Cristiano Ronaldo is playing in his sixth World Cup, but his first half against the Democratic Republic of Congo drew heavy criticism online. The match was played on June 17, 2026, and the Portuguese star struggled to influence the game, even though Portugal controlled 80% of possession.
Users on social media joked that Portugal should bring Ronaldo on if it wanted to win, and others questioned why he remained on the bench, in the wording of one post. Another post, attributed to Wayne Rooney, praised Ronaldo’s positioning as “SO CLEVER,” saying he was drawing Congo defenders’ attention and opening space for Joao Neves to score.
The numbers reflected the subdued outing. One stat post said Ronaldo had 16 touches in the first half with no goals, assists, shots on target or dribbles. Another listed zero goals, assists, shots, shots on target, chances created, big chances created, successful take-ons, fouls won and duels won. A French-language post called him “inoffensif” and said he attempted no dribbles, no shots and no duels, while completing 15 backward passes out of 16 attempts.
The overall message from the posts was that Portugal and Ronaldo were not following expectations in the first half, even as the team held the ball almost constantly.
