Portugal held to draw by DR Congo in World Cup opener

HOUSTON – Portugal arrived with a favourite’s swagger, Cristiano Ronaldo chasing history, and an early goal that hinted at a routine afternoon. They walked away with a 1-1 draw, a single shot on target, and a sharp reminder that World Cups rarely follow the script.

For DR Congo, back on this stage after 52 years, this was something else entirely: a landmark night, a first-ever World Cup goal, and a point wrestled from one of the tournament heavyweights.

Dream start, flat response

The tone seemed set inside six minutes. Portugal sliced through with the ease of a team used to dictating these occasions. Pedro Neto found space on the left and whipped in a precise cross; Joao Neves, arriving with perfect timing, met it with a firm header from around 15 metres. One-nil, simple as that.

It should have been a platform. Instead, it became their high point.

That Neves header remained Portugal’s only effort on target all game. For a side loaded with attacking talent and expectations, the lack of incision was stark. They had the ball, they had territory, they had Ronaldo starting his sixth World Cup at 41, but they rarely had DR Congo in real trouble.

Coach Roberto Martinez did not hide from the weight his players carried.

“We didn't create enough chances and probably we lost that intention of scoring the second goal,” he said, pointing to a team playing with the burden of a nation’s ambition. The target is the trophy. The reality on the day was failing to put away Congo first.

DR Congo grow, and strike

For long spells of the first half, the game felt like a training drill. Portugal’s midfield moved the ball side to side, probing without penetration. DR Congo sat in, organised, patient, absorbing pressure and waiting for a moment to break.

That moment came just as Portugal seemed to be drifting towards the interval with their lead intact.

Backed by a loud Congolese contingent and watched by President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, Sebastien Desabre’s side began to push higher, to believe. Deep into first-half stoppage time, they finally landed their punch. Arthur Masuaku swung in a superb cross and Yoane Wissa, left unmarked, attacked it, steering his header past the keeper.

One clean, decisive move. One historic goal. DR Congo’s first at a World Cup.

“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,” Desabre said. “We gave everything we had against the team of Portugal. We are delighted.”

Delighted, and deservedly so.

Ronaldo contained, Congo threaten upset

The second half began with a change and a charge. Martinez withdrew Bernardo Silva at the break, searching for more thrust, but kept Ronaldo on the pitch, hoping the national team’s all-time leading scorer might produce that familiar late twist.

Portugal did increase the tempo. The ball moved quicker, the runs were sharper, the intent clearer. Yet the cutting edge still refused to appear.

DR Congo, far from clinging on, almost turned the night into a seismic upset. Cedric Bakambu came agonisingly close when he struck the post, a reminder that the African side were not just there to survive.

At the other end, Ronaldo finally found the sort of chances he lives on – and squandered them. Twice he fired wide from close range, half-openings that in earlier tournaments he would have buried without a second thought.

He left the pitch with another record, though not the one he will cherish most: the oldest player ever to start a World Cup match. For long stretches he was a spectator, marshalled expertly by DR Congo’s defence, denied the space he craves in and around the box. The game drifted around him rather than through him.

Heavy shoulders, harder path

This was not the statement Portugal wanted to open their campaign. They dominated possession, but too often in areas that suited DR Congo, allowing Desabre’s team to reset, reorganise, and grow in confidence. The urgency came late, the clarity never fully arrived.

The backdrop made the flatness feel even more jarring. Portugal were playing in front of the parents of former teammate Diogo Jota, killed in a car crash along with his brother in 2025, a poignant presence on a night that cried out for emotional edge and authority. On the pitch, those qualities never fully surfaced.

Now the group tightens. Uzbekistan and Colombia meet later in Mexico City, and Portugal know they must raise their level sharply against both if they are to keep alive the dream of delivering Ronaldo the one major trophy missing from his catalogue.

They have been here before, stumbling against African opposition on the biggest stage. Morocco ended their run in the quarter-finals in 2022. This time, DR Congo did not knock them out, but they did strip away the aura.

Portugal’s best World Cup finish remains third place in 1966. If this is to be the tournament that finally changes that line in the history books, they will need to find a different gear – and fast.