Portugal's World Cup Tribute to Diogo Jota and Ronaldo's Legacy
Lionel Messi walked off to a roar that felt almost relieved. This World Cup had been waiting for a moment like that. A hat-trick from the man many already call the greatest of all time, another entry on a record sheet that barely has room for one more line.
Kylian Mbappé and Erling Haaland did their bit too, each scoring twice, the next generation hammering away in the glare of North American stadium lights. The stars have arrived. The tournament finally feels alive.
And just as Messi stepped back into the shadows, another giant moved towards the stage.
Cristiano Ronaldo, still defying the calendar, is set for his first appearance of the summer as Portugal opens its campaign against DR Congo in Houston. For him, the game is about legacy and relevance. For Portugal, it is about something deeper.
It is about Diogo Jota.
Portugal’s World Cup begins with grief on its sleeve
Football stopped making sense for a while when Diogo Jota died.
The Liverpool and Portugal forward was killed in a car crash last year alongside his brother André Silva, less than two weeks after marrying his long-term partner, Rute Cardoso. Three children left without a father. A dressing room left without a friend.
The shock still hangs in the air. Liverpool players have spoken of struggling to concentrate this season, of trying to grieve and perform at the same time. In Portugal’s camp, the grief has travelled with them across the Atlantic.
Jota will not play a minute in this World Cup, yet he is on the team sheet in spirit. Roberto Martínez named him an honorary member of the squad. Portugal’s Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, went further, gifting each player a bracelet engraved with their name and Jota’s.
The plan is simple and raw: wear them when Portugal walks out at NRG Stadium against DR Congo.
“They made sure that it was a wristband that we could wear on the pitch,” midfielder Vitinha told reporters. “He let us choose if we wanted to use it or not, during the day or during the match. We received it with a lot of affection and we chose to use it.”
So Portugal will play with Jota’s name literally at hand, carrying not just the pressure of a golden generation but the memory of a teammate who dreamed of this stage.
“We feel this and we want to win it, not just because it’s a World Cup and it’s everybody’s dream, but for him as well,” Vitinha told CNN Sports earlier this year.
The opening whistle in Houston will cut through more than pre-match noise. It will slice through a year of mourning.
Ronaldo, one more time
Kickoff in Houston is set for 1 p.m. ET. The storylines are obvious, but that doesn’t make them any less compelling.
Ronaldo is no longer the unstoppable force of a decade ago. The legs are heavier, the burst shorter, the margin for error slimmer. Yet he remains unavoidable. He will start for a Portugal side that might just have the sharpest midfield in the tournament.
Bruno Fernandes, Vitinha, Bernardo Silva, João Neves: a quartet that can pass teams to death, run them into the ground, or open them up with one touch. The question is whether Ronaldo still amplifies that brilliance or smothers it.
In Qatar 2022, the answer was brutal. He struggled. He was dropped. Portugal moved on without him and looked freer for it. But dropping him again, in a World Cup opener, with the world watching? That would take courage bordering on recklessness.
And then there is Messi, who reminded everyone last night that class never really leaves. Ronaldo has lived his career in that same rare air. He still knows where the goal is. He still believes the next game can change the narrative.
Across from him, DR Congo will not simply play the role of respectful guest. Yoane Wissa leads a side built on discipline and compact lines, a team that will happily suffer without the ball and wait for its moment. Wissa, sharp and direct, is the danger man. One chance is all he needs to turn a tribute night into a test of nerve.
England, Croatia and a history of hurt
By late afternoon, the action moves north to Arlington, Texas. England vs. Croatia at 4 p.m. ET at AT&T Stadium. Familiar colors. Familiar scars.
England arrives as it always does: hopeful, talented, and haunted by 1966. Sixty years of near misses, penalty collapses and what-ifs have hardened into a national condition. Yet this squad, again, has enough quality to go deep.
Thomas Tuchel has made his first big call before a ball is kicked. He has chosen chemistry over celebrity, leaving out big names like Cole Palmer and Phil Foden to protect the balance of his group. It is a ruthless move in a country where every selection is a debate.
Still, the spine looks formidable. Declan Rice anchoring. Jude Bellingham driving. Harry Kane finishing. If England is going to finally step through the door, these are the men who will drag it open.
Standing in the way, as so often, is Croatia.
The Vatreni have been England’s tormentors for nearly two decades, from qualification heartbreak to that World Cup semifinal in 2018, when they clawed their way back and sent England home again. At the heart of it all, then and now, is Luka Modrić.
He is 40 now, but the brain remains several seconds ahead of everyone else. He will take the ball in tight spaces, slow the game, speed it up, and ask England whether the scars have truly healed or just been papered over.
The matchup was rightly picked as one of the group stage’s must-watch games. For England fans, it is more than that. It is another appointment with history.
Messi, records and the casual rewriting of football
While the rest of the world counts his numbers, Lionel Messi seems almost indifferent to them.
