Portugal traveled to the United States on Friday with Cristiano Ronaldo saying the team needs to focus on getting off to a good start instead of thinking ahead about contending for its first World Cup title.
The Portuguese are among the favorites at the expanded 48-team tournament and the 41-year-old Ronaldo will be playing in his sixth World Cup, the most ever alongside rival Lionel Messi of Argentina.
“It is important to get off to a good start, do well in the first and second matches and then finish first in the group,” Ronaldo told reporters in Portugal before the team’s departure. “Then we go match by match, but not with the expectations of winning it all. It has to be step by step. A good start is the most important thing.”
Portugal will play its opening Group K match against Congo on Wednesday in Houston. The team then faces Uzbekistan on June 23, again in Houston, and finishes the group stage against Colombia on June 27 in Miami.
Ronaldo said it will be further in the tournament, “when things get tighter and the psychological and physical fatigue” come into play, “that we will know who the real champions are.”
This is Portugal’s ninth World Cup appearance. The team finished third in 1966 and fourth in 2006 — when Ronaldo made his World Cup debut. In 2022, Portugal reached the quarterfinals but was upset by Morocco 1-0.
Ronaldo, who won the European Championship with Portugal in 2016, said the team’s preparation at home was intense and productive. He said he is feeling well physically and the whole squad is ready and hopeful ahead of its quest for a first World Cup title.
“It’s a very good generation of players,” said Ronaldo, who now plays in Saudi Arabia after spending most of professional career with Real Madrid and Manchester United. “But there are factors that we can’t control. Winning or losing, which is the most important thing, depends on many factors. But it’s a generation that will make the Portuguese people happy.”
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