There are no easy matches in international football, Roberto Martinez, the new manager of Portugal, insisted as he embarked on his first week’s work with his players.
Every international manager has an obligation to stress that, especially when the immediate fixture list looks like a very kind welcome to the job: Liechtenstein first and then Luxembourg. Martinez added, as he explained the choices made for his first Portugal squad, that “he has never opted for the easy decisions” in his varied managerial career.
One selection among the 26 players he called up had, he knew, attracted special scrutiny and debate about whether it was an easy or a tough, bold choice.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been retained as captain at the age of 38, as the only member of the Portugal squad playing his club football outside Europe, and as the snubbed superstar who, for his previous two caps – the 195th and 196th of his record-breaking career – was dropped to the bench, used only in the second halves of key World Cup knockout matches.
Ronaldo does not sit comfortably on substitutes’ benches. The story of this, his 21st season as a senior professional, has made that clear time and again.
His contract with Manchester United was cancelled last November after he went public with criticisms of how the club, and coach, Erik ten Hag, showed what Ronaldo regarded as insufficient “respect” to him. He had refused to come on as a late substitute in a match against Tottenham Hotspur. He fell out badly with Fernando Santos, the coach who dropped him from the starting XI at the World Cup.
Santos, who guided Portugal and Ronaldo to unprecedented success – a first Euros triumph for the country in 2016, the inaugural Uefa Nations League in 2019 – left after Portugal’s 1-0 loss to Morocco in the quarter-finals at Qatar 2022, an exit clouded by the friction with Ronaldo.
Martinez’s six years in charge of the Belgian national team was also ending at the same time, because of a group stage exit, a sharp plummet from the third place Martinez took the Belgians to at the 2018 World Cup. With little time until this week’s qualifiers for Euro 2024 were to begin, both men quickly had new jobs, Santos with Poland, Martinez with Portugal.
For Martinez, the challenge of overseeing what is likely to be the end of Ronaldo’s glorious Portugal career is complex. CR7 is hugely admired by compatriots, if not universally loved. He has scored goals at a fine rate in his first two months playing for Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia, where he moved after his release from United. And the next Euros finals are only 15 months away.
Perhaps if Ronaldo shows the staying power of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the 41-year-old freshly recalled by Sweden, he could even yet play in what would be his sixth World Cup in 2026.
But that would probably require Ronaldo accepting he cannot start every international, and Martinez being convinced that Ronaldo’s club football at Al Nassr keeps him at a sharp enough standard to take up a spot in a Portugal squad whose other attacking players come from, among other places, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea, AC Milan and Benfica.
When Ronaldo was dropped at the World Cup, Benfica’s Goncalo Ramos, 21, came in for his first ever senior international start and promptly scored a hat-trick in the 6-1 win against Switzerland.
Milan striker Rafael Leao was the 2021-22 Serie A Footballer of the Year. Joao Felix, on loan at Chelsea from Atletico Madrid, will go into the next transfer window with one of the highest price-tags of any footballer likely to be on the market this summer. Liverpool’s Diogo Jota is coming back to full fitness after a long lay-off.
Such is the quality of contenders for a place in Portugal’s attack, for just two or three starting positions in front of City’s Bernardo Silva and United’s Bruno Fernandes, that RB Leipzig centre-forward Andre Silva – 19 goals from 53 international games – has not been called up.
Martinez must ponder hard what part Ronaldo should play in a squad with all these resources.
“I look for commitment,” said Martinez, “and Ronaldo has huge commitment to the national team, is a major figure for it, and has experience he can pass on.”
For the players of Liechtenstein – who Portugal host in Lisbon on Thursday – and Luxembourg – against whom Ronaldo has struck nine of his 118 international goals – that experience, that CR7 aura, will only look daunting. But in the months and years ahead, Martinez will be continuously reassessing the value of his superstar.
What it means to be a conservationist
Who is Enric Sala?
