Ronaldo Makes Stephen A Smith Look Dumb After Scoring Two Goals In Portugal's Game Vs Uzbekistan

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith should probably not be talking about soccer during the World Cup.

Before Tuesday’s Portugal-Uzbekistan game, Smith asked whether Ronaldo should quit rather than make his team look bad during the World Cup.

“Have we reached a point where it’s not really about Ronaldo needing to come off the bench, that it’s really about him needing to call it quits”

“Have we reached a point where it’s not really about Ronaldo needing to come off the bench, that it’s really about him needing to call it quits” – Stephen A. Smith pic.twitter.com/0dIfP1pE6X

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) June 23, 2026

Hours after Smith’s comments, Ronaldo scored two goals in Portugal’s game against Uzbekistan and declared that he was back.

RONALDO AGAIN 🤯🤯

OH MY… GOAL NO. 2!

(via @FOXSports)pic.twitter.com/sfnsjBJXvS

— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) June 23, 2026

Cristiano Ronaldo makes it known.

HE’S BACK 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/5nLsp32IUU

— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) June 23, 2026

After his big game, Ronaldo talked about silencing the haters.

“I can say it was a very tough week, a difficult week, a week in which public opinion was very harsh on us, on all the players, especially on the coach.

“But it’s always like that, it’s fine because when you think about it, it’s already 23 years I’ve been a professional and whenever things don’t go well it’s, ‘Cristiano, he’s finished, he’s old’.

“But well, it was a good response from me and my teammates, which is what we wanted.”