Portugal walked into its 2026 World Cup opener against DR Congo expected to roll. Instead, the team labored to a 1-1 draw, and the questions started before the final whistle. This wasn’t supposed to be hard. Group K was supposed to be a formality. But Roberto Martinez’s Portugal looked cautious, predictable, and strangely passive against a team ranked 46th in the world.
Joao Neves scored early, in the sixth minute. That should have been the start of something comfortable. Instead, it was the high point. Portugal took the lead and then basically stopped pushing. They kept possession. Lots of it. But they didn’t do anything dangerous with it. DR Congo grew into the game, and when Yoane Wissa equalized, it didn’t feel like a fluke. It felt inevitable.
Ronaldo can’t be the plan anymore
Cristiano Ronaldo is 41 years old. He’s playing in his sixth World Cup, which is incredible. But the version of him that could create separation for 90 minutes and terrify defenders one-on-one is gone. That’s not his fault. That’s just time. The problem is that Martinez is still building the attack around him as if that version still exists.
DR Congo doubled him, cut off passing lanes, and watched him struggle to get involved. Portugal’s strategy boiled down to waiting for the perfect cross to a striker who can’t manufacture space the way he used to. The result was a team that controlled the ball but had no real threat. Crosses came in without variety. Central spaces went un attacked. Wingers got the ball too late or in positions where they couldn’t beat anyone.
This is where Martinez has to answer for his choices. Portugal has passers who can dictate tempo. It has wide players who can beat people one-on-one. It has midfielders who make late runs. This squad is loaded with technical talent. But the team played small. It played safe. And it looked like a group that was told to feed Ronaldo first and ask questions later.
Belgium all over again
If this sounds familiar to anyone who watched Belgium under Martinez, that’s because it is. He inherited what was supposed to be Belgium’s Golden Generation. World-class players at every position. Years of top rankings. A third-place finish in 2018 that felt like a peak. Then it all fell apart. By the 2022 World Cup, Belgium looked old, slow, and emotionally drained. They went out in the group stage after a lifeless draw with Croatia. A generation of talent, wasted.
Portugal isn’t Belgium. This squad is younger in key spots. Deeper in attack. Not obviously at the end of its cycle. But the pattern is the same. A talented collection of players being made to play a style that shrinks them. The offense becomes predictable. The energy drains. The team loses its aggression at exactly the moment when reinvention is needed.
What comes next
Uzbekistan is next, and that game now matters more than it should. It’s a test of whether Martinez can adjust quickly. Not just tactically but philosophically. Portugal doesn’t need to bench Ronaldo as some kind of statement. It needs to use him differently. A shorter, sharper role. Let him come on when defenders are tired and the game is chaotic. That’s where he can still be dangerous. That’s how you get his value without choking the team’s movement.
Starting matches with more speed, more pressing, and more unpredictability would unlock this group. The talent is there. The ideas just aren’t. One bad opener doesn’t ruin a World Cup run, but it exposes the manager’s blind spots. Martinez has already watched one Golden Generation fade away on his watch. Portugal shouldn’t let him do it again.
Leave a Comment