Ronaldo came into the Confederations Cup with a five-match scoring streak, having scored 48 goals in 52 starts during the 2016-17 campaign.
Following Saturday's game, New Zealand will turn their attention back to World Cup qualifying.
New Zealand global winger Marco Rojas has told Four Four Two that fans should lay off striker Chris Wood following his display against Mexico.
With the win, Portugal are now topping Group A with four points from two games while Russian Federation are in second place with three points from two games. "We played against a team playing at home with a home crowd, a team that pressured us but we were better".
Nonetheless, after earning three draws in the group stage at the Euros past year before winning the tournament, Portugal now has a win and four total points after two matches.
Down 1-0 at the end of the first half, Mexico made a stunning comeback and continued to put pressure on the New Zealanders all throughout the second half and end the game in a 2-1 victory.
"We have to manage the players and there will be rotation based on how the players are feeling, but it's easy when you have a group you trust", said Santos.
New AC Milan signing Andre Silva should lead Portugal's attack in Saint Petersburg, where Portugal will be the heavy favourites.
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Meanwhile, French driver Romain Grosjean was slowest and ranted constantly about brake trouble in his Haas vehicle . However with the session all but over the youngster made a mistake at Turn 1 and went sideways into the barriers.
"He told us he could have a small fracture, fortunately it is not as serious an injury, but he won't play tomorrow", said Santos.
Mexico rallied in the second half and equalised through Raul Jimenez in the 54th minute.
Smith tested goalkeeper Alfredo Talavera with a firm header, but it was Wood who was causing most of the problems, and Osorio was grateful to his goalkeeper for denying the Leeds striker one-on-one after he made the most of injured defender Carlos Salcedo's misfortune, much to Osorio's fury. "Our players and myself were shouting at them and the New Zealand coach to stop the match". Both sides have 4 points after two games, and both would be guaranteed to progress with just a draw in their final group stage match.
And if you think the tussle was contained to the pitch, check out this footage of the Mexican head coach Juan Carlos Osorio as he was moved away from the ruckus.
Its jury included Russian football team's coach Stanislav Cherchesov and former players Alexey Smertin, Sergey Semak and Dmitry Sennikov.
Teams who voluntarily kicked the ball out also got a raw deal because the ball would be returned to them deep in their own half rather than where play stopped.
The first half had been all Portugal and had they been a little more clinical, they would have had a fairly comfortable lead.
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