It바카라s a new era for Portugal as it begins European Championship qualifying under a new coach and with Cristiano Ronaldo far away from soccer바카라s biggest stadiums. (More Football news)
Portugal starts its Euro 2024 qualifying campaign at home against Liechtenstein in Group J on Thursday, with Roberto Martínez debuting as coach and Ronaldo still in the squad.
It바카라s a new era for Portugal as it begins European Championship qualifying under a new coach and with Cristiano Ronaldo far away from soccer바카라s biggest stadiums. (More Football news)
Portugal starts its Euro 2024 qualifying campaign at home against Liechtenstein in Group J on Thursday, with Roberto Martínez debuting as coach and Ronaldo still in the squad.
It will be Ronaldo바카라s first appearance with Portugal since leaving Europe for Saudi club Al Nassr after a mostly disappointing stint with Manchester United. He is set to break the all-time record of appearances with a national team after tying Bader Al-Mutawa바카라s mark of 196 outings for Kuwait during last year바카라s World Cup.
Martínez is taking over Fernando Santos, who quit in December after Portugal바카라s elimination by Morocco in the quarterfinals of the World Cup. Santos left amid the controversy of benching Ronaldo in the knockout stage of the tournament in Qatar.
Santos was in charge of Portugal for eight years, leading the national team to the Euro 2016 title 바카라 the country바카라s first major trophy 바카라 and the 2019 Nations League title. He reached an agreement with the federation to leave two years before his contract was to end.
Martínez ended his six-year stint with Belgium after the team바카라s disappointing group-stage elimination at the World Cup. He arrived pledging to respect Ronaldo바카라s history with the national team.
In addition to Ronaldo, Martínez will inherit a squad filled with talented players such as Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Diogo Jota, Gonçalo Ramos and João Félix. The coach made few changes to the squad, with 40-year-old defender Pepe also returning to play alongside the 38-year-old Ronaldo.
바카라We were briefly introduced to him on the training field,바카라 Félix said about Martínez. 바카라He explained to us some of his ideas, mainly for these two games, which are going to be very similar. He talked about the attacking dynamic, the connections between wingers and strikers.바카라
Félix downplayed Portugal바카라s chances in the matches against Liechtenstein and at Luxembourg on Sunday.
바카라We always have to be prepared and not take any game lightly,바카라 he said. 바카라We have the recent example of the World Cup, when everyone thought we were going to get past Morocco and we didn바카라t. It바카라s always complicated, it바카라s always the best from each country, and everyone plays each game like it is a final. All games will be difficult, both at home and away. We have to be cautious.바카라
Portugal is unbeaten against Liechtenstein, with six wins and a draw in seven matches.
Portugal바카라s Euro 2024 qualifying group also includes Iceland, Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The top two nations from each of the 10 groups qualify for the final tournament in Germany.