Matchday Pundit

The game, the passion, the argument

WORLD CUP 2026  •  GROUP K  •  MATCH REACTION

Wednesday June 17, 2026 • Group K • NRG Stadium, Houston

Portugal had 68 percent of the ball. Their captain had 25 touches, three shots, none on target, and fewer touches than his own goalkeeper. DR Congo, back at the World Cup for the first time in 52 years, left Houston with a point they thoroughly deserved. And the question that the football world has been quietly avoiding is now impossible to ignore.

By The Matchday PunditWednesday June 17, 2026  •  World Cup Day 7

Portugal vs DR Congo

Group K • NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas • June 17, 2026

1–1

Portugal: João Neves (6′)  ||  DR Congo: Yoane Wissa (45+5′)

68%Portugal Possession

3Ronaldo Shots (0 on Target)

25Ronaldo Touches

52Years Since Congo’s Last WC

DR Congo have not been at a World Cup since 1974, when they competed as Zaire. In that tournament, they became infamous for a moment that has been retold countless times, when defender Mwepu Ilunga broke from his team’s defensive wall during a match against Brazil and kicked the ball away before the Brazilians could take a free kick. It was a deliberate protest against a regime that had threatened the players and stolen their wages. They were routed. They went home. And for 52 years, they waited for another chance to prove that African football had moved far beyond that image. Last night in Houston, at NRG Stadium, they got their chance. And they took it. They held Portugal, the Nations League holders and one of the pre-tournament favourites, to a 1-1 draw. Their striker Yoane Wissa scored his country’s first ever goal in World Cup history, heading home with four minutes of first-half stoppage time played, and the Leopards left Texas with a point that nobody outside their camp truly predicted they would get. I want to acknowledge that properly before I say anything else. What DR Congo did last night was extraordinary.

But I cannot write honestly about this match without addressing what everyone watching it was thinking. What is happening to Cristiano Ronaldo?

A Performance That Asks Uncomfortable Questions

Ronaldo started this match and became, at 41 years and 132 days old, the oldest outfield player ever to start a FIFA World Cup match. That is a record, and records deserve acknowledgment. He is 41 years old and he is at his sixth World Cup. He is still here. But being here and being effective are two different things, and last night in Houston, Cristiano Ronaldo was not effective. He was not even close to effective.

Three shots. None on target. Twenty-five total touches across 90 minutes, which was fewer than his own goalkeeper, Diogo Costa, who had 37. His goalless streak in major competitions for Portugal now extends to 10 games. He had one touch inside the penalty box in the entire first half. Whenever the ball found him, he was peripheral, a step slow, unable to create the separation from defenders that was once his most reliable weapon. On one occasion near the 70th minute, he scuffed an effort wide when he should perhaps have laid the ball into Bruno Fernandes’s path. Shortly afterwards, a similar situation produced a similar result. Both times, Ronaldo chose to shoot. Both times, nothing came of it. Both times, better options existed.

BBC Sport pundit Chris Sutton did not hold back after the match. He said on the BBC: “Roberto Martinez, I do not understand some of his management. Cristiano Ronaldo was on the periphery, and the game passed him by. Martinez has to be brave enough to be the manager. He is not the manager of the Portugal team, and that is their issue.” I do not think Sutton is wrong. I think he has put into public words what many people watching privately felt. Portugal’s two most decorated players, Ronaldo and Bernardo Silva, had a combined impact of very little. Silva, who spent nine years at Manchester City before his contract expired this summer, picked up a yellow card in the 13th minute following a late challenge and was substituted at half-time, replaced by Francisco Conceicao. Ronaldo played all 90 minutes and finished with a SofaScore rating of 6.2, the joint-worst of all Portugal players on the pitch.

“He had fewer touches than his own goalkeeper. He extended his goalless streak in major competitions to 10 games. At some point the conversation has to happen.”

How the Game Actually Unfolded

Portugal started brightly and were rewarded quickly. In the sixth minute, Pedro Neto delivered an outswinging cross from the left wing and Joao Neves, the PSG midfielder, timed his run perfectly to meet the ball and guide a composed header into the bottom right corner of Lionel Mpasi-Nzau’s goal. It was a clinical finish and exactly the kind of early statement Roberto Martinez’s side needed. Neves is 21 years old and already playing with the poise and authority of someone three years older. That goal told you everything about where Portugal’s most vibrant football is currently coming from. It is not coming from the number seven.

DR Congo, making their first World Cup appearance in 52 years, responded with the kind of pressing and organised defending that their coach Sebastien Desabre had warned Portugal about in the pre-match press conference. They have a squad packed with Premier League experience. Aaron Wan-Bissaka at right back. Axel Tuanzebe and Chancel Mbemba at centre-back. Arthur Masuaku at left back. Samuel Moutoussamy and Edo Kayembe in midfield. And up front, Yoane Wissa of Newcastle United alongside Cedric Bakambu. These are not players who are intimidated by a Portugal shirt. In the 20th minute, Fernandes produced a precise ball over the top for Nuno Mendes, and if it were not for a perfectly timed Aaron Wan-Bissaka challenge, Portugal would likely have doubled their lead. That was the moment that told me this game would not be straightforward.

