Portugal at the 2026 World Cup: Talent, but No Team

A few days after Portugal's World Cup elimination, the disappointment is still felt. Not because we were beaten by Spain, one of the tournament favourites, but because this immensely talented squad rarely looked like a team at all.

Throughout most of the tournament, Portugal lacked tactical clarity, creativity in midfield and, above all, raça. The grit to fight for every ball as though the match depended on it.

Roberto Martínez never seemed to find a system that suited the players, leaving the defence exposed, the penalty area empty during attacks and Ronaldo isolated without service or movement around him.

Individual players underperformed, but the greater failure was Portugal's inability to play as a united and organized team. It was also the failure of a federation that entrusted one of Portugal's most gifted generations to a coach who had already shown, with Belgium, how difficult he finds turning elite talent into a coherent collective.

But hey, I'm just a fan, clearly not qualified to comment on what everyone can see with their own eyes.