2016 and the 2019 Nations League with Portugal, but the World Cup has eluded him in all four of his attempts.
He made his World Cup debut in 2006, aged 21, and scored once against Iran as his country reached the semi-finals, eventually finishing fourth in a 3-1 loss to third-placed Germany.
His four-year spell in South Africa was even worse, with just one goal in four games – an 87th-minute strike in a 7-0 win over North Korea – before a 1-0 last-16 victory. Spain
Ronaldo wanted to reverse Brazil’s 2014 fortunes as Ballon d’Or and Champions League winners with Real Madrid, but struggling for fitness, the then 29-year-old managed just one goal and was unable to stop a team. stage departure to Portugal; their worst streak since joining the team.
Russia 2018 was much more impressive for Ronaldo as he doubled his World Cup goals tally.
He scored four goals in the competition including a stunning hat-trick against Spain in a 3-3 draw, but again Portugal failed in the last 16 losing 2-1 to Uruguay.
Messi’s World Cup record
Appearances: 19 Wins: 13 Goals: 6 Assists: 5 Man of the Match: 6 Best finish: 2014 final, 2nd.
Messi also has two international trophies like Ronaldo; 2021 Copa América and 2022 Champions Cup, but again he has never got past his Argentina team in the previous four attempts.
The comparisons between the two do not stop there, Messi also made his first appearance on football’s biggest stage in the 2006 World Cup.
The then 18-year-old came off the bench in Argentina’s second group game against Serbia and Montenegro, scoring and assisting another after 13 minutes in a 6-0 win.
That goal made Messi Argentina’s youngest goalscorer at the World Cup, but he was an unused substitute in their quarter-final penalty shootout defeat to hosts Germany.
Four years later, at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Lionel Messi was the main man for his country this time, but things did not go as planned.
The PSG star went five games without a goal before Argentina went to Germany in the quarter-finals, finishing the competition with just one solo assist.
Messi returned with a vengeance on enemy soil in Brazil 2014, scoring four goals and an assist in seven games, and it looked like Argentina would go all the way before his side fell to one goal in the final again in Germany. for the third time – despite winning best player of the tournament.
Messi was unable to repeat the feat in Russia as he struggled for form throughout the tournament with just one goal and a missed penalty as Argentina lost 4-3 in the Round of 16 against seven-time Ballon d’Or champions France. he never scored a goal in a World Cup qualifier.
Neymar’s World Cup record
Appearances: 10 Wins: 7 Goals: 6 Assists: 3 Best finish: 2014 semi-finals, 4th.
Prior to Qatar, the most expensive signing of all time had only appeared in two World Cups, making his first international appearance since the 2010 edition.
All eyes were on Neymar as a marquee player on home soil at the World Cup in Brazil in 2014 and he lived up to all expectations, scoring four goals in his first four games.
Brazil’s World Cup run was cut short, however, in the quarter-finals when Juan Zuniga fractured a vertebra in his knee and came from behind to beat Colombia.
As a result, Neymar starred in Brazil’s 7-1 loss to Germany in the quarter-finals, and Brazil also suffered a 3-0 defeat by the Netherlands in his absence in the third-place play-off.
After that disappointing end to the 2014 World Cup, Neymar arrived in Russia four years later with a point to prove.
But he was returning from a long-term injury lay-off and scored just one goal in three matches for Brazil in the 2018 edition.
Neymar looked to find his form in the 2-0 win over Mexico in the last 16 after opening the scoring and creating a second chance, but his joy was cut short as he failed to prevent Brazil’s quarter-final exit to Belgium. After losing 2-1.
Ronaldo and Messi are presented with the last chance to lift the World Cup, as they will be 41 and 39 years old respectively in the next edition of the tournament. However, should the opportunity pass through Neymar’s fingers again, he will be younger than Messi by 2026 and could go for one last try.
Messi’s Argentina kick off their campaign against Saudi Arabia on Tuesday November 22, Ronaldo’s Portugal take on Ghana’s Black Stars on November 24 and Neymar’s Brazil take on Serbia three hours later.
Ronaldo and Messi aren’t the only familiar faces lined up for a World Cup farewell. At the age of 39, Brazil’s Dani Alves and Portugal’s Pepe will surely play in the tournament for the last time, as will 38-year-old Thiago Silva, 37-year-old Luka Modric, 36-year-old Manuel Neuer and Olivier Giroud. , and Luis Suarez, Edinson Cavani and Hugo Lloris, all 35.
French striker Karim Benzema, Spanish midfielder Sergio Busquets and Polish striker Robert Lewandowski at 34, and German striker Thomas Muller at 33, the list of players who could appear for the last time at world level is as long as famous. .
Whether it will be the last World Cup for Kevin De Bruyne or Neymar remains to be seen, but make no mistake, international football will be left with a void that will take another generation to fill.
