Portugal Held to Draw as DR Congo Secures Historic World Cup Point

HOUSTON – The script was written for Cristiano Ronaldo. A sixth World Cup, a record shared only with Lionel Messi, a soft-looking opener against a nation back on this stage after 52 years. One early goal seemed to confirm it. Then the story twisted.

Dream start, dull edge

Portugal were in front before DR Congo had time to settle. Six minutes in, Pedro Neto found space on the left and hung up a teasing cross. Joao Neves, timing his run perfectly, met it with a firm header from around 15 metres. One-nil, simple, clinical.

For a side billed as one of the pre-tournament favourites, it looked like the first step in a routine dismantling. It turned out to be their only shot on target.

What followed was possession without penetration. Roberto Martinez’s team passed and probed, but almost always in front of DR Congo’s compact block. The ball moved; the game did not. The tension, though, did.

"We didn't create enough chances and probably we lost that intention of scoring the second goal," Martinez admitted later, pointing to the weight of expectation on a group openly talking about winning the World Cup. Beat Congo first? They never truly did.

Congo grow, history arrives in stoppage time

DR Congo arrived to survive, then slowly realised they could compete. Backed by a noisy travelling support and watched in the stands by President Felix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo, they stopped chasing shadows and started stepping into tackles, into passing lanes, into the contest.

The equaliser came at the perfect psychological moment: deep into first-half stoppage time. Arthur Masuaku whipped in a superb cross from the left. Yoane Wissa, completely unmarked, attacked it and buried his header. Their first-ever World Cup goal, carved out against one of Europe’s giants.

"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."

Portugal, suddenly level, trudged off to a soundtrack of Congolese celebration and their own nagging doubts.

A training session with stakes

The first half had often felt like a glorified rondo. Portugal’s midfield – rich in technicians, light on incision – circulated the ball as if on autopilot. The intensity never really matched the occasion. The emotion, though, sat heavy over the night.

They were playing in front of the parents of former teammate Diogo Jota, killed in a car crash with his brother in 2025. It added a rawness to a game that, on the pitch, struggled to ignite.

Martinez tried to shock his side into life at the interval. Bernardo Silva did not reappear for the second half. The message was clear: more urgency, more risk. Ronaldo stayed on, of course. When your all-time leading scorer is 41 and chasing one last missing trophy, you leave the door open for one more trick.

Ronaldo contained, Congo threaten the upset

The second half opened with more drive from Portugal but the same problem: very little end product. DR Congo dropped deeper, then sprang forward with increasing menace when the chance appeared.

Cedric Bakambu came within inches of turning a famous night into a seismic one. His strike beat the goalkeeper but not the post, rattling the woodwork and silencing the Portuguese end. For a moment, Portugal stared down the possibility of an opening defeat that would have shaken the tournament.

Ronaldo had his chances, two of them from close range. Both times he pulled his shots wide, the kind of finishes that once felt inevitable now drifting away. DR Congo’s defenders stayed tight, denied him space, and refused to be drawn into the old mythology. They treated him like any other forward. It worked.

Ronaldo still walked away with a line in the record books: the oldest player ever to start a World Cup match. On the night, that was where his impact largely stopped.

Questions for Portugal, belief for DR Congo

Portugal’s performance will worry Martinez. One early goal, then a flat, predictable display, echoing old flaws. They dominated the ball, but not the game. They controlled territory, not the scoreboard.

They have been here before. In 2022, it was Morocco who ended their run in the quarter-finals. Their best finish remains third place, way back in 1966. The ambition around this group suggests they expect more, yet the football in Houston did not match the rhetoric.

Now they face Uzbekistan and Colombia in a Group K that suddenly looks more awkward than it did on paper. Dropped points in the opener mean less margin for error, more pressure on a squad already feeling the weight of Ronaldo’s last dance on this stage.

For DR Congo, the equation is different. A first World Cup goal. A first World Cup point. A night when they stood toe-to-toe with a heavyweight and refused to fall. Desabre called it a step forward. It felt like the start of something.

Debutants Uzbekistan meet Colombia later in Mexico City. Portugal will be watching, aware that their path just narrowed. DR Congo will be watching too, no longer just happy to be back, but wondering how far this return can really go.