Portugal Stalled by Historic DR Congo Strike in World Cup

HOUSTON – The script was supposed to be familiar. Cristiano Ronaldo, back on the World Cup stage for a record-equalling sixth time, Portugal among the favourites, an early goal to settle the nerves and clear runway to three routine points.

For six minutes, it looked exactly like that.

Pedro Neto bent in a teasing cross from the left, Joao Neves timed his run perfectly and guided a firm header in from around 15 metres. One-nil, and Portugal were purring. DR Congo, back at a World Cup for the first time in 52 years, looked in danger of being swept away.

Then the game stopped following the script.

Portugal never managed another shot on target. Their early incision vanished, replaced by sterile domination, a lot of ball and very little bite. DR Congo, roared on by a noisy pocket of fans and watched from the stands by President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, refused to play the part of overawed guests.

Roberto Martinez could feel the tension tightening around his players.

"We didn't create enough chances and probably we lost that intention of scoring the second goal," the Portugal coach admitted afterwards, pointing to the weight of expectation as much as tactical failure. The dream of lifting the trophy, he suggested, sat heavily on their shoulders when the job was simply to beat Congo first.

Ronaldo, 41 and still the reference point, chased a slice of history of his own, seeking to score in a sixth World Cup and add another chapter to a career already crammed with records. He became the oldest player ever to start a World Cup match. That was the milestone he left with. DR Congo’s defenders saw to that.

They dropped deep, squeezed the space around the box and treated every cross towards Ronaldo as a siren. Portugal’s possession numbers climbed; their threat did not. Neves’ opener remained their lone meaningful effort, a statistic that told its own story.

On the stroke of half-time, the punishment arrived.

Arthur Masuaku whipped in a vicious cross from the left, Portugal’s back line froze and Yoane Wissa, completely unmarked, thundered in a header. Deep into stoppage time, DR Congo had their first-ever World Cup goal, and with it, a foothold in the tournament they had waited more than half a century to rejoin.

"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 changed the air inside the stadium. What had resembled a training exercise for long spells in the first half suddenly became a contest loaded with jeopardy for Portugal.

There was an emotional undertone, too. Portugal played with the parents of former teammate Diogo Jota in the stands, the forward having died in a car crash in 2025 along with his brother. The tributes and memories framed the occasion, but the performance on the pitch struggled to match the sentiment.

Martinez reacted at the break, withdrawing Bernardo Silva in search of more thrust. Ronaldo stayed on, of course. If there was going to be a decisive moment from Portugal, the logic went, it would come from their all-time leading scorer.

It never did.

Portugal did raise the tempo after the interval, moving the ball with more urgency and pressing higher. Yet the clearest chance belonged to DR Congo. Cedric Bakambu ghosted into space and smacked a shot against the post, a reminder that the upset was not a fantasy but a real possibility.

Ronaldo had his sights too. Twice he found half a yard in the box, twice he dragged efforts wide from close range. The movement was still there, the instinct too, but the finish deserted him on a night when his team needed him to bend the game to his will.

Instead, DR Congo held their line, closed the gaps and watched the minutes drain away. Ronaldo’s touches grew fewer, his frustration more visible. For all the talk of his longevity, this was a performance defined by how little he could influence, not how long he had lasted.

Martinez’s side, who exited the 2022 World Cup in the quarter-finals to Morocco, leave Houston with the same nagging doubts. When the rhythm drops and the spaces close, can they find another gear? Can they protect a lead without retreating into safety-first passing?

What is certain is that Group K now looks far less straightforward. Portugal still have to face debutants Uzbekistan and a dangerous Colombia, with both fixtures now loaded with extra pressure if they are to deliver the one major trophy Ronaldo has never lifted.

DR Congo, meanwhile, walk away with more than a point. They have a first World Cup goal, a first World Cup result in 52 years and the belief that they can stand up to one of the tournament favourites.

For Portugal, the afternoon that began with a perfect header and a sense of inevitability ended in something far more uncomfortable: a reminder that reputations do not win group stages, and that time, even for icons, does not wait.