Portugal had won a corner kick, and Ronaldo casually jogged into the center of the penalty area to receive it. Everyone knew the cross would come to him, no one more than Morocco’s Manuel Da Costa, who accepted the challenge of staying between Ronaldo and the ball.

Except that Da Costa did not. A shift of the hips and a half-dozen quick strides by Ronaldo — speed he now reserves for only the most appetizing moments — and he was free. The ball arrived on his forehead and just like that was redirected into the net. Portugal led. Ronaldo preened. And four minutes into their second game of the World Cup, Morocco wondered if it might be on its way out.

Ronaldo mostly stalked the rest of the match — a threatening presence more than a particularly active one — while Morocco banged away without success at the other end.

”We should have been much more effective,” Morocco Coach Hervé Renard said. “Just like in our opening game, we had lots of scoring opportunities. But those who know how to be in the penalty area and are the most gifted players know how to make a difference.”

Portugal will have to be better than it was if it is to challenge in the later rounds here, Santos said: more disciplined, more creative, more willing to impose itself on teams rather than wait to counterattack. “We played well,” Santos said, “but I think we need more than that.”

But Santos rejected the assumption, posed by more than one reporter, that his team had been poor, and that Ronaldo had looked ineffective or, worse, old.

“Cristiano is like a port wine,” Santos said. “He knows how to refine his capacity and age at his best.”