Yesterday marked the end of Portugal’s 2026 World Cup, and as a Portuguese person, I’m not going to sugar-coat what I thought.
I’ll keep most of the points brief just to give some context and focus on what really matters: Portugal had a poor World Cup. A very poor one. And it’s deeply disappointing to see a golden generation bow out in the Round of 16. Yes, it was against Spain, but it was far from an impossible game to win. The talent is there. What was missing was desire from most of the players, and above all, a manager.
Roberto Martínez has somehow managed to waste another golden generation. First Belgium, now Portugal. It’s unbelievable how a team with arguably the best midfield in world football can look completely lost in possession. Even worse, that same midfield ended up being the biggest disappointment of the tournament.
Vitinha joins the national team and suddenly forgets how to play. Bruno Fernandes, who finished as the Premier League’s top assist provider last season, comes here and struggles to complete a five-yard pass. He creates nothing. He barely shoots. He cannot hit the target. Nothing.
Defensively, Portugal were decent, more or less. But going forward, they were a disaster. If you don’t have enough quality out wide, fine. Try something different. What you cannot do is wait for a miracle. That is not a sustainable way to play football.
As for Ronaldo, I have nothing to criticise. He scored when he needed to score. When he didn’t, he still played well and remained a constant threat inside the box… if the ball ever reached him. And that’s the problem: if the ball gets there.
It was painful to watch a team endlessly exchanging sideways passes with no purpose, no intent and no creativity. Nobody was willing to take risks. The only apparent plan was to cross the ball into the box and hope Ronaldo would sort it out. Is that really elite football?
What makes it even harder is knowing this was Ronaldo’s final World Cup. And I’ll say this without hesitation: for everything he has done for Portugal, for the way he has represented the national team, and for the way he has been treated over the years, Portugal never truly deserved Cristiano Ronaldo. Simple as that.
The biggest frustration is knowing this team had the quality to reach at least the semi-finals, only to go out in the Round of 16 against a very good Spain side that was still beatable. Once again, Portugal simply failed to play football.
And then you hear Rúben Dias and Roberto Martínez saying that “Portugal played well”. Honestly, go fuck yourself. Do they really think Portuguese fans didn’t watch the match? Do they think we’re blind?
Conclusion
It was a failed World Cup. A wasted opportunity caused by a lack of ideas, a lack of urgency and a lack of leadership.
And with that, Cristiano Ronaldo’s final World Cup came to an end in the worst possible way.