Ronaldo and Portugal Face DR Congo in Emotional World Cup Opener

North America has already bowed to one king. Lionel Messi lit up the World Cup with a hat-trick, Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland thundered in braces, and the tournament finally felt like it had shifted out of second gear.

Now it’s Cristiano Ronaldo’s turn to walk into the glare.

Portugal opens its World Cup against DR Congo in Houston on Wednesday, a fixture loaded with more than group-stage jeopardy. It is the team’s first World Cup match since the death of Diogo Jota, the Liverpool and Portugal forward who was killed in a car crash last year alongside his brother André Silva, less than two weeks after marrying his long-term partner, Rute Cardoso. He leaves behind three children and a hole that football cannot fill.

The shock still lingers. Liverpool teammates have spoken of struggling to focus this season, their grief bleeding into performances. For Portugal’s squad, the World Cup is no longer just about a nation’s expectations. It is about carrying the dreams of a teammate who should have been lining up alongside them.

Roberto Martínez named Jota an honorary member of his World Cup squad. Portugal’s Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, went a step further, gifting each player a bracelet engraved with their name next to Jota’s. The squad plans to wear them in the opener against DR Congo at Houston’s NRG Stadium.

“They made sure that it was a wristband that we could wear on the pitch,” midfielder Vitinha explained to reporters. “He let us choose if we wanted to use it or not, during the day or during the match. We received it with a lot of affection and we chose to use it.”

The symbolism is powerful. The emotional load, heavier still.

“We feel this and we want to win it, not just because it’s a World Cup and it’s everybody’s dream, but for him as well,” Vitinha told CNN Sports earlier this year.

Ronaldo’s Role in a New-Look Portugal

Amid the tribute, the football will still demand answers.

Kickoff in Houston is at 1 p.m. ET, and all eyes, inevitably, will swing to Ronaldo. At 39, he is no longer the all-action force who once bent tournaments to his will, but he remains a central figure in a Portugal side brimming with talent.

The midfield is a statement in itself. Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, Bernardo Silva and João Neves form what may be the most complete engine room in the tournament – a blend of craft, control and relentless running. The question is whether Ronaldo enhances that core or clogs its rhythm.

Qatar 2022 offered a warning. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner struggled, eventually losing his starting place. Yet dropping him again for a World Cup opener would be a monumental call. As Messi reminded everyone last night, class doesn’t evaporate. Ronaldo still knows where the goal is, and defenders still feel his presence before the ball even arrives.

Across from them, DR Congo will not simply make up the numbers. Yoane Wissa is the obvious threat, a striker capable of punishing any lapse. The rest of the side is drilled to stay compact, to frustrate, to wait for that one loose touch or misjudged pass.

Portugal will want three points. It will also want a performance that looks like a contender’s first step, not a memorial weighed down by sorrow.

England, Croatia and Old Scars in Dallas

If Houston offers emotion, Arlington offers edge.

At 4 p.m. ET, England and Croatia meet at AT&T Stadium in one of the standout fixtures of the group stage. The pairing carries history, and not the kind England cherishes. Croatia knocked the Three Lions out in the 2018 World Cup semifinals, another chapter in a catalogue of near-misses stretching back decades.

The English arrive, as ever, with a suitcase full of expectation and a trophy cabinet that hasn’t welcomed a World Cup since 1966. This time, Thomas Tuchel has tried to reshape the narrative. He has leaned into chemistry over celebrity, leaving out headline names such as Cole Palmer and Phil Foden to protect the balance of his squad.

Even without them, the spine glows. Declan Rice to anchor, Jude Bellingham to surge and dictate, Harry Kane to finish and lead. England has the tools to go deep again.

Croatia, though, rarely reads the script. Luka Modrić, at 40, still dictates tempo with a calm that borders on arrogance. Surrounded by a familiar, battle-hardened core, the Vatreni will believe they can once more expose England’s frailties on the biggest stage.

For one soccer-obsessed nation, this is more than an opener. It’s a test of whether all that hurt has hardened into resilience or simply set up the next heartbreak.

