World Cup Unpacked: Cristiano Ronaldo Isn't Portugal's Main Problem. Roberto Martinez Is.
The man who couldn't win a tournament with Belgium's golden generation is making the same mistakes with an equally talented Portugal side
The World Cup moves fast, World Cup Unpacked slows it down. This is a space to dig beneath the surface of the tournament's biggest talking points, the tactical missteps, the overhyped storylines, and the things worth spending time paying closer attention to. Fair warning: this column has a point of view. These aren't neutral observations. They're opinions, and I'm standing behind them.
The headlines about Portugal’s 1-1 draw with DR Congo will run with Cristiano Ronaldo’s performance, but the problems run much deeper than that.
It’s easy for the media to make Ronaldo the scapegoat for this poor result. After seeing other household names score, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner was invisible for Portugal in front of the goal.
But let’s dig deeper than the headlines.
Ronaldo isn’t the one deciding to start every game. It’s Martinez, he’s paid the big bucks to make the bold decisions to lead Portugal to victory. Ronaldo isn’t going to say no to being the starter; he may carry a lot of weight, but the manager always has the final say in those kinds of decisions.
Roberto Martinez isn’t new to international management. He was the man tasked to capitalize on Belgium’s golden generation, but all he could muster was third place finish at the 2018 World Cup. It’s not a disappointing result but you would expect to at least make a tournament final with Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois and Romelu Lukaku in their primes.
Portugal played a lot of crosses in their opening game of the tournament. While the Congo did sit in a low block and flood their box with defenders, Martinez set up the team to play like prime Cristiano Ronaldo was in the box.
At 41, he’s not as fast, he can’t outmuscle defenders, and don’t expect him to be as aerially dominant. This version of Ronaldo is going to poach for goals and rely on his movement in the box to get on the end of low crosses into the box. Everyone sees who Ronaldo is now except Martinez, who has his own vision of who Ronaldo is.
Martinez can make some tweaks to change the way Portugal looks for Ronaldo. If he doesn’t, that’s on him. If he wants to bench Ronaldo, he can, but I don’t see him having the courage to do that.
You can make the argument that this current Portugal side isn’t too far off from the level of talent of Martinez’s Belgium teams. The midfield is stacked with Vitinha, Joao Neves and Bruno Fernandes all playing at world-class levels this past season. There are so many players on the roster playing for top European teams.
Talent isn’t the issue. Let’s get into tactics.
The decision to play Bernardo Silva on the right side of the pitch was highly questionable from the start. Silva is best in the center of the pitch, controlling the pace of the game as he does for Manchester City. He’s not going to provide width or verticality on the ball. It’s why Chico Conceição made such a big difference on the right side in the second half, bringing that raw pace and dribbling ability that was missing.
The midfield has talent but struggles to be effective at creating chances. Fernandes had to drop deep multiple times to get a touch on the ball and get into playmaking areas. The team wasn’t set up to look for Fernandes in the half spaces or in tight spaces where his improvisation can take center stage.
This way of playing forced him to be conservative with his passing. There was no risk-taking from the record-breaking Premier League playmaker.
Aside from that, Vitinha struggled to have the same impact he had with PSG. He set the all-time pass completion record in a single World Cup match by completing 121 passes from 128 attempted. However, no chances were created or a real individual moment to break down the opponent.
Overall, it was a disappointing showing for the most talented midfield in the tournament. Portugal’s problems don’t all land on the shoulders of Ronaldo.
This is another moment where Martinez is paid to make the decisions. As stated earlier, he’s not a stranger to managing star talent. His tactics have yet to really stand out and be real difference makers. This one result is undoubtedly a wake-up call for the team and Martinez to get it right from the start.
Viewers of this team should be more critical of the tactical setup’s effect on other players rather than on the player who’s going to average the least amount of touches in every game they play. It’s easy to blame Ronaldo if Portugal fails, but Martinez is the real architect of Portugal’s future in this tournament.