Portugal don't NEED to drop Cristiano Ronaldo - but Roberto Martinez must learn when to axe his superstar or risk more World Cup disappointment

While the tournament's other biggest names, such as Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, Erling Haaland and Harry Kane, all made a big impact in the first round of fixtures at the World Cup, scoring at least two goals each, it was telling that Ronaldo had a day to forget.

Inexplicably left on the pitch for the full 90 minutes against DR Congo by Martinez, the 41-year-old mustered just three shots all game long, and none of them were on target. Two of those were half-chances, but he could only skew the ball wide on both occasions from tricky pull-backs.

Ultimately, that would prove very costly; Les Leopards snatched an unlikely draw courtesy of Yoane Wissa's header in first-half stoppage time, and Portugal somehow failed to find a winner in the second period with Ronaldo particularly peripheral, having just nine touches. There has been fierce criticism of Martinez's failure to act as a result.

Speaking after the game, Martinez launched another bizarre defence of the ageing forward, standing staunchly by the decision to keep him on the pitch for the duration of the clash despite the fact Ronaldo was completely ineffective.

"It makes no sense to get the best goal-scorer in world football out in a game that you need goals," he said, before insisting there was no need to panic just yet. "The World Cup is a tournament where these things happen. 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 weren't performances that looked like those of eventual champions, but that's part of the process.

"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's part of the World Cup. Now we evaluate it and improve for the second match."

Martinez can act like this was an isolated incident all he wants, but the truth is that this is a recurring theme for Portugal, and the debate that consistently rages around their declining talisman is a significant distraction for a nation that should really be challenging for the World Cup.

Granted, Ronaldo scored his fair share of goals in qualifying (five in as many appearances) and was instrumental in his country's UEFA Nations League triumph last year, but he has now drawn a blank in 10 consecutive matches at major tournaments. His most recent strike came in the Seleccao's 2022 World Cup opener against Ghana, and that was a penalty, with his last open-play goal at a finals scored against France during Euro 2020 in June 2021 - almost five years to the day before the clash with Uzbekistan.

It's all good and well plundering goals in Saudi Arabia and against the likes of Armenia and Hungary when the pressure is relatively off, but it has been a long, long time since Ronaldo made an impact on the very biggest stage.

If there is one defence of Martinez's stubborn backing of Ronaldo, it is that Portugal are not currently blessed with a plethora of centre-forward options who have delivered consistently for their country, reflected in that fact that there is only one other out-and-out striker in the squad.

However, while a change to the starting XI is unlikely to be forthcoming, CR7's Al-Nassr club-mate is actually the Seleccao's other most in-form attacker at the tournament. Joao Felix arrives at the World Cup off the back of a 45-goal contribution season in Saudi Arabia as a roaming second striker behind Ronaldo - including 20 league efforts - and will feel he deserves a chance.

After all, if Martinez has no issue with the fact 41-year-old Ronaldo plies his trade in the relatively-weaker Pro League, he should also have no problem handing an opportunity to the more youthful Felix as Portugal desperately search for inspiration. It's therefore difficult to explain why the former Chelsea man was forced to watch the entirety of the Congo draw from the bench.

Then there's that other out-and-out striker we were talking about. Goncalo Ramos was left on the bench until the 83rd minute in Portugal's opener in Houston as Martinez turned to wingers Francisco Conceicao and Rafael Leao before bringing him on, with Ronaldo remaining on the pitch even after the Paris Saint-Germain man was introduced.

There was a time when Ramos looked like the natural successor to Ronaldo, most notably when former manager Fernando Santos dramatically started him ahead of the legendary attacker in a last-16 clash with Switzerland at the 2022 World Cup during his prolific season with Benfica. Ramos famously seized the opportunity by plundering a hat-trick and laying on another in a 6-1 rout.

However, since Santos was replaced by Martinez in the aftermath of Portugal's disappointing quarter-final exit in Qatar, Ramos has had to be incredibly patient for opportunities, with the new head coach instantly reverting back to leaning on the iconic veteran and repeatedly defending that dependence.

Partly as a result of that, the PSG striker's career probably hasn't followed the expected trajectory at both club and international level in subsequent seasons; Ramos has only netted six goals for Portugal since the 2022 tournament, while he has rarely been a starter since joining the French giants in 2023.

You can't, then, necessarily fault Martinez for continuing to play Ronaldo from the start; he might be the wrong side of 40 and plying his trade in the Saudi Pro League, but a 30-goal season for Al-Nassr is arguably enough to suggest that he can make something happen, and he is, of course, revered for the way he has looked after his body.

But from Martinez's perspective, this is all about knowing when to act - even if it means displeasing his revered captain. Although his team-mates failed to play to his strengths with a lack of service from the wide areas and not enough creativity centrally, Ronaldo was still alarmingly anonymous in the second half against unfancied DR Congo with his side in dire need of a goal.

While he might still have a big moment in him (even if it's from the penalty spot), the manager needs to recognise that there is no longer much point in having Ronaldo on the pitch for 90 minutes, and those are the situations that the likes of Felix and Ramos are there for as potential match-winners off the bench.

If Ronaldo is unable to end his tournament goal drought against World Cup debutants Uzbekistan, the noise surrounding this distraction is only going to grow louder.