World Cup 2018: Golden Ball Power Rankings

#2 Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo

The Golden Ball remains one of the few awards that Cristiano Ronaldo has not won in his illustrious goal. There is no doubt that it grates the Portuguese striker that his archrival Lionel Messi has won the award. Previous World Cups have not been great for the Portuguese as he has only scored one goal in each of the three previous editions of the competition. In 2006, he was a young exciting prospect for a Portugal team that made the semi-final, in 2010 he struggled as Portugal were defeated by Spain in the quarterfinal while in 2014, the Iberian side were eliminated in that competition’s “Group of Death”. 2018 has already seen him be more effective than the previous three World Cups put together.

Having converted himself from an inside forward to a pure striker in recent years, Ronaldo has been outstanding this tournament. While his first two goals against Spain were nothing out of the ordinary: a penalty and a goalkeeping mistake, his free-kick was perhaps one of the all-time group stage moments. The fact that David De Gea did not move an inch after Ronaldo struck the ball tells you all you need to know.

Less aesthetically pleasing yet just as important was Ronaldo’s header against Morocco- crucial in a game where Portugal were on the back foot for the most part. Ronaldo has done almost everything in a legendary footballing career- winning the Golden Ball and the FIFA World Cup might be enough for him to finally rise above Messi as this generation’s best player.