Teams from the Iberian Peninsula have struggled early in the 2026 World Cup.
After Spain failed to score against Cape Verde on Monday, Portugal failed to obtain three points in a disappointing 1-1 draw against the Democratic Republic of the Congo on Wednesday in Houston.
Portugal’s offense never clicked after a seventh-minute goal by João Neves, and superstar Cristiano Ronaldo was held scoreless for his fifth straight World Cup game.
For the first time, many Portuguese fans wondered why Ronaldo was not substituted off for another striker.
Manager Roberto Martinez gave a simple answer.
“It makes no sense to get the best goal scorer in world football out in a game that you need goals,” Martinez said after the game.
Instead of blaming Ronaldo, the coach pointed to his team’s lack of urgency after going 1-0 up early.
“We started very, very well,” Martinez told reporters. “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 setup their counterattacks, and we lost a lot of depth. That helped Congo.”
Ronaldo watched his longtime rival and Argentine winger, Lionel Messi, score a hat-trick, tying Miroslav Klose for the most goals in World Cup history with 16, in a win on Tuesday night.
Other star strikers, Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland, scored two goals apiece to help their teams win both of their opening matches on Tuesday as well.
But it is not all doom and gloom for Portugal. While it did drop points, with the eight best third-place teams making it to the knockout stage, four points could be all teams need to advance to the round of 32.
The next match for Portugal will be against World Cup debutants Uzbekistan on Tuesday afternoon.