Chancel Mbemba, the DR Congo captain, was booked in the 32nd minute after catching Pedro Neto in the face with his arm during an aerial duel. The referee was correct. Shortly after, Wissa drove a shot wide of the right post when he probably should have done better. 1-0 to Portugal heading into the final stages of the first half, but with DR Congo growing and asking questions Portugal were not entirely comfortable answering.

Then came the 45th minute. From a short corner routine, Arthur Masuaku delivered a ball into the box from the left. Yoane Wissa, arriving at the near post, met it with a powerful header that gave Diogo Costa no chance. The stadium erupted among the Congolese supporters. It was DR Congo’s first ever goal in World Cup history. The first. In the 52 years since they last appeared at this tournament as Zaire, in all the waiting and the qualifying campaigns and the near misses, this was the moment they had been building toward. I found it genuinely moving. The players’ faces told you everything. Portugal’s faces told you something else entirely. They walked into the dressing room at half-time looking, as NBC Sports noted, stunned.

The Second Half. Portugal Looking For a Way Through. DR Congo Holding Firm.

Bernardo Silva did not return for the second half. Francisco Conceicao, the Juventus winger and son of Porto manager Sergio Conceicao, started the second period in his place. Portugal pushed with more urgency in the opening stages of the second half. Fernandes was more involved. Pedro Neto continued to stretch DR Congo down the left flank. But the final ball was consistently lacking and when it arrived, Ronaldo was either not in position or not sharp enough to convert the opportunities that came his way.

Nuno Mendes, Portugal’s left back, went off in the 72nd minute with what appeared to be a knock, replaced by Nelson Semedo. Pedro Neto made way for Rafael Leao at the same time, a swap that gave Portugal a different kind of attacking threat on the left. Leao, the AC Milan winger, was lively and direct and caused DR Congo problems in his 18 minutes on the pitch. But DR Congo defended with their entire squad, packing the box, winning headers, and doing everything their coach had instructed them to do. In the 83rd minute, Vitinha was replaced by Goncalo Ramos of Paris Saint-Germain, giving Portugal a second striker option. In the 90th minute, Bruno Fernandes finally got a shot away, pulling it just wide of the near post from 20 yards. Five minutes of stoppage time followed. A corner in the final seconds. Nothing. Full time. 1-1.

“DR Congo’s first ever World Cup goal. In 52 years of waiting. Wissa met it at the near post and headed it home and the Congolese supporters in Houston erupted. I found that genuinely moving.”

What This Means Going Forward for Portugal

Portugal are in Group K alongside Colombia and Uzbekistan. They dropped two points in their opening game and now face a group where every point matters. Colombia, who played Uzbekistan in the other Group K match on the same day, are the team most likely to challenge Portugal for top spot. If Portugal finish second in this group their knockout road becomes considerably harder.

But the bigger conversation is not tactical. It is about one player and one manager and a decision that the whole of Portugal knows needs to be made. Roberto Martinez has built a team that does not revolve around Ronaldo. Joao Neves, Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes, Pedro Neto, Bernardo Silva, Rafael Leao. These are players in their prime, playing some of the best football of their careers. The 4-2-3-1 that Martinez deploys is built on movement, pressing and quick transitions, and Ronaldo at 41 is no longer a player who can operate in that system to maximum effect. He cannot press the way the system requires. He cannot make the runs in behind that the system rewards. He is playing the World Cup of a player who was at his absolute peak in 2016, in a team that has evolved well beyond that version of football.

Martinez kept him on for the full 90 minutes last night while substituting Vitinha, a midfielder who was one of Portugal’s better performers, to bring on Goncalo Ramos as a second striker. That decision suggests Martinez either does not want to drop Ronaldo or does not feel he can. Both possibilities concern me equally. Because the players around Ronaldo are good enough to win this tournament. But not if the manager cannot make the hard calls that winning tournaments requires.

Chris Sutton on the BBC: “Roberto Martinez, I do not understand some of his management. Cristiano Ronaldo was on the periphery, and the game passed him by. Martinez has to be brave enough to be the manager. He is not the manager of the Portugal team, and that is their issue.”

The Final Word

I have the deepest respect for Cristiano Ronaldo. What he has done in football over two decades is unprecedented and deserves every superlative that has been applied to it. But respect for a career and honesty about a current performance are not the same thing. Last night, Ronaldo had fewer touches than his goalkeeper and did not manage a single shot on target. His goalless streak in major competitions for Portugal now stands at 10 games. He is 41 years old. And a group of truly excellent Portuguese footballers around him are being asked to work within a structure that accommodates him rather than optimises them.

DR Congo go home from Houston with a point and a moment of history. Yoane Wissa’s header will be shown on screens across the Democratic Republic of Congo for the rest of his life and beyond. That is a beautiful thing and I am glad this tournament gave them that moment.

Portugal go home from Houston with one point and a problem that one good result will not solve. The next fixture, against Colombia, will tell us a great deal about whether Roberto Martinez is willing to make the decisions his best team needs him to make. I hope he is. Because this Portugal squad, at full strength and at full intensity, can go very deep in this tournament. But not like this. Not while the game is passing their captain by.

Matchday Pundit