As debate rages on about who scored Portugal’s opener against Uruguay, Cristiano Ronaldo or Bruno Fernandes, ball manufacturer Adidas released a statement on Monday confirming that the Portuguese captain had no contact with the ball.
In the match between Portugal and Uruguay, using the Connected Ball Technology housed in adidas’s Al Rihla Official Match Ball, we are able to definitively show no contact on the ball from Cristiano Ronaldo for the opening goal in the game. No external force on the ball could be measured as shown by the lack of ‘heartbeat’ in our measurements and in the attached graphic. The 500Hz IMU sensor inside the ball allows us to be highly accurate in our analysis,” Adidas was quoted by Daily Mail.
In layman’s terms, the Adidas ball, called Al Rihla (the journey, in Arabic), comes with an inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensor that also aids in making tight offside calls. The sensor, which is placed at the centre of the ball, constantly sends data to the video operation room. This technology came to the fore which confirmed that the goal was in fact, scored by Fernandes.
Fernandes crossed the ball from the left side of the pitch and Ronaldo jumped the highest as the ball went into the goal. He celebrated wildly as the goal, had it stood, would have seen him level former Real Madrid with Eusebio as Portugal’s highest goal scorer at World Cups. He would also have surpassed Lionel Messi in their race for more World Cup goals.
However, replays later showed that Ronaldo had just missed connecting with the ball.
Announcers in the stadium credited the goal to Fernandes even as the official scorecard mentioned Ronaldo as the scorer. The scoreline was later ratified and the goal officially given to Fernandes.
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo scores his side's opening goal during the World Cup group H soccer match between Portugal and Uruguay, at the Lusail Stadium in Lusail, Qatar, Monday, Nov. 28, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
The Cristiano Ronaldo celebration is a thing of pure sporting athleticism. He tears away to the corner flag, in the direction of the cameras snapping away to capture the moment.
He clenches his fist, leaps in the air, higher the stakes the higher the leap, and spreads his legs apart like a protractor, crosses his arms, tracing an X in the air. In this moment of sheer athletic delight, he looks like the human version of a floating Eiffel Tower, gleaming in the light, from the floodlights, from the cameras, and perhaps his own halo. He lands, spins around and stretches his arms for his teammates to embrace him, the world to embrace him.
And then he shrieks: SIUUU!! The crowd echoes it back. In mood for theatre, he tugs at his ears, suggesting, rather ordering the crowd, to cheer loud
The self-obsession, for the onlooker, seems uncomfortable. Like when he celebrated the goal that was not his against Uruguay. Had that goal been added to his tally, and not Bruno Fernandes’, it could have been called the ‘spiked hair of God goal’.
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