Portugal coach Jorge Jesus named his first squad since Cristiano Ronaldo retirement from international football on Friday, with seven changes to the group for the final Nations League matches against Denmark and Wales. The 28 man squad, announced for fixtures on November 14 in Braga and November 17 in Cardiff, features debuts for Porto right back Alberto Costa and Monza forward Gustavo Varela, and it is the first selection since Ronaldo ended a 23 year international career that brought a record 146 goals in 234 appearances.
Why it matters
The seven changes are Alberto Costa, Antonio Silva, Matheus Fernandes, Carlos Forbs, Geovany Quenda, Rodrigo Mora and Gustavo Varela, all included in the latest squad after impressing their coach. Alberto Costa and Gustavo Varela earn their first senior Portugal call ups, and the selection also welcomes back Antonio Silva, Matheus Fernandes and Carlos Forbs, alongside young talents Rodrigo Mora and Geovany Quenda. It is a squad that looks deliberately to the future, with youth and form rewarded over reputation, and with the message that the post Ronaldo era will be built on players who have earned their place.
The absences are as telling as the inclusions. Ronaldo, 41, retired earlier in the week after a reported fallout with Jesus, which saw the veteran forward walk out of the training camp on October 30, and he had subsequently been given a 30 day suspension by the Portuguese Football Federation. Nuno Mendes, the Paris Saint Germain full back, is out through injury, while Francisco Conceicao is missing through suspension after his red card against Norway. The squad must therefore cope without its greatest player, its first choice left back, and a winger who had been in form.
What happens next
The fixtures themselves carry less pressure than the occasion. Portugal boasts a perfect record in the Nations League, winning its first four games to guarantee a quarter final place, and the reigning champions have already sewn up top spot in Group A4 and sealed qualification for the knockout phase. Denmark on November 14 and Wales on November 17 are therefore about building the new team rather than about survival, and Jesus has used the freedom to make changes that would have been harder in a must win game. The results will still be watched, but the selection is the story.
What happens next is the first test of the new era, and then the long process of building a team for the next World Cup cycle. Ronaldo will continue his club career with Al Nassr, chasing a 1,000th career goal, and the Portuguese Football Federation has said it will organise a fitting tribute to his immense career. Whether that tribute takes place on the pitch remains unclear. For now, the focus is the squad list, and the names on it are the first answer to the question that Portuguese football has avoided for 23 years: who are we, without Cristiano Ronaldo.
