{"id":1847,"date":"2026-07-07T15:34:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T07:34:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/?p=1847"},"modified":"2026-07-07T15:34:50","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T07:34:50","slug":"cristiano-ronaldo-it-was-my-last-world-cup-2016-carries-the-same-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/07\/cristiano-ronaldo-it-was-my-last-world-cup-2016-carries-the-same-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo: &#8216;It was my last World Cup; 2016 carries the same weight&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"562\" src=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-6.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1848\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-6.png 1000w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-6-300x169.png 300w, https:\/\/mktynews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/image-6-768x432.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The Portuguese captain struck a valedictory note following his side&#8217;s World Cup exit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the wake of Portugal&#8217;s exit from the World Cup, Cristiano Ronaldo addressed the media in the mixed zone with words that carried the heavy scent of a farewell. The 41-year-old talisman reflected on his storied international career with the poise of a man considering his final legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&#8220;Tomorrow I will wake up just as I did today: with a clear conscience,&#8221; the forward declared. &#8220;I have represented the National Team for 23 years and secured three titles; before Cristiano, Portugal had won nothing. The European Championship was the pinnacle. For me, 2016 (Euro) carries the same weight as a World Cup, in all honesty. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and you have to move forward. The reality is that this was my final World Cup.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pressed on whether this marked his final appearance for the national team, Ronaldo stopped short of confirming his retirement, insisting he would avoid any knee-jerk reactions. &#8220;I won&#8217;t make any decisions in the heat of the moment. Right now, whether I continue or not is secondary,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The veteran striker also took the opportunity to laud manager Roberto Mart\u00ednez, hailing him as an exceptional coach and an outstanding individual, while pointing to the silverware won under his stewardship. Addressing speculation regarding his potential successor and links to Jorge Jesus, Cristiano Ronaldo remained diplomatic: &#8220;Now is not the time to discuss who might come in, and it is not my place to do so. Those responsible for the decision will make the call,&#8221; he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Portuguese captain struck a valedictory note following his side&#8217;s World Cup exit. In the wake of Portugal&#8217;s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1847"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1849,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1847\/revisions\/1849"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mktynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}