The whole point was that a player’s performance on a club has little bearing on the same player’s performance in the World Cup; this is Ronaldo’s second World Cup, and he had little impact in either so far. He isn’t playing with the most expensive in the world supporting him, and it is showing.
Spain’s performance this year is no different than France in 2002 (when as defending champion they were eliminated without scoring a goal) or Italy in 2010 (when as defending champion they were eliminated in the first round); coaches are tempted to go with what works, ignoring the intervening four years. There seems to be a professional courtesy that champs should be allowed an opportunity to repeat if possible.
It’s his 3rd World Cup, in his first World Cup, they indeed were semi-finalists, 4th place. Not too bad. 2006, 2010, still advanced to the round of 16. Some say defeated on an offside goal by Spain, I’ve seen the video and I think you can probably say it was. Country of 11 million.