DR Congo stuns Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal before half of World Cup match

When Cristiano Ronaldo and his Portugal national team saw DR Congo on their World Cup Group H schedule, it didn’t seem like much of a contest. Portugal is ranked seventh in the world by FIFA, while DR Congo is 43rd in those rankings. After going up 1-0 early, it looked like Portugal would cruise, but a late first-half equalizer by Yoane Wissa changed that.

"A goal that puts a smile on the face of an entire nation!" @DFletcherSport on Yoane Wissa's FIFA World Cup goal for DR Congo pic.twitter.com/xKwsdLdTT4

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) June 17, 2026

The Newcastle forward headed home a goal for DR Congo, the first in the nation’s history, right at the stroke of halftime. That sent the two teams—a World Cup debutant and a favorite to win the tournament—to the locker room tied.

Watching the first half, this outcome was not a huge surprise. After a sixth-minute goal by Portugal and Paris Saint-Germain’s Joao Neves, Ronaldo’s team looked flat for the rest of the half. Neves, along with his PSG teammate, Vitinho, controlled much of the action, which tended to exclude Premier League assist record-setter Bruno Fernandes.

Also, with Cristiano Ronaldo as the point man, the outside players sent several balls inside, none of which the 41-year-old was able to get a boot on.

This Portugal-DR Congo match is somewhat reminiscent of the Spain-Cabo Verde draw from a few days prior. The difference here is that the African nation looks much more evenly matched with its Iberian Peninsula counterpart than Cabo Verde did. They are giving Portugal all it can handle right now, and a shock draw or even an upset doesn’t seem completely out of the realm of possibility at this point.

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