Ronaldo refuses to specify a date for his international retirement and stresses his focus on the present

Veteran Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo confirmed that his focus is on the present moment, refusing to set a date for his international retirement, during a press conference held on Wednesday, on the eve of facing Wales in the European Nations League competition.

The 41-year-old told reporters who pressed him to reveal his intentions after he announced this summer that this season would “most likely” be the last in his career: “I am too old to think about the future. For me, the present is the most important.”

The five-time Ballon d'Or winner for the best player in the world hinted that he is ready to leave his country's national team as soon as the technical staff asks him to do so, and that he will announce his departure before playing his last match wearing the captain's armband and the famous number 7 with the Portuguese national team.

He also confirmed his goal of reaching 1,000 goals, after scoring 979 goals in all competitions.

The former Spanish Real Madrid and Italian Juventus star and current Saudi Al-Nassr said: “I previously stated my desire to achieve this achievement, and I will, but it is not an obsession,” explaining that he hopes to reach this record while playing for the Portugal national team.

He added: “This will be a wonderful culmination of my career... Scoring the thousandth goal with the national team will be the culmination of a beautiful story.”

CR7 described the arrival of new coach Jorge Jesus as “the beginning of a new era,” declaring that the 71-year-old coach, who worked with him last year at Al-Nasr Club and led it to win the league title, is the “perfect choice” to succeed Spaniard Roberto Martinez.

Portugal, winner of the European Nations League in 2019 and 2025, will begin the new version of the competition by hosting Wales on Thursday in Lisbon.

Coach Jesus confirmed that his captain will participate as a starter. “He will play tomorrow, and I hope he scores one or two goals immediately, then I will replace him.”

Brazilian midfielder Bruno Guimaraes confirmed on Wednesday that he would have executed the penalty kick he missed during Brazil's 1-2 loss to Norway in the 16-final round of the 2026 World Cup "a thousand times more."

The English Arsenal player returns to the Brazilian national team to play the first friendly matches since the World Cup, which witnessed the worst participation of the five world champions in the World Cup since the Italian edition in 1990, when they were eliminated from the competition in the same round.

The Seleção will face Australia on Friday in Townsville, then next Tuesday in Brisbane, before meeting India on October 3 in Calcutta.

The player said during a press conference in Brisbane, where Italian coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team is holding its camp: “If I get another penalty kick and am tasked with implementing it, I will not hide. "I would do it a thousand more times if I had to, because wearing this shirt means everything to me."

He added: “Missing a penalty kick is part of football, but you are never prepared when it happens. “It is a wound, it is a scar, and it still hurts me,” but he stressed that “you must learn from mistakes.” In reference to the kick he missed when the score was a goalless draw.

He also responded to the criticism directed at Vinicius Junior for not executing that kick in the first quarter-hour of the confrontation against Norway in New Jersey, saying: “I was the one who was chosen to execute it.”

Ancelotti had explained after the match that, based on the statistics of players taking penalty kicks, he entrusted this task “first to Neymar, then Rafinha, Bruno Guimarães, and Gabriel Martinelli.” However, the first two were not on the field during the first half.

This new appearance with the national team coincides with his move to Arsenal from Newcastle in a deal estimated by the media at approximately 87.5 million euros (about 100 million dollars).

He said: “I am focusing a lot (...) I want to leave my mark” at the London club.

International winger Bukayo Saka said that the England national team still bears an “internal scar” after the painful defeat in the World Cup semi-finals against Argentina.

The England national team will begin its campaign in the European Nations League by facing Spain, the world champion, at Wembley Stadium on September 26, just nine weeks after conceding two late goals in a harsh loss to Argentina, led by Lionel Messi, in the semi-finals in Atlanta.

Saka then scored a hat-trick as England beat France 6-4 to secure third place in the World Cup.

But the 25-year-old Arsenal winger explained that the pain of failing to win the first major title for the English men's national team since winning the World Cup on home soil in 1966 is still deep.

“It is clear that the scar is still there inside us,” Saka told the BBC on Wednesday. “When you believed, and everyone was so united and confident that we could achieve it, not just us, but the entire country.”

He continued: “We are now trying to turn the page and focus on the new international season and what awaits us during it. "You try to move on as quickly as possible, but the scar remains a scar, and it only heals when it's time to heal."

He added: “But as I said, we are here in a new international season, and we have four difficult and very important matches in the group stage in order to qualify in the Nations League, and this is what we are completely focused on.”

Saka suffered an Achilles tendon injury throughout the World Cup in North America, and remained on the bench during the defeat to Argentina in the semi-finals, after England coach Thomas Tuchel preferred to make defensive substitutions in an attempt that did not succeed in maintaining a 1-0 lead.

Tuchel was subjected to severe criticism for his tactical style, after the England national team retreated to defend its lead against Argentina before collapsing in the final minutes in Atlanta.

“We have conducted critical reviews, which will of course remain behind closed doors,” the German said when announcing England’s squad for the Nations League last week, as he seeks to lead the team to the 2028 European Cup title.

The 53-year-old coach continued: “I am my harshest critic of myself, and sometimes reflection is necessary in order to improve, and experience is an essential part of the training process.”

The 2028 European Cup will be jointly organized by England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.