Jeremy Doku will return to the Belgium national team in the last two matches they play in the group stage of the European Nations League against Turkey and Italy, after coach Mark van Bommel announced on Friday a squad consisting of 26 players to play the two matches this month.
Doku played his last match for his country in the World Cup, where he suffered from illness, and missed the first four matches in the first level of the European Nations League in September and October, in which Belgium scored six points.
Van Bommel also surprisingly summoned striker Hugo Kuipers, who plays in Mexico, and also summoned Josue Kongolo (20 years old) for the first time after he had previously played for the Belgium U-21 national team.
Kongolo joined the squad in place of Milan defender Kuni de Venter, who Van Bommel said refused the call-up because he was not satisfied with being left on the bench during Belgium's six matches in this year's World Cup and in the Nations League.
Defender Zino Debast will be absent from the squad due to injury, and Newcastle United player Matias Fernandez-Pardo, who has been ill and has not trained much in recent weeks, along with Malik Fofana and Luis Opinda.
Belgium will play away from home in Izmir on November 12, before hosting Italy in Brussels three days later.
Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said on Friday that his compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo's retirement from international football does not mean the end of his football career, stressing that CR7 still has a lot to offer.
Ronaldo, who trained under Mourinho for three years at Real Madrid, announced on Thursday that he would play his final match for the Portuguese national team, bringing down the curtain on a record international career that saw him participate in 234 matches and score 146 goals.
Mourinho said, in statements he made prior to his team’s match against Valencia: “This is not a final retirement, as his career is not over yet.” Anyone who knows Ronaldo is well aware that he still has goals in mind in his football career.”
He added: “All I hope is that when the day comes for him to retire from football permanently, it will happen in a way different from what we witnessed yesterday.”
Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d'Or winner, entered into a dispute with national team coach Jorge Jesus in late September, after the latter refused to include him in a European Nations League match.
As a result, Ronaldo immediately left the national team camp, and was imposed on him for a 30-day suspension. This was a sad end to an international career that included winning the 2016 European Cup and the Nations League in 2019 and 2025.
Ronaldo will continue his career with Al-Nassr Saudi Arabia, with whom he has a contract extending until June 2027.
Bayern Munich assistant coach Aaron Danks said on Friday that he is looking forward to next week's international break, after taking over the team temporarily during the past two weeks in the absence of coach Vincent Kompany due to illness.
Kompany suffered a severe illness during a training session on October 23, and was immediately transferred to a hospital, and has continued to recover at home since then.
During his time supervising the team, Danks led Bayern to three victories and a draw in four matches, including a 2-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday, in addition to a 6-1 sweep of Magdeburg in the German Cup.
Danks said in a press conference: “I am by nature a person who always seeks to learn, so this experience represented an important challenge for me, but the circumstances in which it came were certainly not what I had hoped or hoped for.”
He added: “I cannot say that I am happy to have this opportunity in this way, but I dealt with it positively and tried to benefit from it, and I learned a lot during it.”
Although no date has been set for Kompany's return to work, the international break that will follow this week's matches will give both the Belgian coach and Danks an opportunity to catch a breath and get some rest.
Bayern Munich leads the German League table, ahead of Borussia Dortmund on goal difference, and will visit Mainz on Saturday.
Danks said: “I am looking forward to the rest and the downtime, especially as it will give me an opportunity to return home and see my family.” “I hope it will be after winning, so I can spend some quality time with the family.”
He stressed that the team continues to reap the fruits of the work accomplished over the past two and a half years under Kompany’s leadership, noting that the technical staff has maintained the same approach during the recent period.
He added: “Our focus was on sticking to the way we work every day. “It was not easy, but we tried to manage the stage from Vince’s perspective and through his leadership style, and this helped us maintain stability.”
