'The team needs to score, not you' — Henry's scathing Ronaldo verdict after Portugal's World Cup draw with DR Congo

Cristiano Ronaldo became only the third player in history to appear at six World Cups on Wednesday, joining Lionel Messi and Guillermo Ochoa in that exclusive bracket, but his milestone appearance ended in frustration as Portugal were held to a 1-1 draw by DR Congo in Houston — and France legend Thierry Henry was watching.

Joao Neves gave Portugal the lead with a header before Yoane Wissa equalised for DR Congo just before the break, handing the Congolese their first-ever point in World Cup history.

The 41-year-old Al Nassr striker, chasing his 1,000th career goal, was unable to add to his tally and drew sharp criticism for the manner in which he went about his business.

Henry and Ibrahimovic deliver their verdict

Speaking alongside fellow pundit Zlatan Ibrahimovic on FOX's post-match analysis, Henry wasted no time in making his feelings clear.

'One thing that is important people, please, at home: The team needs to score, not you need to score,' Henry said, before walking through a key second-half incident in which Francisco Conceicao received the ball near the area on the right flank and cut it back towards the centre. The natural movement for Ronaldo would have been to attack the near post, drawing his marker and freeing Bruno Fernandes to shoot from the centre of the area. Instead, the opposite happened.

'If you make that run here, you make the defender make a decision to crash the six-yard box. But because he wants to score, he goes into the path of Bruno Fernandes,' Henry explained. 'That is my thing: The team needs to score, not you.'

Ibrahimovic reinforced the point: 'Normally, as a striker, you go from first post to second post to bring the defender with you to open the space for the guy behind. So, obviously you made the wrong choice here, Cristiano.'

Henry did not reserve all of his criticism for Ronaldo, however, suggesting that the wider Portugal squad also bear responsibility for failing to create better opportunities for their captain.

'If you play with Cristiano Ronaldo, the other guys need to do a tiny bit more in terms of running in behind and trying to help him because we know what he is right now,' Henry said. 'He is not going to run into the channel. He is not going to stretch a team. You need to feed him in the box in order for him to score goals. If you want him to score, you have to feed him.'

Ronaldo's Portugal struggles laid bare

Portugal lined up in a 4-2-3-1 with Ronaldo as the central striker, supported behind him by Bruno Fernandes, Bernardo Silva and Pedro Neto.

Rafael Leao, Francisco Conceicao and Goncalo Ramos were all introduced from the bench, with Ramos a notable figure given that he famously displaced Ronaldo for the last-16 tie against Switzerland at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, scoring a hat-trick in a 6-1 victory — and yet he remains the understudy heading into 2026.

The statistics made for uncomfortable reading. Ronaldo registered three shots across the evening, all in the second half, with a combined expected goals figure of just 0.46.

Not one of them hit the target. He touched the ball on only 25 occasions, made just six carries and drove forward with the ball only once throughout the entire contest.

His struggles for Portugal are not a new development. After scoring twice against Hungary in October of last year, Ronaldo has not found the net for the national side.

He was sent off against Ireland in the very next match, missed the March international window entirely, and had little impact in pre-tournament friendlies against Chile and Nigeria.

Portugal return to action against Uzbekistan on Tuesday June 23, before concluding their Group K campaign against Colombia in the early hours of Saturday June 28.