Photo by Fauzan Saari
Portugal’s opening match at the 2026 FIFA World Cup didn’t go as planned. The side – widely considered one of Europe’s strongest squads – was held to a 1-1 draw by the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Group K, and the conversation afterward quickly turned to one man.
Cristiano Ronaldo. At 41, he’s appearing in his sixth World Cup, tying Lionel Messi for the most appearances in tournament history. But against Congo, there was little to show for it – no goals, no assists, no shots, no chances created, no successful take-ons, and no duels won in the opening half alone.
That’s a lot of zeroes.
Former France striker Thierry Henry didn’t hold back after the match, calling out Ronaldo on Fox – both for his performance and his apparent mindset on the pitch.
“The team needs to score. Not you need to score.”
Portugal manager Roberto Martinez, though, isn’t budging. He defended his decision to keep Ronaldo on the pitch, pointing instead to the early goal – Joao Neves put Portugal ahead in the sixth minute – as the reason his side lost its edge.
Martinez Defends Ronaldo
“It makes no sense to get the best goal scorer in world football out in a game that you need goals.”
Martinez expanded on that after the final whistle, explaining how the fast start actually worked against his team.
“We started very, very well. Our level, our control, the way we got into the penalty area. Scoring the goal – which is normally a moment when the emotion of scoring helps you keep control of the match and try to score a second goal – had the opposite effect. Instead, it made us want to keep possession of the ball. We gave Congo the opportunity to reorganize their defensive structure and set up their counterattacks, and we lost a lot of depth. That helped Congo.”
There’s something to that reading of the match. Portugal did appear to sit back after going ahead, and Congo’s equalizer was the result. But Martinez’s defense of Ronaldo is harder to accept at face value.
The Harder Question
Ronaldo hasn’t scored a non-penalty goal in a major international competition in years. Whatever his historical standing – and it’s considerable – he’s no longer among the elite finishers in world football right now. That’s not a criticism so much as a straightforward assessment of where he is at this stage of his career.
Martinez calling him “the best goal scorer in world football” doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny. And if Portugal’s World Cup strategy is built around waiting for Ronaldo to deliver in the final third, the tournament could end sooner than anyone in Lisbon is hoping.
Group K has only just begun. Portugal still has time to adjust. Whether Martinez actually will is another question.
