Cristiano Ronaldo Still Dreams: A Guide to Group 11 at the 2026 World Cup
Main story: Ronaldo’s latest attempt. Euro 2016, the Nations League in 2019 and 2025, 143 goals, a record in international football, success in Portugal’s shirt is nothing new for Cristiano Ronaldo. But in the most important national-team tournament, he has still not won anything. The closest he came was the semifinals in 2006, in his first World Cup, and the upcoming tournament, his sixth, will be his last chance. Yes, it was written that Qatar was his “last dance,” and then the same was said about the most recent Euros, and perhaps he himself dreams of returning in four years to a World Cup that Portugal will co-host, when he will be 45, and teaming up with his son as if he were LeBron James, but this time that is really not a realistic scenario in any way. Ronaldo is expected to lead the attack, and his form will have a major impact on Portugal’s results. He was fairly prolific in qualifying, with 15 goals in 14 World Cup and Euro qualifying matches, and for Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia, but he will need to prove that he can still do it against top-level opposition after disappointing in the last two major tournaments, with just one goal in 10 games, and that was from a penalty. This is Ronaldo’s most important moment in recent years, especially after his nemesis Lionel Messi won the previous World Cup, and although he is no longer Portugal’s best player, nor second best, nor third best, all eyes will be on him.
Relative strengths: Can Colombia challenge Portugal? Ronaldo may be the main story, but as noted, he is not what makes Portugal a candidate to win the tournament, it is mainly its midfield. Bruno Fernandes is coming off the best season of his career at Manchester United and is currently the best playmaker in the world, Vitinha holds a similar status among defensive midfielders, and they are joined by the pair of newcomers, João, 21, Vitinha’s teammate at PSG, and Ruben, who is far from the spotlight at Al-Hilal in Saudi Arabia, but is an excellent player. There is no shortage of talent in other positions either, including left back Nuno Mendes, also from Paris, who is also considered the best in the world in his role. The question now is whether coach Roberto Martínez, who did not really meet expectations with Belgium’s golden generation and also with Portugal at the last Euros and in World Cup qualifying, can make it all come together into a team that can go all the way, or at least return to the semifinals for the first time in 20 years. The team that could challenge Portugal already in the group stage is Colombia, which is returning to the World Cup after failing to qualify for the previous one, and many see it as a leading candidate to be the tournament’s dark horse. It reached the 2024 Copa América final after 28 consecutive matches without defeat, but there it fell to Argentina and entered a year-long slump, though it managed to recover and eventually finish third in South American qualifying. It seems to depend on the state it arrives in, but when the mood is right, this Colombia is certainly a team capable of beating quality opponents, as it proved in qualifying against Argentina and Brazil. Captain James Rodríguez, the top scorer at the 2014 World Cup, has not played at the highest club level for years, but it seems that whenever he wears the national team shirt he returns to being a superstar, and the Colombians will hope that is the case at his last World Cup. In any case, the biggest-star role now belongs to Luis Díaz, who delivered an outstanding season at Bayern Munich and arrives at the peak of his career. The two of them will try to lead their team to put right the experience from the 1994 World Cup in the United States, which ended tragically for Colombia with the murder of Andrés Escobar.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo is one of the rising forces in African football. It finished its qualifying group in second place, just two points behind strong Senegal, then passed Cameroon and Nigeria in the African playoffs and Jamaica in the intercontinental playoff to qualify. This will be its first World Cup under that name, since in its only previous appearance, in 1974, it was still Zaire. Back then it lost all three of its matches, and its players feared what the local dictator had planned for them. Now, with an impressive squad that includes a large number of players from the top five leagues, most of them born in Europe but representing the team because of their roots, it hopes to make amends and, above all, bring some joy to a country suffering from ongoing violent conflict. Uzbekistan, a football-crazy country, will take part in the World Cup for the first time in its history. After making a name for itself as a side that always narrowly missed out on qualification, this time it completed the task fairly easily, helped by the expanded field, finishing second in its group in the third qualifying round, ahead of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Most of the squad plays in the domestic league, but there is also one representative from Manchester City, the 22-year-old center back Abdukodir Khusanov, who enjoys idol status in the country. While Uzbekistan has no World Cup experience, its coach is none other than Italy’s Fabio Cannavaro, who lifted the World Cup in 2006. His coaching career has not been especially impressive so far, with stops in China, Italy and Croatia, and he was appointed only in October, in a controversial decision by the Uzbek federation that replaced Timur Kapadze, who was responsible for the qualification. The federation explained that Cannavaro was hired because an defensive style gets results, so a particularly cautious team can be expected.
Who are you anyway? Luis Suárez (Colombia). Until last summer, the striker with the big name was still playing for Almería in Spain’s second division. But after repeatedly tearing up the net there, he was sold to Sporting Lisbon, where he filled the huge shoes left by Viktor Gyökeres, enjoyed a huge breakout season, and played an important role in the club’s run to the Champions League quarterfinals. He is a scorer with explosive potential, as he proved when he scored four goals in a 6-3 win over Venezuela in qualifying, and at age 28 he arrives at the World Cup in the peak of his career.
Not to miss: Colombia vs. Portugal. If the storyline develops as expected, the meeting in the final round will be a battle for first place between two teams that may not be among the top favorites to win, but can certainly go far and will try to make a statement. The match will be played in Miami, and about 30 percent of Americans of Colombian origin live in Florida, so support from the stands, along with the very hot weather expected, could help Colombia erase Portugal’s edge on paper.
You may skip: Democratic Republic of the Congo vs. Uzbekistan. If you are not from either of those countries, there is probably not much reason to stay up until 2:30 and then even forgo the Portugal vs. Colombia match to watch this meeting, which could produce ratings that make FIFA question whether expanding the tournament was such a good idea.
Take a number: 0. Ronaldo has scored eight goals at the World Cup, but all of them were in the group stage. He has eight knockout matches without a single goal.
Prediction: Portugal will get 9 out of 9. Bruno Fernandes will deliver a big group stage and lead Portugal through with a perfect record. Colombia will win its other two matches, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uzbekistan will draw 0-0, sending both home early.
First published: 15:51, 03.06.26
