Cristiano Ronaldo is already trying to move Portugal on from a rough start.
The 41-year-old Portugal captain sent a defiant message after his side opened its World Cup campaign with a disappointing 1-1 draw against DR Congo in Houston on Wednesday, a performance that did little to quiet questions about whether Portugal can still build its attack around him.
“It wasn’t the start we wanted, but this is far from over,” Ronaldo wrote on Instagram. “Heads up and focus on the next game.”
Portugal dominated possession but created little, finishing with just one shot on target against a DR Congo side that frustrated one of the tournament’s most talented squads.
Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes but had a quiet night, failing to put any of his three shots on target.
Afterward, he defended Portugal’s performance and suggested the result could have gone either way.
“Nothing was lacking,” Ronaldo told reporters. “That’s football. Portugal could have won, but they could also have lost.”
The draw immediately placed more attention on Ronaldo’s role in Roberto Martinez’s team.
This is his sixth World Cup, putting him alongside Lionel Messi as the only players to reach that mark, but the two icons had very different opening games.
Messi started Argentina’s tournament with a hat trick in a 3-0 win over Algeria.
Ronaldo, now playing his club football in Saudi Arabia with Al Nassr, endured a far quieter night as Portugal labored to a draw against an opponent it was expected to beat.
The contrast will only add to the scrutiny around Ronaldo, who has not scored a non-penalty goal at a major international tournament since June 2021.
That statistic has followed him into another World Cup, where Portugal arrived with enough attacking quality to be considered a real contender but still faces familiar questions over how much should run through its aging superstar.
Ronaldo’s career has been defined by proving people wrong, and his message after the opener made clear that he does not view one flat performance as a sign of anything bigger.
But Portugal’s display made the debate unavoidable.
Was it simply a bad opening night, or another sign that one of football’s greatest players is no longer the same tournament force?
Portugal still has time to answer that question.
It next faces Uzbekistan on Tuesday in Houston before closing Group K against Colombia on June 27.
For Ronaldo, the message was clear.
The start was not good enough.
But he believes Portugal’s World Cup run is nowhere near finished.