Portugal are back in action today and we are on Cristiano Ronaldo watch again. Plus, we get another look at England's vision for how they win this World Cup, and goal difference is must watch yet again.
Dave Clark
Today's games
Portugal vs. Uzbekistan
Time: 10 am Pacific
Where: NRG Stadium, Houston, TX
TV: Fox, Telemundo
Online: Tubi, Fox One, Peacock
England vs. Ghana
Time: 1 pm Pacific
Where: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA
TV: Fox, Telemundo
Online: Tubi, Fox One, Peacock
Panama vs. Croatia
Time: 4 pm Pacific
Where: BMO Field, Toronto, ON
TV: Fox, Telemundo
Online: Tubi, Fox One, Peacock
Colombia vs. DR Congo
Time: 7 pm Pacific
Where: Estadio Akron, Zapopan, JA
TV: FS1, Telemundo
Online: Tubi, Fox One, Peacock
The new issue of IV: The Sounder at Heart magazine is now available for pre-order. Issue 2 will focus on Seattle’s role in the 2026 World Cup.
What’s interesting today?
Portugal’s World Cup did not start as expected, drawing DR Congo in a match they could just have easily lost. Maybe most concerningly, if you asked someone what the worst case scenario for Portugal was pre-tournament, it’d have looked exactly like that opening match.
João Neves snuck them an opening goal and they controlled the middle of the pitch with their excellent midfield, but they never really looked like the better team. By the time the Leopards scored, it not only only felt deserved, it felt inevitable.
Portugal had 75% of possession, but they couldn’t create anything, then they had to push their fullbacks so far forward to help out that they were vulnerable in transition. And the reason they couldn’t create anything was largely down to one man.
Cristiano Ronaldo was dreadful. Actually, that’s too kind because a dreadful player generally can’t get anything going himself. Ronaldo was actively inhibiting his teammates’ ability to score with selfish runs and decisions for all 90 minutes.
It’s rare to watch a single player completely torch an otherwise good team and potentially dangerous attack, but that’s what we witnessed and it wasn’t a complete surprise.
Ronaldo didn’t score from open play in either the last World Cup or Euros and he’s older now than he was then. Now at 41, he’s incredibly immobile and would be limiting to the Portugal attack even if he was prioritizing working for the team instead of himself. Taking him to the World Cup was a stretch, let alone starting him, but he’s Cristiano Ronaldo. The brand, and his sway inside the team, reigns supreme.
Which leads us to today.
Portugal take on Uzbekistan in a match they need to win or they’ll go to Matchday 3 in need of a result against a good Colombia side to advance to the knockout stages, but can they win with Ronaldo?
Maybe more relevantly, can Roberto Martinez bench him?
It’s no secret that Ronaldo carries outsized sway in the national team and at the federation. Every call to slash his role for years has come with pushback and not just by his stans on the internet. If Martinez decided he wanted to put the country’s best-ever player on the bench, would he be allowed to?
That the question even has to be asked is ridiculous, but that is where we are, and it’s not as if Martinez’s managerial history is littered with instances of him making tough or unpopular calls.
If Ronaldo doesn’t start, expect to see Gonçalo Ramos in his place. The Paris Saint-Germain forward is a good, if limited frontman and could unlock an attack that should be able to generate chances with a midfield and two excellent fullbacks consistently putting them on the front foot. The presumed return of Rafael Leão to the starting lineup would help too.
Maybe the uninspiring draw against DR Congo that highlighted how Ronaldo limits the team proves to be a blessing in disguise, if it moves sentiment from every level of decision-making to resignation that their star cannot continue to be the centerpiece of the team. Or maybe they are happy to go down with the ship so long as Ronaldo is at the wheel. We should find out today.
England should have an easier time today against Ghana than they did against Croatia. The Black Stars did win their opener over Panama, but it wasn’t particularly good soccer and nobody came out of that one looking good, while Croatia did make things difficult on the Three Lions at times.
Interestingly, when England were trying to protect their one-goal lead for the final 20 minutes and Declan Rice had to go off with a knock, they didn’t bring a midfielder on for him. They opted for a forward and pushed Jude Bellingham back into the midfield pivot.
It was a bold choice from Thomas Tuchel, entrusting one of his most gifted attacking players to a role with a ton of defensive responsibility, but it made sense as the match played out. England kept attacking, deciding they were better off trying to add to their lead than protect it, which was shocking from a Tuchel side. He’s always learned towards caution and pragmatism, but that wasn’t the case at all in his first World Cup match.
Tapping Bellingham was also a surprise because he hasn’t really played that deep in the midfield in years, but he proved up to the task and not just because England stayed on the front foot. He was actively defensive and helped really shut Croatia out from the middle of the pitch before Marcus Rashford scored to extend the Three LIons’ lead and take the pressure off.
England will be expected to take a lead on Ghana again and maybe it will be a multi-goal lead with the Three Lions in complete control so Tuchel doesn’t have to think so much about how he wants his midfield to close out a game, but, if this match is close, it will be worth watching whether Bellingham is once again asked to play in a deeper midfield role and how aggressive Tuchel has them playing.
Tuchel didn’t take many midfielders to this World Cup and it’s not entirely clear why Jordan Henderson and Kobbie Mainoo are there if Bellingham is going to be entrusted in the big, more defensive stretches, but it worked once. If England go to it again, we might have confirmation that Tuchel intends to win this tournament on the front foot, and with a splash of Bellingham from deeper.
We knew goal difference would be a major deal at this World Cup with half of third place teams advancing to the knockout stages. Too many of them are going to end up level on points, with goal difference deciding whose World Cup dream remains alive and who goes home sad. Still, it’s been a bit surprising just how prevalent it’s been so early in the tournament.
So many matches, even if the result is well in hand, are extraordinarily consequential late on with a goal turning a two-goal lead into three, or a three-goal lead into two, looming large in a team’s chances to advance.
In the cases of Ghana and Uzbekistan today, that might be at the forefront again.
Sure, they’d love to take a point or even three. If they do that, they’re in positions to maybe finish as high as second in their respective groups or even hit four points, which should put them comfortably through if they are in third place. But even if they do lose, it might not be a bad result so long as they keep it close.
Ghana already have three points in the bag and, while they may have tough matches against England and Croatia remaining, if they can lose them by a goal each then three points and a -1 goal difference will give them a very good chance of advancing. At -2, they’ll still be a good shout. But if they get smashed by the Three Lions and put -4 in play, their chances will be closer to 50/50 and beyond that, unlikely. The Black Stars’ primary goal today is keeping it close against England.
As for Uzbekistan, they have no points, but their best chance of taking three was always likely to be on the last day against DR Congo. Taking a two-goal defeat on the opening day was tough, but if they can lose by just one goal to Portugal today, any win over DR Congo puts them in a good position to go through. Goal difference is everything.
