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FIFA World Cup 2026 Match Today Live Score: After Lionel Messi scored a hattrick and helped Argentina start their World Cup campaign with a bang with a 3-0 demolition of Algeria, the onus will now be on rival Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal to open their encounter with DR Congo on Wednesday in Houston with a positive result.
Ronaldo, who finally won the Saudi Premier League for the first time after his transfer to Al Nassr in 2023, will look to banish the ghosts of the 2022 edition when he scored just one goal in Qatar and had to leave the tournament in tears after losing to Morocco in the quarterfinals. His goal-scoring drought in major competitions continued in 2024 when he went goal-less in the Euro and Portugal were eliminated in the quarterfinal by France.
Congo, meanwhile, are coming into the World Cup after 52 years. But their off-pitch problems took a turn for the worse when an Ebola outbreak was declared in Congo on May 15. They then had to relocate their training camp to Belgium and before entering the United States, the players will have to maintain a 21-day bubble outside the country. Still, a positive result against 2016 Euro champions Portugal will go a long way in putting smiles on faces of their fans.
FOLLOW POR vs COD LIVE SCORE AND UPDATES FROM THE FIFA WORLD CUP BELOW.
This is the first ever meeting between Portugal and Congo which makes it a historic occasion in itself. Portugal are the overwhelming favourites but as France team from 2002 can attest, anything can happen in the FIFA World Cup. Can Congo pull off a 2002 Senegal tonight? We'll have to wait and see
Portugal: Sa, Silva, Semedo, Dias, Dalot, Inacio, S. Costa, Nunes, Neves, Ramos, Felix, Trincao, Leao, Guedes, Conceicao
Congo: Fayulu, Epolo, Batubinsika, Kayembe, Kalulu, Mbuku, Bongonda, Sadiki, Tshibola, Pickel, Cipenga, Kakuta, Elia, Mayele, Banza.
Portugal: Diogo Costa, Joao Cancelo, Tomas Araújo, Renato Veiga, Nuno Mendes, Joao Neves, Vitinha, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Pedro Neto, Cristiano Ronaldo
Congo: Mpasi Nazu; Wan-Bissaka, Tuanzebe, Mbemba, Kapuadi, Masuaku; Mukau, Moutoussamy, Kayembe; Wissa, Bakumbu.
June 12: Mexico 2-0 South Africa
June 12: South Korea 2-1 Czechia
June 13: Canada 1-1 Bosnia and Herzegovina
June 13: USA 4-1 Paraguay
June 14: Qatar 1-1 Switzerland
June 14: Brazil 1-1 Morocco
June 14: Haiti 0-1 Scotland
June 14: Australia 2-0 Turkey
June 14: Germany 7-1 Curacao
June 15: Netherlands 2-2 Japan
June 15: Ivory Coast 1-0 Ecuador
June 15: Sweden 5-1 Tunisia
June 15: Spain 0-0 Cape Verde
June 16: Belgium 1-1 Egypt
June 16: Saudi Arabia 1-1 Uruguay
June 16: Iran 2-2 New Zealand
June 17: France 3-1 Senegal
June 17: Iraq 1-4 Norway
June 17: Argentina 3-0 Algeria
June 17: Austria 3-1 Jordan
If Ronaldo is the face of this Portugal side, Manchester united Bruno Fernades is its heartbeat. Every ball which Ronaldo and the other forwards will latch on to this World Cup will come from the midfield engine of Fernandes, Vitinha and Joao Neves. Fernandes recently broke the all time EPL assists record and dragged the in-transition Manchester United to 3rd while his midfield partners are coming off the back of back to back Champions League triumphs with PSG.
Ronaldo, playing his 6th World Cup, is standing in front of a plethora of records. If he scores against Congo on Wednesday, he will become the only player to find the net in each of 6 World Cups. If Argentina lose early and Portugal go all the way, Ronaldo could leap frog Messi to become the player with the highest number of appearances in the World Cup. He can also become the oldest goal-scorer in the World Cup's history with teammate Pepe currently holding the record.
While Ronaldo's form is a suspect in recent tentpole events like the World Cup 2022 and Euro 2024, He has been scoring quite a few in international colours. In Portugal's victorious Nations Lague 2024-25 campaigns, he struck 8 times against high caliber opponents like Croatia and Scotland (Group stage), Denmark (Quarterfinal), Germany (semifinal) and Spain (final). In the World Cup qualifiers, he scored 5 times.
June 17: Portugal vs DR Congo
June 18: Uzbekistan vs Colombia
June 23: Portugal vs Uzbekistan
June 24: Colombia vs DR Congo
June 28: Colombia vs Portugal
June 28: DR Congo vs Uzbekistan
Group A: Mexico, South Africa, Republic of Korea, Czechia
Group B: Canada, Switzerland, Qatar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Group C: Brazil, Morocco, Scotland, Haiti
Group D: USA, Paraguay, Australia, Turkey
Group E: Germany, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Curaçao
Group F: Netherlands, Japan, Sweden, Tunisia
Group G: Belgium, Egypt, Iran, New Zealand
Group H: Spain, Uruguay, Saudi Arabia, Cape Verde
Group I: France, Senegal, Norway, Iraq
Group J: Argentina, Austria, Algeria, Jordan
Group K: Portugal, Colombia, DR Congo, Uzbekistan
Group L: England, Croatia, Ghana, Panama
On the other end of the spectrum to Portugal stands DR Congo. After they qualified for their fist World Cup in 52 years, there was an Ebola outbreak in the country. The players who had initially looked to train there had to leave and shift base in Belgium. After that, they moved to Marbella where their training match against Chile was cancelled. The players also had to maintain a 21-day bubble before entering the United States to play the World Cup.
After Messi's hattrick, the onus will be on Ronaldo to guide Portugal to a good start. But it won't be easy for the 41-year-old, also playing his 6th World Cup. The last two major events haven't been kind to the legend with Ronaldo scoring just once in Qatar in 2022 while failing to find the net even once in Euro 2024. In both occasions, Portugal were dumped out of the competitions at the quarterfinal stages, first to Morocco and then to France.
POR: LWDWWW
COD: WLWWDL
Portugal: Costa, Semedo, Dias, Inacio, Dalot, Neves, Vitinha, Trincao, Fernandes, Neto, Ronaldo
Congo: Mpasi-Nzau, Wan-Bissaka, Mbemba, Tuanzebe, Kayembe, Bongonda, Moutoussamy, Sadiki, Mukau, Mbuku, Wissa
Cristiano Ronaldo will finally grace us with his presence on a football pitch for the first time in this World Cup when Portugal open their campaign against DR Congo in Houston. After Lionel Messi lit up the stage earlier in the day with a hattrick vs Algeria, all eyes will now be trained on his eternal rival Ronaldo who will look to start this tournament off with a bang. Follow us to find out how it goes live.
Bruno Fernandes once had a coach who told him that if he wanted to be a top player, he should be a central defender, while if he just wanted to be a good player, he should be a midfielder. Bruno ended up choosing the latter and is now proving his prediction wrong and showing that sometimes it’s better to listen to one’s instincts. “I wanted to be the best out of all of them. And if I need to do a nutmeg on someone, I will do it – I don’t care,” he said in a Manchester United podcast in 2020. (READ MORE)
