3 Changes Ronaldo, Portugal Need After World Cup Opener Draw vs. DR Congo

Cristiano Ronaldo came into this World Cup with one mission left to chase, and Portugal's opener against DR Congo did nothing to suggest it's getting any closer. A 1-1 draw in Houston left fans frustrated, and the numbers tell a worse story than the scoreline.

Portugal controlled 75 percent of possession and strung together 724 passes at a 92 percent success rate, yet managed just seven shots all game. DR Congo, with a fraction of the ball, still out shot them with eight. That kind of gap between control and output points to a deeper issue.

Portugal looked like a team that mistook holding the ball for doing something with it. Their only shot on target the entire match came in the sixth minute, a header from Joao Neves, and everything after that felt like a long walk in circles.

If Roberto Martinez's Portugal want to be taken seriously as title contenders, rather than a collection of stars who never quite delivered together, changes need to happen before facing Uzbekistan. Here are three changes that they need to make:

Stop Over Possessing and Ditch the Sideways Passing

Keeping 70 to 80 percent possession means nothing if the opposing goalkeeper barely has to move. That was the story against DR Congo. Portugal walked the ball through midfield with four or five touches before doing anything meaningful, giving defenses all the time they needed to set up and get comfortable.

The fix starts with tempo. Players like Vitinha and Bruno Fernandes need to look for line breaking passes early instead of recycling the ball sideways.

Getting from the middle third into the final third faster forces defenders to scramble rather than settle, and scrambling defenses leave openings. With Ronaldo waiting in those spaces, faster ball movement turns half chances into real ones.

Start Francisco Conceicao and Joao Felix

The wide play against DR Congo had no unpredictability to it. Bernardo Silva is a brilliant player, but out wide his tendency is to slow things down, cut inside onto his left foot, and look for the next pass rather than beat his man.

Conceicao changes that picture completely. He's a direct, downhill winger who wants to run at defenders, get to the byline, and force panic with the ball at his feet, then whip it into the box.

Pairing that with Joao Felix coming off the bench gives Portugal a different kind of threat too, someone who can drift into pockets between the lines and link play quickly rather than wait for it to come to him.

Maximize Cristiano Ronaldo's Output

Nobody has seen the version of Ronaldo that used to define these tournaments, not yet anyway. He went scoreless again against DR Congo, stretching his drought to 10 straight major tournament matches without a goal, the longest stretch of his international career.

The form isn't there right now, but defenses still treat him like a threat, often committing two or three bodies just to track his movement. That respect alone creates space for others, but Ronaldo still needs service to matter.

At 41, he's not the player who can drop into midfield and help build attacks the way he once did. What he can still do is finish, provided the ball reaches him in the right spots.

With Conceicao stretching the right side and fullbacks like Nuno Mendes pushing forward, Portugal should be looking for low, driven crosses and early balls into the penalty area rather than slow buildup. Chaotic second ball situations inside the box are where Ronaldo still does damage.

The approach needs to shift from asking him to create chances to building the final third around getting him looks he can finish.

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This story was originally published June 17, 2026 at 2:22 PM.