MADRID (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo’s sixth and likely final World Cup will be the first for the Portugal great since he left Europe to play in Saudi Arabia.
The surprise move in late 2022 shocked many in the soccer world and prompted widespread doubts about whether his form would be affected by facing lower-level competition.
But Ronaldo, who turned 41 in February, has dismissed any notion of a drop in performance going into next month’s showcase event. And, to help make his case, the goals have kept coming, both for Al Nassr and with Portugal.
Portugal coach Roberto Martínez said Ronaldo is as hungry as ever and doesn’t see any signs that the star forward has slowed down after moving to Saudi Arabia.
“He keeps performing and he keeps showing his value and he keeps showing that (he) is important for the national team,” Martínez said. “To have that hunger when you’ve won everything in the game is quite remarkable. And that’s without getting away from the fact that to be in the national team you need to be somebody that can help the team now and not with what you’ve done in the past.”
Ronaldo and his longtime rival Lionel Messi are set to reach the milestone of playing in six World Cups. Ronaldo is the all-time leader in appearances (226) and goals (143) for a men's national team. He is also the only man to have scored in five World Cups.
“Even though he’s the captain, even though probably he’s achieved what no other player in world football has achieved, which is the number of games for the national team, over 225 appearances, just with that number is a uniqueness about what he brings, but I think he has the same demands as any other player in the national team,” Martínez said.
Ronaldo made the move to Saudi Arabia in the middle of the 2022-23 season after his latest stint with Manchester United, rejecting other offers to take up a reported salary of $200 million a year and “give a different vision of this country and football.” Ronaldo said at the time his work in Europe was done and he was ready for a “new challenge.”
Criticism immediately began to pour in, with many fans and pundits not liking what appeared to be his choice of taking the big Saudi money instead of continuing his career in elite soccer. Some said he was virtually retiring from competitive soccer.
Ronaldo has constantly praised the Saudi league, though, saying it’s better than both the French and the Portuguese leagues. He said those who criticize him should go there and try to compete in temperatures of up to 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) and keep performing like he has.
“I don’t need to speak because they can say whatever they want, but the numbers don’t lie,” Ronaldo said in an interview with Piers Morgan last year. “They've never been here, they've never played here ... For me it’s (easier) to score in Spain than score in Saudi (league).”
Ronaldo’s move away from Europe did not appear to affect his performances on the international stage with Portugal. He has kept playing at a high level since then, scoring 25 goals in his last 30 games with the national team.
Ronaldo went scoreless in five European Championship games in 2024 as Portugal reached the quarterfinals. In 2025, about two and a half years after he started playing in Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo helped Portugal win the Nations League title, with one of his eight goals in the competition coming in the final against Spain.
Ronaldo has maintained a top-notch physical condition despite just having turned 41. He was hindered by a hamstring injury sustained in late February but recovered quickly. On May 7, he was scoring his 100th Saudi Pro League goal in his 105th league appearances for Al Nassr, which has a chance to win its first league title since 2019.
“All the efforts (Cristiano) makes and what he does on the pitch, which he has experienced more than all of us together, which he puts in every day and every game, is unique,” João Félix, Ronaldo’s teammate with both Al Nassr and Portugal, told the Saudi Pro League earlier this year. “And that we see him, at 40 years old, doing what he does, only gives us more motivation.”
Ronaldo scored 14 goals in 16 matches in his debut season in Saudi Arabia in 2022-23. In his first full season, he netted 35 goals in 31 games, setting a new scoring record in the league. Al Nassr won its first Arab Club Champions Cup in 2023 thanks to a pair of goals by Ronaldo in the final.
In the 2024-25 season, Ronaldo scored 25 goals in 30 matches, and so far this season he has found the net 26 times in 29 appearances. He was the league’s top scorer in both of his first two full seasons, and now is five goals shy of Al Ahli’s Ivan Toney.
Ronaldo has said this will definitely be his last attempt at winning the World Cup, but it remains unclear for how long he will continue playing.
His coach with Portugal knows better not to make any guesses.
“It’s difficult for me to say, because obviously I’ve learned very quickly not to predict the future with Cristiano, just because he’s got this elite brain about being the best that he can be today,” Martínez said. “And I’m thinking if you ask him, he’ll tell you the same. He doesn’t make plans.”
