Posted by FIFA, the organization that oversees international football, has called Cristiano Ronaldo a “total genius.”
This comes after the Portugal international’s deft play to earn his country a penalty during their opening match in Qatar 2022.
After falling to Mohammed Salisu’s challenge during Thursday’s World Cup Group H match, Ronaldo broke the score.
Some commentators think the referee erred by ignoring the 37-year-old or consulting the pitch-side monitor because he fell so easily.
However, Sunday Oliseh, a former midfielder for Juventus and Nigeria, claimed at a press conference in Doha that strikers are “getting smarter.”
“Whatever you want to say about Ronaldo, he made a smart decision to wait until that precise moment to touch the ball, continue his leg, and then make contact. That is pure genius, he declared.
He claimed that strikers should be praised for their intelligence and for finding ways to prevail in games when things were tough.
Arsene Wenger, a former manager of Arsenal, is the head of the FIFA Technical Study Group.