Cristiano Ronaldo entered the World Cup as a contender in several award markets, but a surprising draw against DR Congo hurt his odds across the board.
The striker fell to 2% on the Golden Boot Winner market. His price was as high as 24% in January.
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Ronaldo is ranked higher on the Bronze Ball Winner market. He’s currently sitting at 20%, which is down from 38% two days ago.
Portugal’s place on the World Cup Winner market also saw a drop from 11% to 8.1% after the match concluded.
What caused the drop?
Ronaldo's opening World Cup match against DR Congo ended with a surprising 1-1 draw.
The Athletic reported that Portugal “raced into an early lead when Joao Neves headed home inside six minutes and looking to be on course for a comfortable win.”
DR Congo clawed their way back into the competition with a goal “levelled seconds before half-time, when Yoane Wissa rose highest at a corner to score his nation’s first World Cup goal.”
Ronaldo said the team would regroup ahead of Tuesday's match against Uzbekistan and stressed that the tournament is still in its early stages.
“It wasn’t the start we wanted, but this is far from over,” Ronaldo said. “Heads up and focus on the next game.”
‘A Ronaldo problem’
The press wasn’t kind to Portugal’s star striker after the opening draw against DR Congo.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly wrote that “Portugal have a Ronaldo problem (again) following the game. He noted this is the fourth time in five World Cups that Portugal failed to secure an opening win, “and it was another referendum on the enigma that is Cristiano Ronaldo at this level in 2026.”
Ronaldo remained on the pitch for the game, but the coach pulled four other key players from the match including Bernardo Silva, Pedro Neto, Nuno Mendes, and Vitinha. By the end of the bout, Portugal only racked up six shots-on-goal after Neves’ goal.
“Even two of Ronaldo’s three shot attempts were indicative of a larger problem: He couldn’t find any physical advantages against the Congolese defenders, which meant he had to drift wide of the goal to find space,” Connelly wrote.
Bleacher Report noted that Fox Sports' Thierry Henry was even harsher with his critique. He called out a key play in which Ronaldo failed to make it further in the box that could’ve given his team a stronger shot at a clear goal to put them in the lead.
“One thing that is important, people at home, the team needs to score, not you need to score,” he added.
As Ronaldo noted earlier, his team has a long way to go to make up for a disappointing opening performance. However, it’s not an encouraging start to a very competitive tournament.
The takeaway:
Kalshi markets now predict:
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