No Ronaldo, Martínez calls up Sporting quartet to Portugal squad | OneFootball

Roberto Martínez announced this Friday, at the Cidade do Futebol in Oeiras, the Portuguese squad for the friendlies before the 2026 World Cup, against the United States of America and Mexico. Rui Silva, Gonçalo Inácio, Pedro Gonçalves, and Francisco Trincão were the Sporting players selected by the coach.

In a squad without Cristiano Ronaldo - who is sidelined due to an injury sustained while playing for Al Nassr - the absence of Paulinho is also notable, but not only that: Eduardo Quaresma was also not included in the Spanish coach's choices.

Roberto Martínez repeated the same Sporting players from the last call-up, but the surprise comes in the form of an ex: Mateus Fernandes from West Ham was called up by the coach. Regarding other players who have passed through Alvalade, highlights include: Renato Veiga, Nuno Mendes, Matheus Nunes, Bruno Fernandes, and Rafael Leão.

The squad list now revealed for the National Team concerns the friendlies against Mexico and the United States, which will take place on the 29th of this month (02:00) and April 1st (00:07), respectively, and he justified his choices.

Check out the squad list:

Goalkeepers: Diogo Costa (Porto), Rui Silva (Sporting), and José Sá (Wolverhampton)

Defenders: Matheus Nunes (Manchester City), João Cancelo (Barcelona), Diogo Dalot (Manchester United), Nuno Mendes (PSG), Gonçalo Inácio (Sporting), Renato Veiga (Villarreal), António Silva (Benfica), and Tomás Araújo (Benfica)

Midfielders: Rúben Neves (Al Hilal), Samu Costa (Mallorca), Mateus Fernandes (West Ham), Vitinha (PSG), João Neves (PSG), Bruno Fernandes (Manchester United), Rodrigo Mora (Porto), and Pedro Gonçalves (Sporting)

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.