Colombia must find a way to stop the Ronaldo 'machine'

Colombia coach Nestor Lorenzo understands that his team must find a way to stop the "machine" named Cristiano Ronaldo. Lorenzo's team just had their second victory in Group K when they defeated DR Congo with a score of 1-0, thereby winning a ticket to the knockout round of the World Cup. Their next match will be against Ronaldo's Portugal, where top spot in the group will be decided. A draw would be enough for Colombia to progress as group leaders, but with Ronaldo scoring twice in the 5-0 win over Uzbekistan, Lorenzo is well aware of the scale of the challenge his team faces. "Cristiano is a great player, he is one of the best players in the world, a machine," Lorenzo said. "You have to be careful not to leave him alone near the penalty area. Not only Ronaldo but the whole team is very strong. We will face a big team. They [Portugal] are candidates to win the World Cup. So it will be a big challenge and we will have to use many different methods to try to win." Ronaldo's goals made him Portugal's top scorer at the finals, as well as the first person to score at six different World Cups. At 41, he will attempt to score in consecutive World Cup matches for the first time since MD2 in 2018 – only Norway's Erling Haaland (2.7) and Canada's Jonathan David (2.4) have a higher non-penalty xG than Ronaldo's 2.1 after his first two matches. Opta's prediction model shows that it is difficult to determine a winner or loser between Portugal and Colombia, when both have a 50% chance of winning Group K against MD3.

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