The 41 year old Ronaldo failed to score in that opener and finished with just 25 touches. Television pundits and social media users criticized him after he missed a couple of good scoring chances in the second half, with some questioning why Martínez did not substitute him while Portugal struggled offensively.
I can't inform you about the starting 11 because I haven't informed my players.
Martínez said criticism does not impact his team and that such talk comes with an event of this magnitude.
We are playing a World Cup so of course we have a lot of noise and tension, but it's part of the game. The focus is on the team and we want to show a positive attitude … to be ready for the match. We are very much focused. We are strong. The team is even more united than before.
While not specifically referring to Ronaldo, Martínez added that some of the criticism is unfair and unjust. Ronaldo did not speak to reporters after the Congo match but has posted twice on social media since the draw.
It wasn't the start we wanted, but this is far from over. Head up and focus on the next game.
On Sunday he posted four pictures from a team training session with the message: Focused on the mission.
Ronaldo and Argentina's Lionel Messi became the only men to play in six World Cups with their participation this year. Ronaldo will try again Tuesday to become the first player to score in six World Cups after falling short in the opener. He currently shares that scoring across tournaments pursuit with Messi, who has five goals in Argentina's two matches this year to give him a record 18 goals across five tournaments. Messi failed to score in 2010.
Despite Ronaldo's struggles in the opener, Martínez remains confident in his ability to help Portugal finish chances in the final third.
Cristiano is the best one to do that. The numbers support this of this iconic player who is Cristiano Ronaldo. If you look at the past 32 games, he is the player that has extra movement opening spaces and finding pockets.
Uzbekistan coach Fabio Cannavaro said his players must pay particular attention to Ronaldo even after Portugal's first game results.
We need to be careful when we are in the box because we cannot leave this kind of player alone. We need to be very focused on him because Cristiano can score in every situation, free kicks, even in the corner. So we need to be very careful.
