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Golden oldies fighting for the golden boot? Let us not get ahead of ourselves. But it will do Cristiano Ronaldo’s ego no harm that he is off the mark at this World Cup, particularly in light of Lionel Messi’s voracious appetite to stoke fires that started long ago. Two first-half goals gave Houston’s public what they came for and laid an unfortunate run to rest. Until this contribution to what quickly became a leisurely non-contest, Ronaldo had not scored in 10 major tournament matches.

Thank goodness, then, for an Uzbekistan defence that would have struggled to hold firm in a Masters game. There could have been no better opponent to help Ronaldo get his eye in, Nuno Mendes’ free-kick, an Abdukodir Khusanov own goal and Rafael Leão’s late adornment emphasising the point. Fabio Cannavaro’s players could not get near opponents of this level.

It brought relief for Roberto Martínez, under fire after Portugal’s slow start. They will play in the last 32 and there was no faulting their application this time. The question is whether Ronaldo’s renaissance reveals anything at all. If that was so good then try it in a quarter-final against Messi and Argentina, hardly an outlandish prospect as things stand. Few salient topics were really settled here.

Even so, did anyone seriously think Ronaldo would go quietly? Breaching a defence that had already looked alarmingly porous is one thing but, nonetheless, the half-volley that began his afternoon was another of this tournament’s disarmingly theatrical moments.

He had just been slightly too far behind a Nuno Mendes centre, making a hand signal indicating the tiny margin of inaccuracy, but there were no flaws in the timing after João Cancelo was sent to the byline. The near-post cutback was met emphatically from six yards by its intended recipient, who ran towards the technical area and was mobbed by what felt like every member of Portugal’s delegation.

Portugal’s travelling fans, assuming some had snuck in among the Ronaldo tourists, were treated to his standard celebration. His name was soon chanted expectantly after Odiljon Hamrobekov, desperately felling Pedro Neto on the edge of the box, granted a fresh chance to take aim. The puff of cheeks, the tightened shoulders, the paced-out backwards strides: Ronaldo had teed up the situation to his liking but then left Mendes to run around the ball and whip it low past the keeper Abduvohid Nematov. It turns out this is a team sport after all.

At this point any score looked possible. Uzbekistan’s back line were in disarray and would have conceded even earlier if Abdulla Abdullaev had not blocked from Bruno Fernandes. Portugal had needed a cutting edge to match their dominance against DR Congo, against whom they had ultimately created little, and were being being given every opportunity to apply the knife.

To the approval of their lively support Uzbekistan looked sharper moving the other way, Sherzod Nasrullaev blasting a half-chance at Diogo Costa. Their own bench erupted when Azizjon Ganiev located the top corner spectacularly but a VAR review quickly found Abbosbek Fazyullaev had fouled Cancelo directly beforehand, an offence that had seemed clear enough in real time.

So there was no fuzzy underdog tale to disrupt the day’s booming headline act, which of course had been made possible by Fifa’s postponement of the final two games of a three-match suspension. Ronaldo may as well have sat out the DRC game, as it happened, but he was unmistakably present this time.

Fernandes certainly knew where Ronaldo was located when, given an entire midfield in which to surge, he slipped a pass between Khusanov and Rustam Shurmatov. It was all too easy and Ronaldo could beat a slightly unconvincing Nematov from an angle. The best part of 60,000 mobile phones could do their thing once again. A picture-perfect third would have followed just before half-time if Ronaldo, who had gone well to flick another Cancelo delivery over the onrushing Nematov, had not been denied by a dramatic Khusanov intervention.

The hat-trick had been postponed, at the least, and a natural assumption was that Portugal would spend the second half trying to put that right. Shortly before the hour Ronaldo again feinted to take a free-kick before running ahead of the ball, carrying on to meet Fernandes’ chip and seeing Nematov sharply out to block.

Ronaldo took a blow for his troubles but Uzbekistan were harmed more severely by the resulting corner. It was snaked in low by Fernandes, missing a cluster of bodies at the near post before squirming in off multiple body parts of the unfortunate Khusanov. The Portugal and Aston Villa set-piece coach, Austin McPhee, joined Martínez in a touchline embrace.

Still Ronaldo, his starting position edging ever closer to goal, sought the match ball. One shot was deflected wide, another beaten away and a stretching added-time effort scuffed off target. It was Leão, with a rising drive, who had the last word but Ronaldo’s rippling, bellowing image had enjoyed the loudest say.