Portugal began its World Cup 2026 campaign with a 1-1 draw against the Democratic Republic of Congo in the opening round of Group 11.<\/p>\n
The match, played at NRG Stadium in Houston, saw both teams share points after a competitive encounter marked by an early Portuguese lead and a late first-half equalizer.<\/p>\n
Portugal took the lead in the sixth minute through Joao Neves, who capitalized on a well-organized attacking move to put his side ahead.<\/p>\n
The early goal gave Portugal momentum and suggested a strong start in their bid to claim their first-ever World Cup title.<\/p>\n
Despite Portugal\u2019s dominance in the early stages, DR Congo responded just before halftime.<\/p>\n
Yoane Wissa scored in stoppage time (45+5), securing the first World Cup goal and point in the nation\u2019s return to the global stage after a 52-year absence.<\/p>\n
The equalizer shifted the tone of the match and boosted the Congolese side\u2019s confidence going into the second half.<\/p>\n
The second half did not produce further goals, with both teams creating limited clear chances.<\/p>\n
As a result, Portugal and DR Congo each earned one point in Group 11, which also includes Uzbekistan and Colombia.<\/p>\n
Uzbekistan and Colombia are scheduled to face each other in the group\u2019s other fixture.<\/p>\n
Portugal entered the tournament with high expectations but will now face increased pressure in their upcoming matches.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, DR Congo\u2019s performance highlighted resilience and determination, as the team aims to compete strongly against more experienced opponents.<\/p>\n
Key takeaways from the match include:<\/p>\n
– Portugal\u2019s fast attacking start.<\/p>\n
– DR Congo\u2019s ability to respond under pressure.<\/p>\n
– A tightly contested second half with limited clear-cut opportunities.<\/p>\n
– An open race in Group 11.<\/p>\n
The 1-1 draw between Portugal and DR Congo in World Cup 2026 sets up a competitive battle in Group 11. With crucial matches still ahead, both teams will seek improved performances in the next round to strengthen their qualification hopes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Portugal began its World Cup 2026 campaign with a 1-1 draw against the Democratic Republic of Congo in the opening round of Group 11. The match, played at NRG Stadium in Houston, saw both teams share points after a competitive encounter marked by an early Portuguese lead and a late first-half equalizer. Early Portuguese Advantage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34794,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sitemap_exclude":false,"_sitemap_priority":"","_sitemap_frequency":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"subtitle":"","format":"standard","override":[{"template":"7","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"left-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"topbottom","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"0","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"jnews_post_split":{"post_split":[{"template":"1","tag":"h2","numbering":"asc","mode":"normal","first":"0","enable_toc":"0","toc_type":"normal"}]},"footnotes":""},"categories":[83],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34792"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34792\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34796,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34792\/revisions\/34796"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.iq\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}