Iran’s Visa Headache Eases

Away from the marquee clashes, Iran has been wrestling with a different kind of pressure.

Because of political tensions, the team has had to base itself in Mexico and travel into the United States for matches. After Iran’s first game, winger Mehdi Torabi discovered his visa had expired, threatening his participation in the rest of the tournament.

That cloud has lifted. Torabi has now been granted a new multi-entry visa by the US State Department, allowing him to play in all of Iran’s remaining fixtures.

“This issue has been resolved,” a State Department official told CNN’s Jennifer Hansler. “As soon as we became aware of the issue, we worked to ensure that the player can participate in every game.”

Logistics, at least for one player, will no longer dictate tactics.

Ghana, Panama and a Window of Opportunity

The evening slate moves north.

At 7 p.m. ET, Ghana meets Panama at Toronto’s BMO Field. For Panama, making just its second World Cup appearance, the memories of 2018 are harsh: three games, three defeats, including a 6-1 hammering by England. The target this time is modest but meaningful – a first World Cup point – and this opener may be the best shot at it.

Ghana knows what it is to flirt with history. In 2010, the Black Stars stood on the brink of becoming Africa’s first World Cup semifinalist before that infamous quarterfinal exit. Since then, the trajectory has stalled. Ghana has not escaped the group stage at a World Cup since.

This version of the team lacks some of the star power of its predecessors, but it has a live wire in Antoine Semenyo. The Manchester City forward arrives in form and gives Ghana a cutting edge it badly needs.

There is, however, a major absence. Midfielder Thomas Partey will miss the opener after his visa application to enter Canada was rejected, a decision upheld by a Canadian federal judge, according to the Associated Press. Partey is awaiting trial on rape charges in the United Kingdom but is expected to be available for Ghana’s two remaining group matches in the United States.

Ghana must navigate its most winnable game of the group without one of its most influential players. There may not be much margin for error.

Debutants Uzbekistan Face Battle-Hardened Colombia

The late game takes the World Cup back to its spiritual heartland.

At 10 p.m. ET, under the lights of Mexico City’s Estadio Azteca, Uzbekistan plays its first-ever World Cup match, the last of this year’s debutants to step onto the stage. The White Wolves arrive with a quietly intriguing profile, led by Fabio Cannavaro, the Italian legend who lifted the trophy as captain in 2006.

Defender Abdukodir Khusanov is the standout name. At 22, he has become a regular starter for Manchester City, impressing in both the Premier League and Champions League. His presence gives Uzbekistan a genuine anchor at the back and a symbol of what this new footballing nation can become.

The problem? Colombia knows this tournament inside out.

James Rodríguez, who exploded onto the global scene at the 2014 World Cup, remains the side’s creative heartbeat. He will be flanked by Luis Díaz, one of the most in-form wingers on the planet this season. That blend of experience and flair could overwhelm a debutant still adjusting to the scale of the occasion.

Uzbekistan will try to be the only one of the four new teams to win its opening match. To do it at the Azteca, against a seasoned Colombia, would be a statement that echoes far beyond this group.

DR Congo’s Other Battle

While DR Congo prepares to face Portugal, its players carry a second, darker backdrop.

Health authorities are grappling with an Ebola outbreak that could become the worst in the country’s history if it is not contained. More than 800 cases have been confirmed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has warned of the scale of the threat.

The affected region is remote yet densely populated, riven by insecurity and humanitarian crises. This outbreak is driven by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there are no specific treatments or vaccines. That combination makes containment brutally difficult.

US agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security, have introduced entry restrictions and screening for passengers arriving from the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan. No Ebola cases have been identified in the United States, and the World Health Organization assesses global risk as low, even as it labels the threat within DRC as very high.

During the World Cup, US officials are tracking multiple infectious threats, but Ebola is not at the top of the list. Early in an infection, the virus does not spread easily. Once a patient becomes severely ill and highly infectious, they are unlikely to be travelling or sitting in a stadium.

So DR Congo steps onto the field in Houston with the world watching for goals, patterns and upsets. Back home, another clock is ticking, one that has nothing to do with added time, and everything to do with how this World Cup will be remembered long after the final whistle.