Cristiano Ronaldo playing for his legacy at World Cup 2014

A wonderful World Cup would cement Cristiano Ronaldo's status as Portugal’s finest, ahead of Luis Figo and the 1966 top scorer Eusebio. An early exit would probably result in Ronaldo relinquishing his World Player of the Year award.

Cristiano Ronaldo dragged Portugal into the World Cup thanks to a play-off win over Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Sweden. Francisco Leong / AFP

Portugal were pitted in a pool that included the United States. They featured a Real Madrid winger who was the reigning World Player of the Year. He toiled tirelessly. They still went out.

Not the 2014 World Cup, but 2002. Portugal may sense unfortunate parallels with their past. For Luis Figo, read Cristiano Ronaldo?

Icons of different generations, their paths crossed in the following four years. The 2006 tournament, when Portugal reached the last four, provided Figo with a belated achievement at the World Cup.

It was Ronaldo’s first and, so far, best World Cup. A semi-finalist at 21, he could be forgiven for wondering if his Portugal career peaked early. There have been times in the past few months when it feels as though he has been single-handedly staving off decline.

Ronaldo dragged Portugal to the World Cup. His play-off performance against Sweden was nothing short of sensational, his triumph in a personal shoot-out against Zlatan Ibrahimovic sealing his coronation as 2013’s footballing king.

Portugal built a team around Ronaldo, his 10 teammates acknowledging that, while several are Champions League winners in their own right, a gulf separates the best player from the rest.

Yet, whatever their merits, the manner of their 4-0 thrashing by Germany only serves to underline the importance of Ronaldo.

The feeling is it will take another superhuman effort from the superstar to take the team ranked fourth in the world into the last 16 of the World Cup.

Their mauling in Salvador was so emphatic that it felt like no Ronaldo would mean no hope for Portugal. The stories that Ronaldo risks long-term damage to his knee by playing on were an indication of how perilous is Portugal’s predicament.

They need him fit and firing and his teammates to eliminate the errors that led to their undoing.

Ego and ambition can merge with Ronaldo. Personal milestones have driven him on; he has waged war against defenders and counterparts – Lionel Messi in particular – at the same time.

He is a team player in the sense that his goals benefit the team and, as his 120th-minute Champions League final penalty indicates, his desperation to score on the major stage remains the case even if the result is already determined.

Selfishness accounts for his development, from the show pony of 2006 to the most ruthless player on the planet now. Ronaldo has collected records with the zeal of a geek. He lives in the moment and with an eye on his place in history.

A wonderful World Cup would cement his status as Portugal’s finest, ahead of Figo and the 1966 top scorer Eusebio. An early exit would probably result in Ronaldo relinquishing his World Player of the Year award.

It is not a nation’s prime concern, but the reality is that Ronaldo’s colleagues owe him a performance. Sunday’s meeting with the US promises to be a fascinating contrast of styles: technical against physical, Old World against New.

The US promise to be Portugal’s antithesis. They are less talented, but spirited, unified and disciplined. Not for them the rank idiocy that got Pepe dismissed against Germany. The suspended centre-back and the injured Fabio Coentrao and Hugo Almeida will be absent tonight.

Portugal, whose team tends to stay the same, must make at least three changes as they bid to alter their fortunes.

Their opponents will be keen to sustain their momentum. Jurgen Klinsmann’s side showed in their opening win against Ghana that they are ferociously determined and defensively solid.

They reacted to a setback – the concession of Ghana’s equaliser – with an almost immediate winner. Portugal, albeit against better opposition, capitulated against Germany.

Rewind 12 years and the Americans were Portugal’s first opponents. They were surprise victors then in a result that, along with the famous 1950 win against England, ranks among the finest for the US in the World Cup.

Beating Portugal a second time may just top that and give Ronaldo his Figo moment.

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