No tension in Portugal's ranks, says Martinez

Roberto Martinez has no concerns about the unity of his Portuguese team despite their disappointing start to the World Cup. Portugal began their competition campaign with a 1–1 draw against the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In this game, the team recorded its highest ball possession (75.4%), passes (783) and passing accuracy (92.5%) in a World Cup match. Even so, the team had its lowest shot count (seven) and was the first team since 1966 to concede more shots than it managed to take (seven to eight), despite having more than 70% possession of the ball in a World Cup game.


Martinez's side will look to bounce back in Group K on Tuesday when they face World Cup debutants Uzbekistan. Cristiano Ronaldo, who performed below expectations against Congo, received a lot of attention but was not replaced. Joao Neves sparked criticism on social media after declaring Ronaldo was "just another player, here to help", but Martinez insists his team is fully united. "We are more united, we are stronger," Martinez said. "We are playing a World Cup, of course there is a lot of noise, a lot of tension, this is part of the game. Our focus is on the team. 0 – Cristiano Ronaldo has now completed 10 consecutive games in major tournaments without scoring for Portugal (World Cup/EURO): 33 shots, 11 on target, 0 goals. Secura. "We are more united than before we arrived. There is no tension. "We didn't create chances, and that's not normal in a team like ours. We have high-quality players, among the best in the world, and we need to show that on the field. "[Against Uzbekistan], just winning counts. We have no room for error." Ronaldo has not scored in his last 10 appearances at major tournaments, despite attempting 33 shots and accumulating 4.5 expected goals in those matches. In fact, excluding penalties, Ronaldo has not scored in 13 goalless appearances at major tournaments, firing 42 shots excluding penalties, worth 4.5 non-penalty xG. However, Martinez came to his captain's defense. "He is probably the greatest example of how to recover, how to coach," said Martinez. "But that doesn't take away the frustration we all feel as a team." Portugal are looking to avoid not winning in their first two games of a World Cup campaign for the second time, having previously done so in 2014 (losing 0-4 to Germany and drawing 2-2 with the United States), the last time they failed to advance from their group.

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