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Portugal must prepare for life without Ronaldo. Photo: Reuters . |
At an event of the National Association of Football Coaches (ANTF), Sir Alex's former assistant shared: "We still have illusions about the success of recent years, but I think this is a very important moment. Sooner or later, we will have to face the departure of an excellent player who has left an indelible mark on Portuguese football. Big decisions for the future need to be made now to prevent the national team from going downhill."
Currently, Ronaldo is still the leader of Portugal's attack under coach Roberto Martinez. In the Nations League, CR7 is still in the race for the top scorer with 5 goals, 4 goals behind leader Viktor Gyokeres. No Portuguese player is in better form than Ronaldo at the moment.
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Ronaldo still shines regularly at the age of 40. Photo: Reuters. |
Coach Queiroz stressed the importance of finding worthy successors to icons like Ronaldo and Luis Figo. He said: “We need to review the whole process of training players and make better decisions to develop their potential, to help players contribute to the national team. Competition is very important."
Sir Alex's former assistant pointed out that Portugal should increase the number of professional players to about 300,000 - 400,000 people to build a strong team.
“The more players we have, the more we can hope to produce individuals with good qualities like Figo and Ronaldo,” said Mr. Queiroz.
Portugal will begin their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign in September. This month, coach Martinez and his team will have two matches against Denmark in the Nations League. Ronaldo is expected to continue to play an important role in the squad.
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