{"id":670969,"date":"2026-06-17T11:00:01","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T15:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=670969"},"modified":"2026-06-17T11:40:48","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T15:40:48","slug":"portugal-vs-dr-congo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/06\/17\/portugal-vs-dr-congo\/","title":{"rendered":"Portugal vs DR Congo: Team News and Confirmed Lineups"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Word on Football brings you the latest team news and the confirmed lineups<\/a> for Portugal<\/a> vs DR Congo at the Houston Stadium, in an 18:00 GMT kick-off on June 17<\/span><\/a>. Both teams will be eager to start the competition with three points, with Portugal<\/span><\/a> the heavy pre-game favourites.<\/p>\n

Portugal vs DR Congo, Team News and Confirmed Lineups<\/h2>\n

Portugal Team News<\/h3>\n

The build-up to Portugal\u2019s first game has been overshadowed by the rumours surrounding the future of manager Roberto Martinez. When asked about his future, Martinez said:<\/p>\n

“This is not news, we have talked about this a lot in Portugal,” Martinez said. “The most important thing is to focus on winning the World Cup.”<\/p>\n

Read More<\/strong>: <\/span>2026 World Cup Matchday 7 Predictions Including England vs Croatia<\/a><\/p>\n

It was widely reported that Martinez had no injury problems ahead of Portugal vs DR Congo, but it now appears they will be without key centre-back Ruben Dias: “Medically, we need him to be at 100% for a World Cup match and that is how we will proceed. It is about not taking risks at this stage of the tournament,” Martinez said.<\/p>\n

Discussing the importance of Cristiano Ronaldo, Martinez said<\/span><\/a>: “He is a role model, he is an iconic player in global football for athletes, male and female, who love football. It is his sixth World Cup, but it feels like his first one when it comes to the intensity with which he \u200cworks.<\/p>\n

“He is essential, he is a striker who can open up spaces for others in the team.”<\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

DR Congo Team News<\/h3>\n

During qualification, DR Congo showed a defensive steeliness that made them difficult to break down. Many who watch English football will recognise Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Axel Tuanzebe, former Newcastle player Chancel Mbemba, and Yoane Wissa. Sunderland star Noah Sadiki is another player to watch for Congo. The Congolese will take huge confidence from Cabo Verde\u2019s draw against Spain.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/strong>: <\/span>World Cup Projections for Groups G through L including England, Argentina, and France<\/a><\/p>\n

DR Congo suffered a setback recently, with defender Rocky Bushiri forced to withdraw due to an Achilles injury. Head coach Sebastien Desabre called up Aaron Tshibola to fill the gap.<\/span><\/div>\n

Portugal Confirmed Lineup<\/h3>\n

Portugal XI:<\/strong> Diogo Costa, Tom\u00e1s Ara\u00fajo, Renato Veiga, Jo\u00e3o Cancelo, Nuno Mendes, Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva, Jo\u00e3o Neves, Vitinha, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pedro Neto.<\/span><\/p>\n

DR Congo Confirmed Lineup<\/h3>\n
\n

DR Congo XI:<\/strong> Lionel Mpasi, Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Steve Kapuadi, Axel Tuanzebe, Chancel Mbemba, Arthur Masuaku, Ngalayel Mukau, Samuel Moutoussamy, Edo Kayembe, Cedric Bakambu, Yoane Wissa.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Featured Image Credit<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

REUTERS\/Pedro Nunes<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Word on Football brings you the latest team news and the confirmed lineups for Portugal vs DR Congo at the Houston Stadium, in an 18:00 GMT kick-off on June 17. Both teams will be eager to start the competition with three points, with Portugal the heavy pre-game favourites. Portugal vs DR Congo, Team News […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4106,"featured_media":670970,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[161,30,2132],"tags":[798,688,2331,3536],"class_list":["post-670969","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-football","category-news","category-world-cup","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-portugal","tag-roberto-martinez","tag-ruben-dias"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=670969"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670969\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":670984,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/670969\/revisions\/670984"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=670969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=670969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=670969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}