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FILE - Al Nassr's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring at the King Saud University Stadium, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Jan. 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla, file)
FILE - Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates after scoring during a World Cup 2026 group F qualifying soccer match between Portugal and Hungary in Lisbon, Oct. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, File)
England wrapped up a 115-run victory over New Zealand before lunch on Day 4 of the first cricket test at Lord’s on Sunday, marking a positive start to its “Bazball” reset after the Ashes humiliation Down Under.
Resuming on 55-5 and requiring 254 for an unlikely win, New Zealand lost its remaining five wickets inside the first two hours of play and was dismissed for 138.
England pacer Gus Atkinson finished with team-best figures of 5-30 on a challenging, bowler-friendly surface at the home of cricket that saw 24 batters out bowled or lbw.
It was fitting that the match ended with the middle stump flattened after Atkinson clean-bowled Kiwi tail-ender Matt Henry. That left Glenn Phillips stranded at the other end on 44 not out, making him New Zealand's top scorer of a disappointing test for the tourists.
“You've got to play what's in front of you, you've got to identify the conditions as a team and understand what you think is the best way for you to go out there and win,” England captain Ben Stokes said of the conditions in a match that lasted just 166 overs.
“And we did that better than New Zealand this week.”
This first test series of the summer has been regarded as a fresh start for England and its under-pressure leadership after a 4-1 loss to Australia during an Ashes tour featuring reports of excessive drinking and when England was accused of slack preparation and a wrong tactical approach.
The headline selections early in this second iteration of “Bazball” under coach Brendon McCullum and Stokes were opener Emilio Gay and seam bowler Ollie Robinson — and both delivered.
With a second-innings 57, Gay had the highest individual score from either team on his test debut.
Robinson, recalled for the first time since 2024 when he was dropped over misgivings about his fitness and attitude, took seven wickets in total (5-39 and 2-38) — three of them coming in his magical first over — and was named man of the match.
“He said before he bowled in that first innings that he was more nervous than he was on his debut,” McCullum said of Robinson. “His natural length was going to be successful on this surface ... he needed relentlessness and accuracy and being able to get the ball to seam. With his height and skills, he was always going to be a handful.”
What was already a tough position for New Zealand got even harder when Tom Blundell was trapped lbw by Josh Tongue in the seventh over of the day.
That left the tourists on 58-6 but a 53-run partnership between opener Devon Conway and Phillips gave them a fighting chance of a remarkable comeback.
Then Conway, surprised by the bounce of a delivery from Stokes, sent a leading edge to gully for the first of four dismissals in seven overs, ensuring New Zealand didn't even make it to lunch.
Given the state of the pitch, perhaps little should be gleaned from the second shortest completed test of the record 150 to take place at Lord’s. That was New Zealand captain Tom Latham's thought process, anyway.
“It's a surface that we weren’t expecting,” Latham said. “I don't think anybody expected a surface like that.”
“I think it's important we don't delve too much into this game. We understand we'll go to The Oval and conditions will be a lot better than they have been here.”
The second test of the three-match series is across London at The Oval, starting June 17.
Atkinson continued his love affair with the home of cricket, where he made his test debut two years ago and took 12 wickets in a win over West Indies to get on the Lord's storied honors boards.
Later that summer, he struck his maiden test century — against Sri Lanka — at Lord's, as well as getting another five-fer.
He was at it again Sunday, removing New Zealand's final three batters — Nathan Smith, Kyle Jamieson and Matt Henry — to get back on the honors board located inside the dressing rooms at the famous ground.
It was his fifth five-wicket haul in tests — and four of them have been at Lord’s.
AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket
England's Gus Atkinson holds the ball as he leaves the field after bowling out New Zealand's Matt Henry to win the Test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's cricket ground in London, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
England's Gus Atkinson, left, celebrates with captain Ben Stokes after bowling out New Zealand's Matt Henry to win the Test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's cricket ground in London, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
New Zealand's Nathan Smith reacts as he walks off the field after losing his wicket during the fourth day of the Test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's cricket ground in London, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
England's captain Ben Stokes celebrates the dismissal of New Zealand's Devon Conway during the fourth day of the Test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's cricket ground in London, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
New Zealand's Nathan Smith reacts as he walks off the field after losing his wicket during the fourth day of the Test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's cricket ground in London, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
England's captain Ben Stokes, right, celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of New Zealand's Devon Conway during the fourth day of the Test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's cricket ground in London, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
New Zealand's Glenn Phillips plays a shot during the fourth day of the Test match between England and New Zealand at Lord's cricket ground in London, Sunday, June 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
