Football
Nick Miller, ESPN.com writer 6y

Ronaldo's hot streak continues, Colombia comeback, Russia concern

The international break is halfway done and Friday's action gave us plenty to talk about as the World Cup edges ever closer. Nick Miller has five things you may have missed.

When Cristiano Ronaldo is around, anything is possible

Cristiano Ronaldo was, by his standards, having a bad season. He got sent off in the Spanish Super Cup, then scored a relatively paltry seven goals in his first 12 games of the campaign for Real Madrid. After that, things picked up a bit, to say the least. His past 12 games for club and country have seen 23 goals scored, in only one of those did he not find the net and his latest bout of goal-scoring absurdity came in stoppage time of Portugal's 2-1 win against Egypt.

It was as if he'd said to in-form Mohamed Salah, who had given the Egyptians the lead, "Well, young upstart, that's not bad, but watch this" before two trademark headers, one after 92 minutes and the second, the winner, after 94. This was not only an impressive demonstration of his continuing Ronaldoness, but also a reminder that, even though Portugal are not fancied to make a significant impression on the World Cup, when he is around then anything is possible.

Lingard shows his knack for goals

Watching England and Manchester United midfielder Jesse Lingard on a football pitch is enjoyable for a couple of reasons. Firstly, his obvious joy at playing the game, a young man having fun in a sport that we all take too seriously. But secondly there's the anticipation that he is always likely to pop up with an important goal.

As a footballer, Lingard is relatively limited, someone without the pace, skill, technique or passing that some of his peers boast. But he does have an unteachable sense of timing, a knack of showing up at just the right time to grab a goal, as he has done for United on numerous occasions, this season and last. He did it for England against Netherlands to seal a 1-0 win and, for a team not overflowing with inspiration, that could prove extremely valuable for Gareth Southgate.

Colombia comeback promises open tournament

With the obvious caveat that these are merely friendlies and nothing significant should be read into them, a few of the results on Friday suggested that we could be in for a very open World Cup in the summer. Not least from Colombia, whose remarkable comeback from 2-0 down against France to win 3-2 raised a couple of topics.

Firstly, we could see in 2018 the Radamel Falcao we were supposed to see in 2014, when he was clearly unprepared and rushed back following a serious knee injury: his goal against France, the equaliser, along with the 17 others in 21 Ligue 1 games for Monaco, suggests he is back to something like his best.

But secondly, it was proof that even a squad with the ludicrous levels of talent that France have can quite easily be turned over by a team who attacks them. This might be a World Cup to which logic doesn't apply, and will be all the more fun for it.

Russia performance raises some concerns

Usually a good tournament benefits from a good home country, but that might be especially true in Russia. Away fans may have been discouraged from attending, putting more emphasis on the home crowd to generate something like a tournament atmosphere.

But this Russia team aren't exactly promising. Of course few would expect them to beat Brazil, but they were brushed aside in their game in Moscow on Friday, a 3-0 defeat that could have been even more emphatic by a Brazil side missing some key men.

Since the start of last summer's Confederations Cup, Russia have won three games: one was against New Zealand, another South Korea, and the third an odd friendly against Dinamo Moscow. In that time they've also lost to Mexico and drawn with Iran. There is still time, but the signs are not promising for a strong showing from the hosts in the summer.

Will Salah recreate his Liverpool form?

There are various competing theories as to exactly why Salah has been so incredible for Liverpool this season. Certainly a big part of his success has been the forward line he plays with, particularly how Roberto Firmino's movement and willingness to drop deep creates space for Salah to exploit. Egypt adopted a similar system against Portugal, with coach Hector Cuper clearly aware that his side's best chance of success in Russia is to get the best from his star man.

Oddly, it seems Cuper has received some criticism for the decision to build his team around Salah. "He makes the difference for Liverpool in England, so what is the problem that he is the one who makes the difference for Egypt?" he said before the game. "They call us 'Salah's national team'? We have no problem with that."

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