Portugal coach Roberto Mart\u00ednez wouldn\u2019t say if Cristiano Ronaldo would start Tuesday\u2019s World Cup match against Uzbekistan after the superstar’s forgettable performance in the team\u2019s opener.<\/p>\n
“I can\u2019t inform you about the starting 11 because I haven\u2019t informed my players,” Mart\u00ednez said Monday when asked if Ronaldo would remain in the lineup.<\/p>\n
The 41-year-old Ronaldo failed to score in Portugal\u2019s 1-1 draw with Congo.<\/p>\n
Television pundits and social media users criticized Ronaldo after he missed on a couple of good scoring chances in the second half. Some wondered why Mart\u00ednez didn\u2019t substitute him in the second half with the team struggling offensively.<\/p>\n
Mart\u00ednez said criticism does not impact his team and said such talk is part of being in an event of this magnitude.<\/p>\n
“We are playing a World Cup so of course we have a lot of noise and tension, but it\u2019s part of the game,” he said. “The focus is on the team and we want to show a positive attitude \u2026 to be ready for the match. We are very much focused. We are strong. The team is even more united than before.”<\/p>\n
While not specifically referring to Ronaldo, Mart\u00ednez added that some of the criticism is “unfair, it\u2019s unjust.”<\/p>\n
Ronaldo did not speak to reporters after the game but has posted twice social media since the draw. In the first post, he wrote: “It wasn\u2019t the start we wanted, but this is far from over. Head up and focus on the next game.”<\/p>\n
On Sunday, he posted four pictures from a team training session and wrote: “Focused on the mission.”<\/p>\n
Ronaldo and Argentina\u2019s Lionel Messi became the only men to play in six World Cups with their participation this year. Ronaldo will try again Tuesday to become the first player to score in six World Cups after falling short in the opener.<\/p>\n
He currently shares the record with Messi, who has five goals in Argentina\u2019s two matches this year to give him a record 18 goals across five tournaments. Messi failed to score in 2010.<\/p>\n
4 Takeaways From DR Congo’s World Cup Draw Against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal<\/p>\n
Portugal vs. Uzbekistan Prediction, Odds, Picks For World Cup Match<\/p>\n
Portugal don’t NEED to drop Cristiano Ronaldo – but Roberto Martinez must learn when to axe his superstar or risk more World Cup disappointment<\/p>\n
Despite Ronaldo\u2019s struggles in the opener, when he had just 25 touches, Mart\u00ednez remains confident in his ability to help the team finish opportunities in the final third.<\/p>\n
“Cristiano is the best one to do that,” he said. “The numbers support this of this iconic player who is Cristiano Ronaldo. If you look at the past 32 games, he is the player that has extra movement opening spaces and finding pockets.”<\/p>\n
Uzbekistan coach Fabio Cannavaro knows not to underestimate Ronaldo despite the results in Portugal\u2019s first game. While his team is preparing for the team\u2019s many stars, it is Ronaldo that he said his players must pay particular attention to.<\/p>\n
“We need to be careful when we are in the box because we cannot leave this kind of player alone,” he said. “We need to be very focused on him because Cristiano can score in every situation, free kicks, even in the corner. So we need to be very careful.”<\/p>\n
Reporting by The Associated Press.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
POPULAR SEARCHES BROWSE BY Portugal coach Roberto Mart\u00ednez wouldn\u2019t say if Cristiano Ronaldo would start Tuesday\u2019s World Cup match against Uzbekistan after the superstar’s forgettable performance in the team\u2019s opener. “I can\u2019t inform you about the starting 11 because I haven\u2019t informed my players,” Mart\u00ednez said Monday when asked if Ronaldo would remain in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":5330,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/play-live.eu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}