Janne Palomäki
Roberto Martínez is afraid of Cristiano Ronaldo, writes Janne Palomäki from Los Angeles.
Cristiano Ronaldo missed a goal against Congo. PDO
Tunisia decided to fire head coach Sabri Lamouchi right after the World Cup opening match.
Portugal should also think about something similar.
Roberto Martínez squandered the best medal chances of Belgium’s golden generation and got the chance to coach an even brighter star combination.
The results have not improved. In Houston, Portugal conceded an early opener and thought Congo had been beaten.
A mistake can happen to anyone.
But after Yoane Wissa leveled the match in the very last seconds of the opening period, the entire Portugal team should have woken up to a new situation.
The responsibility for that falls on head coach Martínez.
He first took Bernardo Silva off the field, who was left in the dark, but left Cristiano Ronaldo there, who was hunting for a historic goal.
CR7 is a great player but at times he plays more for himself than for the team. And it was no surprise that the best places in Portugal’s second period fell to him.
He wasted them all.
Martínez would have had Rafa Leão, João Félix, Francisco Trincão and Gonçalo Guedes and Gonçalo Ramos at his disposal.
The 41-year-old superstar played the entire match. Head coach Martínez does not dare to defy him.
At no point did the match become one where Ronaldo’s strengths could have been fully utilized by the team. Congo forced Portugal to run after the ball, which has never sat well with Ronaldo’s ego.
However, the biggest story of the 1-1 draw is Congo’s rise from the losing position. It showed that football is not all about stardom. Portugal controlled the ball, but still couldn’t create scoring chances.
Excellently organized defense kept Cristiano Ronaldo completely in the dark. His head coach should have noted that.