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Portugal's national football team coach, Roberto Martinez, remained evasive when asked if superstar Cristiano Ronaldo would be in the starting lineup for the team's second World Cup group stage match against Uzbekistan tonight at 8:00 PM Bulgarian time.
"I still can't comment on the starting lineup because I haven't told my players yet. I prefer not to speak publicly about anything that hasn't been discussed with my footballers," Martinez stated before the match.
Martinez and his squad faced sharp criticism after their 1-1 draw against the Democratic Republic of Congo in their opening match. Ronaldo also came under fire, but the Portuguese head coach emphasized that this is part of the job and the process.
"We have a total of three group stage matches, so nothing changes. We identified where we made mistakes, what we failed to achieve, and what we need to change. No team enters their first match fully prepared and perfect," the specialist explained.
"We had to look at ourselves critically, conduct an honest self-assessment, and that's exactly what happened," Roberto Martinez further commented.
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