HOUSTON -- Portugal manager Roberto Martinez dismissed worries about his squad and Cristiano Ronaldo's ongoing goal drought in major tournaments after a 1-1 draw with Congo DR on Wednesday at NRG Stadium.

Ronaldo failed to score for the fifth straight World Cup match and the 10th consecutive outing in major events including World Cups and European championships.

He has not found the net from open play in a major tournament since June 19 2021 and Portugal have managed just one goal across their past four matches in such competitions despite Ronaldo featuring for nearly every minute.

Ronaldo completed the full 90 minutes on Wednesday but managed only three shot attempts none of which were on target. It marked the sixth World Cup match in which the Al Nassr forward finished without a shot on goal.

Martinez made clear that removing Ronaldo was never under consideration. "It makes no sense to get the best goal scorer in world football out in a game that you need goals" he said.

Ronaldo remains Portugal's all-time leading scorer with 143 international goals and became only the second player to appear in six World Cups after Lionel Messi who achieved the feat on Tuesday. Yet his bid to become the first to score in a sixth tournament ended without success.

Martinez blamed Portugal's issues on a loss of momentum after Joao Neves scored in the sixth minute. The team added just six more shot attempts for the remainder of the match.

"We started very very well" Martinez said. "Our level our control the way we got into the penalty area. Scoring the goal which is normally a moment when the emotion of scoring helps you keep control of the match and try to score a second goal had the opposite effect.

"Instead it made us want to keep possession of the ball. We gave Congo the opportunity to reorganize their defensive structure and set up their counterattacks and we lost a lot of depth. That helped Congo."

Congo DR playing at the World Cup for the first time in 52 years became the second African side to open strongly against European opposition after Cape Verde's 0-0 result with Spain on Monday.

Martinez stressed there was no cause for alarm after just one match. "The World Cup is a tournament where these things happen" he said. "Argentina lost to Saudi Arabia in 2022 and then went on to win the World Cup. In 2010 Spain lost to Switzerland and then won the World Cup. Those were not performances that looked like those of eventual champions but that is part of the process.

"What we are talking about here is the first match of a World Cup" Martinez added. "Today after we scored the opening goal those emotions had a negative effect on our performance. We stopped taking risks we stopped looking for space we stopped reaching the final third. That was more a matter of emotion than of tactics or technique. It happens. It is part of the World Cup. Now we evaluate it and improve for the second match."

Portugal will face Uzbekistan on Tuesday in Houston.