Portugal will play against Congo, an African team returning to the World Cup after 52 years.
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Portugal's World Cup campaign begins on Wednesday. Portugal's first opponent in Group K is the Republic of Congo. The African country is playing its first World Cup in 52 years. Congo last played in the World Cup in 1974. At that time, Congo was called Zaire.
Zaire lost all three matches at that time. They conceded 14 goals. The only goal they scored was the same. Congo's performance in this World Cup in 2026 is unlikely to be as bad. The Portugal team has a player in the form of 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo, who has won almost everything in his successful playing career but has not been able to win the World Cup.
In the 2022 World Cup, Portugal was defeated in the quarterfinals by another African team, Morocco. Portugal's best performance at the World Cup so far was in 1966, when the team came in third place. Portugal's current goal will be to get off to a winning start. The other two teams in this group are Colombia and Uzbekistan.
Portugal has lost only twice in 15 matches in the league stage of the World Cup. Of those, Portugal was also defeated by South Korea in 2022. Portuguese defender Matheus Nunez says, "We know what the World Cup is like. All the countries participating in the World Cup are not weak in terms of quality."
He believes that each match should be viewed as another final. He says, "It only takes eight matches to win the World Cup. Every match should be considered a final. Some teams may be weak on paper, but on the field they can be the same. Like any game, there are possible outcomes.'
Nunez added, '90 minutes is a long game. It takes hard work to win every game.' Meanwhile, Portuguese defender Ruben Diaz trained alone on Monday, for no reason given. He has been isolated from the rest of the team. Portugal have not lost to African teams in the last five World Cup group stage matches.
Since losing to Morocco in 1986, Portugal has won four and drawn one against African teams. Congo's World Cup preparations themselves have not been good. The team's preparations have been affected by the Ebola virus outbreak. Most of the Congolese players play professional football in Europe, and none of the team's players play in the Congolese domestic league.
But they were only allowed to enter the United States after spending 21 days in Belgium and Spain. The team is in Houston. In the friendly matches since arriving in the US, Congo played a goalless draw against Denmark and lost the match against Chile 2-1. Congolese coach Sebastien Desabre says, ‘We have adapted to the situation here.’
He added, ‘Now our objective must be to focus on the game, this must be our only strategy. We have also prepared well. We have played two friendly matches. Now it is the turn of the World Cup. We want to leave a good impression in this tournament.’ Congo beat Jamaica 1-0 in extra time in the World Cup intercontinental playoff to book its ticket to the US.
