Roberto Martínez suffers first-ever qualifying loss | OneFootball

Portugal’s visit to Dublin turned into the kind of evening every squad wants to scrub from memory.

After stumbling to a draw against Hungary in Lisbon, the Seleção followed it up with a bruising defeat to the Republic of Ireland - a result that delays their World Cup qualification hopes and sends them into Sunday’s showdown with Armenia under far more pressure than expected.

The numbers behind the night only deepen the sting. Roberto Martínez, nine years into his journey as a national-team coach with Belgium and Portugal, saw an extraordinary streak come to an abrupt end.

In Dublin, he suffered his first-ever defeat in World Cup or European Championship qualifying, and remarkably, it arrived in his 43rd match. Until this slip, Martínez had run up a flawless set of European qualifiers and an unbeaten World Cup qualifying record that felt almost untouchable.

For Portugal as a whole, the loss also breaks a long-standing habit of consistency. This was their first defeat in a qualifier for a major tournament since 2021, when Serbia stunned them late in Lisbon.

Now it’s all eyes on the Estádio do Dragão, where Portugal must show whether this was just a bad night or an early sign of trouble.