Why Cristiano Ronaldo Should Not Be Portugal Captain

Jun 22, 2014; Manaus, Amazonas, BRAZIL; Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo (7) reacts to missing a shot during the second half of their 2-2 tie with the United States in a 2014 World Cup game at Arena Amazonia. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Former Portugal National team manager Paulo Bento has spoken about his displeasure about having Cristiano Ronaldo as captain , in a recent interview with Portuguese news outlet RTP.

The Portuguese man claims that if he had a choice in picking captain, he would go with Monaco player Joao Moutinho.

Bento was dismissed as Portugal manager two weeks ago after a string of disappointing results. Various media outlets have insinuated that Cristiano Ronaldo played apart in the dismissal of Bento.

However, the former manager himself disputes these claims, saying that he does not believe Ronaldo has that large of an influence over the Portuguese football federation.

"“If Cristiano Ronaldo had something to do with it, only the leaders of the Federation and the player know about it.” Bento told RTP, “Do I think that he has had an influence? I don’t want to believe it because it would the roles had been reversed.”“The hierarchy would have changed and that would start a precedent which would not be good either for the president of the Federation or for the player.”“I don’t think a player should be able to dictate what a director does, no matter how much influence he has.”"

Without a doubt Paulo Bento appears to be in denial. There are many people out there who wholeheartedly agree that Cristiano Ronaldo had a part in the dismissal of Paulo Bento. The fact that Bento himself, even being manager, could not choose his own captain is very telling.

Cristiano Ronaldo is one of the best players in the world and because of that fact, he has such strong reign over the football federation in Portugal, he can call whatever shots he wants.

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Bento even says that if he had to choose, he would not pick Cristiano Ronaldo as captain for Portugal.  “Ronaldo is more mature than he was a few years ago – He’s a great professional, but if I had to choose, I would go for Joao Moutinho.”

Throughout the World Cup qualifiers Portugal struggled, and it was painfully obvious that they were dependent on Cristiano Ronaldo, just like Real Madrid are at times.

During the World Cup, he did not display the most mature behavior, throwing tantrums and constantly complaining to the ref. Even after the USA match, he allegedly did not shake any of the players hands, storming straight into the tunnel.

This is not a problem with Ronaldo only, it’s a problem with various teams and various players. When a nation or a club has a player who is the top of the top, that player should not be captain because it can cause a disrupt within a team. The team will become too dependent on that player, like Portugal is with Ronaldo and bad results will happen because of that.

There is a reason that Cristiano Ronaldo is not the captain of Real Madrid. He is simply not captain material. Having players fawn over their best player like he is god’s gift does not mean that he is captain material. It means that they are dependent, weak and out of touch.

Lionel Messi is arguably the best player in the World and he is captain of his nation, Argentina, but there is a balance on his team where he is not looked at as the best. It is not about quality but more so the mentality of the players and Argentina have a slew of talented players who have a mentality that they can survive without Messi if they had too.

If the Portugal team can get a mentality without Cristiano Ronaldo being their star man then they would succeed. But as long as Ronaldo is captain of that team, they will not succeed. Team work is the most important thing and that is how teams such as Costa Rica and the USMNT made it as far as they did during the World Cup.

There are too many nations in football, mainly UEFA, who have coaches that can not control their teams. More coaches need to be like Jose Mourinho, Diego Simeone and even Jurgen Klinsmann who are huge motivational factors of their teams and are not afraid to speak their minds.