Roberto Martinez has made the tone plain before Portugal's meeting with Croatia. "Diogo is our sun and our light. We want to win the World Cup for him," he said, as the squad prepare for Thursday evening in Toronto, where the tie kicks off at 00:00 BST on Friday morning and a last-16 place is at stake.
Diogo Jota died 11 days after marrying Rute Cardoso, following the car accident on 3 July 2025 after a Lamborghini tyre blowout while overtaking another vehicle. Portugal's World Cup campaign has been wrapped around that loss ever since, and Rúben Neves has been the most visible link between the past and the present.
Neves and the details around Jota
Neves said: "I still talk to him." He also said, "I and the entire national team will do everything we can to keep Diogo here with us, on our team. The day after the news, for me, is the most difficult day of my life. The most important aspect for me to be able to play was wanting to play for Diogo first."
The details around him are specific. Neves is wearing Jota's number 21 shirt at the tournament, and he helped carry Jota's coffin into the church in Gondomar on 5 July 2025. Portugal's squad wristbands are green and red and carry the names of all squad members alongside Jota's, and Vitinha described how they were made matchday-legal for the pitch.
Jota scored 14 goals in 49 appearances for Portugal. The tribute has gone beyond symbolism, but the football still has to hold up, and Portugal have won just 1 of their 3 group games at the tournament.
Portugal still have work to do
Neves' latest World Cup outing was a 6.7 in the 0-0 with Colombia, and he played 45 minutes in that match. Portugal can still lean on the emotional edge that has built around Jota, but the Croatia game is not being played in a vacuum. It is a knockout tie with a place in the last 16 on the line, and the squad's tribute-heavy build-up sits alongside a tournament record that has been uneven so far.
The sentiment around Portugal is clear enough. Martinez and Neves have turned this into a mission to honour Jota, not just a standard knockout chase. The next test is Croatia on Thursday night in Toronto.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →