Portugal Stalled as Congo Roared: Ronaldo's World Cup Begins with a Draw

HOUSTON – The script was written for a procession. It turned into a warning.

Portugal, one of the tournament’s heavyweights and led by a 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo chasing the one trophy that still eludes him, were held to a 1-1 draw by a bold, resilient Democratic Republic of Congo side making their World Cup return after 52 years.

For six minutes, it looked like a mismatch.

Pedro Neto found space on the left, glanced up, and whipped in a teasing cross. Joao Neves attacked it, meeting the ball with a firm header from around 15 metres. Portugal were ahead, early, slick, in control. A pre-tournament favourite had its ideal launch.

That turned out to be their only shot on target.

From there, the afternoon slowly slipped away from Roberto Martinez’s team. They kept the ball, passed, probed, and circled the Congolese block, but rarely pierced it. The weight of expectation hung over them.

“We didn’t create enough chances and probably we lost that intention of scoring the second goal,” Martinez admitted, pointing to the psychological burden of a squad told they should be winning the whole thing, yet unable to put away a side ranked far below them.

Ronaldo’s record-setting start

Ronaldo made history just by walking onto the pitch, becoming the oldest player ever to start a World Cup match and appearing in his sixth edition of the tournament, a mark he now shares with Lionel Messi.

History, though, did not bring sharpness.

Portugal’s captain spent long stretches on the fringes of the game, starved of service and crowded out whenever he drifted near the box. When the chances did come, they went begging: two efforts from close range skewed wide, the kind of finishes that once felt inevitable.

Martinez kept him on, hoping for a late flash of the old sorcery. It never arrived.

Congo grow into it

While Portugal treated possession like a comfort blanket, DR Congo treated every turnover like an invitation. They sat deep, survived the early blow, and grew bolder with each Portuguese sideways pass.

In the stands, President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo watched his country’s return to this stage. On the pitch, his players slowly began to believe.

Just when Portugal seemed content to drift into the break with a narrow lead, Congo struck.

Deep into first-half stoppage time, Arthur Masuaku found space on the left and whipped in a vicious cross. Yoane Wissa, unmarked, attacked it with conviction and buried his header. DR Congo’s first-ever World Cup goal. A moment 52 years in the making.

“It is a step forward for us to have scored this first goal and to have this first point for our country during this World Cup,” coach Sebastien Desabre said. “We gave everything we had against the team of Portugal. We are delighted.”

The equaliser transformed the mood. Portugal trudged off, annoyed and flat. Congo strode down the tunnel with a sense of purpose.

A second half with an edge

The context around Portugal’s performance made the lethargy harder to watch. They were playing in front of the parents of former teammate Diogo Jota, who died in a car crash with his brother in 2025. It should have been a day to channel emotion into intensity.

Instead, the first half had often felt like a training exercise: a technically gifted midfield knocking the ball around, but with little tempo, little incision, and almost no jeopardy until Wissa’s header stunned them.

Portugal did return with more urgency after the interval. Martinez hooked Bernardo Silva at the break, a bold call, and pushed his team higher. The pattern, though, did not dramatically change. Possession remained Portuguese; the clearer threat belonged to Congo.

Cedric Bakambu nearly flipped the story entirely. He latched onto a break, took aim, and beat Diogo Costa – but not the post. The ball smacked the upright and ricocheted away, a fraction from one of the great World Cup upsets.

That scare finally jolted Portugal. They pushed, they crossed, they shot from distance. Ronaldo kept searching for that one clean look. It never quite came.

Congo’s defenders stayed tight, disciplined, and ruthless in their marking, refusing to give the veteran forward the half-yard he has built a career on exploiting.

Pressure rising on Portugal

When the whistle went, Congo’s players celebrated a point that felt like a statement. A first World Cup goal. A first World Cup point. A reminder that they did not come to make up the numbers.

For Portugal, the draw felt like something else entirely: a stumble at the very start of a campaign that is supposed to end with Ronaldo finally lifting the one trophy that has always slipped away.

They know what comes next. Uzbekistan and Colombia await in Group K, with debutants Uzbekistan facing Colombia later on Wednesday in Mexico City. Dropped points against Congo leave Martinez’s side little room for further missteps.

Portugal’s modern World Cup history offers its own cautionary tale. They went out in the quarter-finals in 2022 to Morocco, another African side that refused to be overawed. Their best finish remains third place, all the way back in 1966.

Now, with their greatest ever player chasing his last great prize, they have started by turning a dream opening into an anxious draw.

The margin for error is shrinking. The question is simple: can this team finally rise with the pressure, or will the weight of expectation crush them again?