Everything’s fine.
Portugal slumped to a 1-1 draw against DR Congo in their World Cup opener and faced the scorn of the world’s media, particularly thanks to a lacklustre Cristiano Ronaldo performance.
Portugal will almost certainly be fine with Colombia and Uzbekistan left to play in their group, but there was concern about the performance of one of the pre-tournament favourites.
Yet according to the coach and captain, there’s nothing to worry about.
Ronaldo unconcerned about Portugal draw
“Nothing was lacking. That’s football,” Ronaldo said in the mixed zone post-match.
“Portugal could have won, but they could also have lost,” that doesn’t sound fine…
Then in his press conference, Roberto Martinez further played things down.
“We started the game very well,” he said.
“Scoring the goal changed things a bit because of our lack of attacking runs into the box.
“We started just trying to keep possession and didn’t get into the final third. That gave DR Congo an opportunity to regroup and start again.
“The goal before halftime came from a set piece. We know they work very well and that’s part of the World Cup.
“Now it’s time to evaluate and analyze. But I liked the attitude.”
He added: “The second half was much more incisive, we got into the final third and that’s part of the World Cup process. It’s better to have a performance like that in the group stage.
“The attitude was very good and the individual aspects we need to grow during the World Cup were present in the game.”
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