Read for 2 minutes13 Jun 2026 05:09 PM IST
Portugal captain Cristiano RonaldoSet to play his 6th consecutive World Cup, said he is fit and motivated to perform well with the national team. “Physically? I’m fine. Haven’t you seen my matches?”, the 41-year-old told reporters.
“It’s good but tiring because we’ve worked hard. We’ve had the upper hand in our matches, but the most important thing is that the ball starts rolling on the 17th in the first game and then when the pressure really starts – that’s when we see the real champions,” he added.
Ronaldo, who played in both of Portugal’s warm-up matches against Chile and Nigeria, said he will finally know if Portugal can win the entire tournament.
“We’ll only know at the end. We’re really looking forward to it; we know the World Cup is always a special tournament, like the European Championship, so we’re going there with hope. We have a very good generation, but there are some factors we can’t control, like matches – winning or not winning is the most important thing,” said five-time Ballon winner Rondo. I believe this is a generation that will bring great joy to the Portuguese people,” he said.
“The main thing is to start well, to top the group. Then it’s one game at a time, step by step, taking it calmly, building confidence and getting into our rhythm. “It will depend on many factors, but I have full confidence that things will go well,” he added.
Portugal, who lost to Morocco in the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup, have been relegated to Group K in this edition which features teams like DR Congo, Uzbekistan and Colombia.
Portugal will play their first Group K match against Congo in Houston on Wednesday. The team will then face Uzbekistan again on June 23 in Houston and close the group stage against Colombia on June 27 in Miami.