Jorge Jesus names his Portugal squad at noon on Friday 6 November, and one name decides whether anyone reads past the first line. Cristiano Ronaldo is on the pre-list, the 30-day suspension he picked up for walking out of the Copenhagen camp expired on 30 October, and he scored a hat-trick for Al Nassr last week. The call is now Jesus's alone.
Jesus Reads the List Out at 12:00 in Oeiras
The Portuguese Football Federation has put the press conference at 12:00 on Friday at the Cidade do Futebol in Oeiras. Jesus is picking for the last two games of the Nations League group: Denmark at home in Braga on 14 November, then Wales in Cardiff on 17 November, which closes the group.
In sporting terms there is not a great deal left to play for. Four games under Jesus, four wins, a quarter-final place already banked, and a single point needed to make first place official. That is the quiet backdrop against which a forward who walked out of the last camp either walks back into this one or does not.
His Name Is Already on the Longer List
O Jogo reported on 26 October that Ronaldo is among the players pre-selected for November, and the federation confirmed to the Lusa news agency that he is on the pre-list. So are João Félix and Samu Costa, his club teammates at Al Nassr.
A pre-list is not a squad. It is the longer pool a coach works from in the days before he announces, and the Portuguese press has been careful to say so: a place on it guarantees nothing, and the final list belongs to Jesus and to nobody else.
The 30-Day Suspension Ran Out on 30 October
The federation's disciplinary council ruled on 19 October: 30 days and a fine of €255, under article 160 of the disciplinary regulation, for abandoning a call-up, with the offence judged deliberate. The clock ran from 30 September, the day he left the camp in Copenhagen, so most of the ban had been served before it was handed down, and it expired on 30 October.
Nothing formal is in his way, then. Ronaldo answered the ruling with three words on social media, "Dedicar-se ao trabalho", dedicate yourself to the work, and has not returned to the subject since. We wrote about the walkout itself the night it happened.
Jesus Handed the Decision Back to Ronaldo
The clearest Jesus has been came on 4 October, after Portugal had beaten Norway. He told Sport TV that he had not spoken to Ronaldo since the walkout, that the first call-up had been talked through between the two of them and the second one would be too if the player was interested, and that what Ronaldo wanted from the rest of his career was Ronaldo's business. Diário de Notícias carried the remarks that evening.
I have not spoken to him. For me, this is a case that is still not properly settled.
Jorge Jesus
Ronaldo's position has been on the record since 6 October, when he published a letter. He wrote that the coach had gone back on his word, apologised to his teammates for leaving the camp, asked the federation to judge and punish him with no mitigating factors, and said he would be available, as he always had been, to compete and win for the national team. Jesus read it and said he had nothing to add.
A Hat-Trick Last Week, and an Island Waiting on Friday
Form is the one part of this nobody is arguing about. He scored three in Al Nassr's 5–3 win over Al Kholood, his first hat-trick in two and a half years, then sat out Monday's trip to Tashkent, where Al Nassr won 6–2 without him and João Félix scored twice.
Madeira has more riding on Friday than most places do. Ronaldo grew up in Funchal, the island's airport carries his name, and the CR7 Museum sits on Praça do Mar, down on the Funchal waterfront. A squad list read out in Oeiras lands here as local news.
At noon on Friday the island finds out with everybody else.
