Roberto Martinez strongly hinted on Tuesday that the World Cup would be his final tournament as Portugal‘s head coach.
“It’s not news. We’ve talked about this many times in Portugal”, Martinez said about the reports of his departure after the World Cup. “Maybe it’s new elsewhere, but in Portugal we’ve discussed it a lot already. The focus remains continuing the work we’ve done over the last three and a half years.”
Martinez signed as the Portugal coach in January 2023, soon after ending a more-than-six-year stint in charge of the Belgium national team. He has coached 40 matches for Portugal, with 28 wins, seven draws and the 2024-25 UEFA Nations League crown.
“What I can point to is a very consistent campaign,” he said of his tenure.
“We won the Nations League — the most demanding edition yet. We played ten matches, advanced through the knockout rounds, defeated Germany in Germany, and then won the final against Spain. Those are significant achievements. The team is in excellent condition. The players have confidence, but they also understand that the World Cup is completely different from any other competition. We must prove ourselves all over again.”
The Spanish coach said that no matter how things go at the World Cup, the cycle will likely end. “When I arrived in Portugal, the objective was to try to win everything possible every day, but above all to prepare for the World Cup,” Martinez added.
“Now we are here, 40 matches later, after winning the Nations League, and the focus remains exactly the same: The World Cup is what matters. Naturally, people may see it as news, but for me it isn’t really news. It’s simply a fact, not a news story.”
Martinez also confirmed that center-back Rúben Dias will not play on Wednesday as Portugal open their World Cup journey against DR Congo in Houston.
“Ruben Dias is not 100% fit for tomorrow, so he is not available for the match,” Martinez said. “This is not the moment to take risks.”
Dias missed a large portion of the second half of his club season with Manchester City due to a hamstring injury, but the current issue stems from an injury suffered in Portugal’s last pre-World Cup friendly against Nigeria.
“Ruben Dias arrived in perfect condition,” Martinez said. He played the full 90 minutes for his club in the final Premier League match, which is always helpful. He then trained very well during preparation and in the match against Nigeria. Unfortunately, football is a contact sport. Ruben took a knock during the match against Nigeria. We carried out tests, and structurally everything is fine. Now it is simply a matter of not taking risks.”
Dias will not be replaced from Portugal’s 26-man roster. He is expected to return to the lineup soon, and Martinez has several players to cover the center-back position.
“We have three natural center-backs and Ruben Dias is progressing well,” he said. “In addition, we have players who can also play centrally in defense. We’ve used players such as Rúben Neves and Diogo Dalot in those roles. The versatility of our squad is more valuable than bringing in a new player who lacks experience with the national team and doesn’t fully understand what we’ve been working on.”
With a deep squad and Bruno Fernandes and Vitinha leading what many consider to be among the best midfields in the world, Portugal is currently listed as the No. 4 betting favorite to win the World Cup. But many highly touted squads have struggled in their first World Cup matches, and Martinez emphasized how impressed he was with DR Congo.
“First of all, we all have enormous respect for what Congo and their coach have accomplished,” he said. “We’re talking about a team that finished ahead of Cameroon and Nigeria. Then they performed very well at the continental level. I would describe them as a very flexible team. They are not simply a team that sits deep and defends.
“They defend space extremely well and have many players competing in major European leagues. We therefore have great respect for Congo.”
