JAKARTA - Portugal coach Roberto Martinez has dismissed concerns, both about his team and about star Cristiano Ronaldo's goal drought at major tournaments, after a disappointing 1-1 draw between Portugal and the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, June 18, 2026 WIB, at the NRG Stadium.
Ronaldo failed to score for the fifth time in a row at the World Cup and the 10th consecutive match at a major tournament, including the World Cup and the Euro.
He has not scored a non-penalty goal in a major tournament since June 19, 2021. Even though he played almost every minute, Portugal only scored one goal in their last four matches in major tournaments.
Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes against Congo despite only having three shots on target and none of them were on target. This is the sixth time that the Al Nassr striker has completed a game without a shot on target at the World Cup.
When Martinez looked for a solution, replacing Ronaldo was clearly not one of his options.
"It doesn't make sense to take out the best scorer in world football in a game that needs a goal," Martinez said.
Ronaldo is Portugal's all-time leading scorer, with 143 goals for his national team. He is also the second person to appear in six World Cups, following in the footsteps of Lionel Messi of Argentina.
However, his attempt to surpass Messi's record - who scored a hat-trick on Wednesday, June 17, 2026 WIB, when defeating Algeria 3-0 - by becoming the first player to score in his sixth World Cup, failed.
The performance also raised doubts about Ronaldo. However, Martinez immediately stood up.
Martinez particularly attributed Portugal's problems against Congo to a lack of initiative after Joao Neves' early goal put them ahead.
Neves scored in the sixth minute, but Portugal only managed six more shots after that.
"We started very, very well. Our level of play, our control, the way we entered the penalty area. Scoring a goal - which is usually the moment where the emotion of scoring a goal helps you maintain control of the game and try to score the second goal - has the opposite effect."
"Instead, it made us want to maintain possession of the ball. We gave Congo the opportunity to rearrange their defensive structure and build their counterattacks. We lost a lot of depth. That helped Congo," said Martinez.
Congo, playing at the World Cup for the first time in 52 years, became the second African country to start the tournament well against European teams, after Cape Verde drew 0-0 against Spain on Monday, June 15, 2026.
Martinez insisted there was no need to panic after one game, while reassuring that Ronaldo would still be a key player for Portugal.
"The World Cup is a tournament where things like this happen. Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia (in the 2022 edition) and then won the World Cup."
"In 2010, Spain lost to Switzerland and then won the World Cup. Their performance was not like the performance of a true champion, but that was part of the process."
"What we are talking about here is the first match of the World Cup. Today, after we scored the opening goal, the emotion had a negative impact on our performance."
"We stopped taking risks, we stopped looking for space, we stopped reaching the final third of the pitch. It was more a matter of emotion than tactics or technique."
"It happened. It's part of the World Cup. Now we're evaluating it and improving performance for the second match," he said.
Portugal will next face Uzbekistan on Wednesday, June 24, 2206, early morning WIB, in Houston.
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