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Cristiano Ronaldo has had a fair bit of criticism aimed at him this week after a disappointing performance for Portugal against the DR Congo. But the team’s manager, Roberto Martínez, has defended his player. In the build-up to this game against Uzebekistan, while not specifically referring to Ronaldo, the boss said some of the negative comments have been “unfair” and “unjust”. He added:

We are playing a World Cup so of course we have a lot of noise and tension, but it’s part of the game. The focus is on the team and we want to show a positive attitude … to be ready for the match. We are very much focused. We are strong. The team is even more united than before.

The Ronaldo debate has been raging on this week with the captain not scoring for his country in open play in their last 10 matches at a major tourament and here Miguel Dantas eloquently puts the situation into one piece:

It is not surprising that Uzebekistan have gone with a defensive line-up, they also have attacking quality but they will be aiming to keep Portugal out for as long as they can. It is also not a shock at all that Cristiano Ronaldo is in the starting line-up but he has faced a lot of criticism this week, let’s take a look at that now.

Uzebekistan line-up

Uzebekistan have made three changes to the starting side that lost 3-1 to Colombia. The biggest change is at goalkeeper with Abduvohid Nematov between the sticks with Utkir Yusupov on the bench. Aziz Ganiev and Odiljon Hamrobekov also come in.

Uzebekistan (5-4-1): Nematov; Khusanov, Ashurmatov, Nasrullaev, Abdullaev, Karimov; Shukurov, Hamrobekov, Ganiev, Fayzullaev; Shomurodov. Subs: Yusupov, Ergashev, Alijonov, Sayfiev, Eshmurodov, Ulmasaliyev, Urozov, Mozgovoy, Iskanderov, Jiyanov, Urunov, Khamdamov, Esanov, Amanov, Sergeev.

Portugal line-up

Portugal have made two changes to their starting XI that drew with DR Congo. Bernardo Silva and Tomas Araújo drop to the bench with Ruben Dias and João Félix coming into the team. The captain Cristiano Ronaldo starts once again.

Portugal (4-3-3): Diogo Costa; Dias, Veiga, Cancelo, Mendes; Fernandes, Neves, Vitinha; Ronaldo, João Félix, Neto. Subs: Sá, Rui Silva, Semedo, Araújo, Dalot, Inácio, Samú Costa, Nunes, Bernardo Silva, Neves, Ramos, Trincão, Leão, Guedes, Conceição

Here is a reminder of what happened in both nations’ World Cup openers:

Portugal v Uzebeksitan is not the only game happening today, here is the full fixture list:

  • Portugal v Uzebekistan

  • England v Ghana

  • Panama v Croatia

  • Colombia v DR Congo

Preamble

Hello and welcome to the World Cup Group K match between Portugal and Uzbekistan. The outcome of this game could see Portugal temporarily top the group with Colombia currently leading the way after their opening win against Uzbekistan.

Portugal sit third currently after their 1-1 draw against DR Congo and there has been a lot of discussion around Cristiano Ronaldo’s performance in that fixture, we will have more on that shortly.

For Uzbekistan, they are searching for their first point of the tournament to give them a much needed boost of getting to the knockout stages. Portugal will be favourites to come away with all three points as the Asian nation are in a men’s World Cup for the first time.

The team news will be announced shortly before kick-off at 6pm BST/1pm CDT/10pm UST. Will be bring you all of those updates, as well as what has been said in the build-up. Also do not hesitate to drop me an email.