Ronaldo, De Bruyne, 8 other players that flopped at 2022 FIFA World Cup

As characteristic, there would be those who would steal the limelight, and those whose performance many will call out.

Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Julian Alvarez, Hakeem Ziyech, Luka Modric, to mention a few, were some of the standout stars from this year’s tournament and did perform at par with expectations held of them prior to the tournament.However, there are some players who same expectations were held of them, but failed to live up.The five-time Ballon d’Or winner had a tournament to quickly forget. Prior to the tourney, no one expected the Portuguese star to rack up just one goal, and have his side crash out in the quarter-finals. They were among the favourites tipped to get to the final but despite having Ronaldo in their ranks, they were humbled out by the unlikeliest side, Morocco.Although many will claim Ronaldo’s flop at the tournament was not down to him alone, but his lack of game time as he only started one of the five games Portugal played at the World Cup, nevertheless, his statistics at the tournament speak way below expectations held of himOne of the reasons, if not the major reason, Belgium crashed out of the group stage was down to Romelu Lukaku. Being one of the experienced and elite players in the Belgium squad, more was ndeed expected from him after coming back from injury to feature in the last game against Croatia.

Another Inter Milan player that had a horrible tournament with a stunning 0 goals in 6 games for Argentina, made worse by 0 assists. He lost more chances than any Argentine player at the World Cup, and although his side won the tournament, his performance is one he will look back to and find reasons to improve on.