Enric Sala is an expert on marine conservation and is currently the National Geographic Society's Explorer-in-Residence. His love of the sea started with his childhood in Spain, inspired by the example of the legendary diver Jacques Cousteau. He has been a university professor of Oceanography in the US, as well as working at the Spanish National Council for Scientific Research and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Biodiversity and the Bio-Economy. He has dedicated his life to protecting life in the oceans. Enric describes himself as a flexitarian who only eats meat occasionally.
What is biodiversity?
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, all life on earth – including in its forests and oceans – forms a “rich tapestry of interconnecting and interdependent forces”. Biodiversity on earth today is the product of four billion years of evolution and consists of many millions of distinct biological species. The term ‘biodiversity’ is relatively new, popularised since the 1980s and coinciding with an understanding of the growing threats to the natural world including habitat loss, pollution and climate change. The loss of biodiversity itself is dangerous because it contributes to clean, consistent water flows, food security, protection from floods and storms and a stable climate. The natural world can be an ally in combating global climate change but to do so it must be protected. Nations are working to achieve this, including setting targets to be reached by 2020 for the protection of the natural state of 17 per cent of the land and 10 per cent of the oceans. However, these are well short of what is needed, according to experts, with half the land needed to be in a natural state to help avert disaster.
Wicked: For Good
Director: Jon M Chu
Starring: Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jonathan Bailey, Jeff Goldblum, Michelle Yeoh, Ethan Slater
Rating: 4/5
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
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Result
2.15pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,950m; Winner: Majestic Thunder, Tadhg O’Shea (jockey), Satish Seemar (trainer).
2.45pm: Handicap Dh80,000 1,800m; Winner: Tailor’s Row, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer.
3.15pm: Handicap Dh85,000 1,600m; Winner: Native Appeal, Adam McLean, Doug Watson.
3.45pm: Handicap Dh115,000 1,950m; Winner: Conclusion, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi.
4.15pm: Handicap Dh100,000 1,400m; Winner: Pilgrim’s Treasure, Tadhg O’Shea, Satish Seemar.
4.45pm: Maiden Dh75,000 1,400m; Winner: Sanad Libya, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar.
5.15pm: Handicap Dh90,000 1,000m; Winner: Midlander, Richard Mullen, Satish Seemar
Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Paris%20Agreement
%3Cp%3EArticle%2014%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E1.%20%5BThe%20Cop%5D%20shall%20periodically%20take%20stock%20of%20the%20implementation%20of%20this%20Agreement%20to%20assess%20the%20collective%20progress%20towards%20achieving%20the%20purpose%20of%20this%20Agreement%20and%20its%20long-term%20goals%20(referred%20to%20as%20the%20%22global%20stocktake%22)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E2.%20%5BThe%20Cop%5D%20shall%20undertake%20its%20first%20global%20stocktake%20in%202023%20and%20every%20five%20years%20thereafter%C2%A0%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
India team for Sri Lanka series
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan
Terror attacks in Paris, November 13, 2015
- At 9.16pm, three suicide attackers killed one person outside the Atade de France during a foootball match between France and Germany
- At 9.25pm, three attackers opened fire on restaurants and cafes over 20 minutes, killing 39 people
- Shortly after 9.40pm, three other attackers launched a three-hour raid on the Bataclan, in which 1,500 people had gathered to watch a rock concert. In total, 90 people were killed
- Salah Abdeslam, the only survivor of the terrorists, did not directly participate in the attacks, thought to be due to a technical glitch in his suicide vest
- He fled to Belgium and was involved in attacks on Brussels in March 2016. He is serving a life sentence in France
White hydrogen: Naturally occurring hydrogen
Chromite: Hard, metallic mineral containing iron oxide and chromium oxide
Ultramafic rocks: Dark-coloured rocks rich in magnesium or iron with very low silica content
Ophiolite: A section of the earth’s crust, which is oceanic in nature that has since been uplifted and exposed on land
Olivine: A commonly occurring magnesium iron silicate mineral that derives its name for its olive-green yellow-green colour
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
