It had taken him 24 matches and almost 2,000 minutes, but Cristiano Ronaldo has become the first man to score in six different World Cups.
Metres above, with a camera in his hand, Singaporean sports photographer Edmund Wong was also living his dream.
With his camera trained on the Portuguese forward, Wong caught the moment Ronaldo scored his first goal in the 2026 World Cup and rushed to his teammates in celebration.
One photo shows Ronaldo being embraced by his team, his jubilant face shining bright against the red of Portugal’s uniform, a symbol of courage and struggle.
“It tells a great story,” Wong, a fifa-accredited photographer, said, looking back at the picture. “It shows the amount of support that he has from his teammates and their belief.”
The photo – and Ronaldo’s two goals against Uzbekistan – comes amid doubts swirling around the 41-year-old superstar and his place on the Portugal team. His rivals had already made their mark in the 2026 tournament, with Argentina’s Lionel Messi scoring a hat-trick last week against Algeria, while Portugal drew 1-1 against DR Congo.
Originally posted on Wong’s Instagram, the photo was shared on Ronaldo’s personal account a day later on June 25 and has garnered more than eight million likes since.