His hat-trick against Algeria tied Miroslav Klose’s record for most goals in World Cup history. Another landmark. Another line in the endless list. A very humble Messi played it down afterward, as if he hadn’t just bent another piece of the sport to his will.
He has now scored five World Cup goals from outside the box, equaling the record held by Brazilian great Rivellino. It feels almost inevitable that he will move past that mark as well. He sets a new standard in almost every game he plays.
Iran’s visa saga eases
Away from the spotlight of the marquee fixtures, Iran has been fighting a different kind of battle.
No team has had a more complicated logistical route into this tournament. Political tensions have forced the squad to base itself in Mexico and fly into the United States for matches. That alone would stretch any team’s patience.
Then came the twist. After Iran’s first game, winger Mehdi Torabi discovered his visa had expired. Suddenly, his World Cup was in jeopardy.
Now, that crisis is over. Torabi has been granted a new multi-entry visa by the US State Department, clearing him to travel and play in as many matches as Iran can reach.
“This issue has been resolved,” a State Department official told CNN’s Jennifer Hansler. “As soon as we became aware of the issue, we worked to ensure that the player can participate in every game.”
For Iran, it is one less storm to navigate in a summer already full of them.
Ghana, Panama and a chance to reset
Toronto takes its turn at 7 p.m. ET, when Ghana meets Panama at BMO Field.
Panama, making just its second World Cup appearance, still carries the bruises of 2018. Three games, three defeats, including a 6-1 hammering by England. No points. No foothold.
This time, the target is modest but meaningful: a first World Cup point. Panama fans will look at Ghana as their best shot at history, a game that could redefine their place in this tournament.
Ghana, once seen as Africa’s best hope of a world champion, has stalled since that infamous 2010 quarterfinal exit. The Black Stars have not escaped the group stage at a World Cup since. The aura has faded.
This version of Ghana lacks some of the firepower of past generations, but it does have Antoine Semenyo. The Manchester City forward arrives in form and full of confidence, a genuine match-winner who can tilt tight games.
They will have to cope without Thomas Partey for the opener. The 33-year-old midfielder had his Canadian visa application rejected, a decision upheld by a federal judge earlier this week, according to the Associated Press. Partey is awaiting trial on rape charges in the United Kingdom but is expected to be available for Ghana’s remaining two group matches in the US.
For now, Ghana must find a way to start fast without one of its most experienced players.
Uzbekistan’s debut and Colombia’s familiar flair
The final act of the day unfolds in Mexico City. At 10 p.m. ET, under the weight of Estadio Azteca’s history, Uzbekistan walks into its first ever World Cup match, facing Colombia.
Uzbekistan is the last of the four debutants to appear at this tournament and wants to be the only one to win its opener. They have an intriguing figure on the touchline: Fabio Cannavaro, the Italian legend who lifted the World Cup as captain in 2006.
On the pitch, defender Abdukodir Khusanov is the standout name. At 22, he is already a regular starter for Manchester City, tested in both the Premier League and Champions League. His presence alone gives Uzbekistan a level of credibility that debutants rarely enjoy.
Colombia, though, has been here before. This is a squad sprinkled with players who have already made their mark on the biggest stage.
James Rodríguez remains the creative heartbeat, a decade on from his explosive arrival at the 2014 World Cup. He will again look to dictate from the middle, threading passes into dangerous spaces. Out wide, Luis Díaz arrives as one of the most in-form players on the planet, a winger who can change a game with one run, one shot, one moment of audacity.
For Uzbekistan, this is a test of nerve as much as talent. For Colombia, it is a chance to announce that their golden days are not confined to memory.
Ebola fears shadow DR Congo’s World Cup story
Away from the stadiums, a different kind of anxiety is building around one of the tournament’s participants.
Health officials are tracking a serious Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, just as its national team steps into the World Cup spotlight. The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has warned that this could become the “worst ever” Ebola outbreak in the area if it is not contained.
More than 800 cases have been confirmed in the DRC as of Monday. The affected region is remote, densely populated and beset by insecurity and humanitarian crises, a combination that makes containment far harder.
This outbreak is driven by the Bundibugyo strain of the virus, for which there are no specific treatments or vaccines. That complicates the response and heightens concern.
US authorities have moved to limit risk. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security have introduced entry restrictions and passenger screening for travelers from the DRC, Uganda and South Sudan. No Ebola cases have been identified in the United States, and the World Health Organization rates global risk as low, even while calling the risk within the DRC “very high.”
During the World Cup, US health officials are monitoring multiple viral threats. Ebola, for all its terrifying reputation, is not at the top of that list. Early in infection, it does not spread easily. Transmission becomes far more likely only when a patient is severely ill, with high levels of virus in the body. By that stage, a person is unlikely to be travelling or sitting in a stadium.
Still, the juxtaposition is stark. DR Congo’s players will walk out in Houston wearing Portugal’s tribute bands to Diogo Jota, carrying their own nation’s hopes, while back home doctors battle a virus that could shape the country’s future far beyond this World Cup.
The football will go on. The question, as always with this tournament, is what kind of world it will leave behind when the final whistle blows.
