{"id":672225,"date":"2026-07-08T14:40:58","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:40:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/?p=672225"},"modified":"2026-07-08T14:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T18:52:11","slug":"roberto-martinez-jesus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/2026\/07\/08\/roberto-martinez-jesus\/","title":{"rendered":"Here We Go: New Manager Accepts Offer to Succeed Roberto Martinez With Portugal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 2026 World Cup<\/span><\/a> brought much enthusiasm across Portugal that A Sele\u00e7\u00e3o could conquer the world, following their impressive Nations League win in 2025. However, despite boasting a plethora of elite players, Roberto Martinez\u2019s team never really got going. A last-gasp last-16 exit against Spain broke the hearts of Portuguese players and fans alike. Following their exit, it was confirmed, to no one\u2019s surprise, that Martinez had left his role<\/span><\/a> as head coach of the Portuguese national team. As per Fabrizio Romano<\/span><\/a>, Jorge Jesus has agreed to take over as the new head coach.<\/p>\n

Portugal depart World Cup after defeat to Spain<\/h2>\n

The World Cup was ultimately a big disappointment for all connected with the Portuguese national team. Two draws and a 5-0 win over Uzbekistan saw Portugal reach the last 32. Yes, they rode their luck in that game, but it felt like the players finally had some freedom to play, with Goncalo Ramos scoring a dramatic late header to win the game.<\/p>\n

Confidence was high before the Spanish game, but Portugal ultimately huffed and puffed and was undone by a late Mikel Merino goal. Many Portuguese supporters were miffed that there was no game time for Ramos in the last 16, with Vitinha also being substituted.<\/p>\n

Read More<\/strong>: Opportunity Lost: Colombia\u2019s Exit to Switzerland on Penalties Leaves World Cup With One Team from the Americas<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Roberto Martinez replacement found<\/h2>\n

As reported by Romano, ex-Benfica and, more recently, Al Nassr manager Jorge Jesus has agreed to take over from Roberto Mart\u00ednez. The 71-year-old is Portuguese-born and bred, which should get fans onside. He\u2019s a proven winner who will demand only the very best from this talented squad.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read More<\/strong>: Why Not Us? Mexico\u2019s World Cup Dream Faces Its Greatest Test Against England<\/a><\/p>\n

Jesus will get A Sele\u00e7\u00e3o playing with intensity, something severely lacking in the World Cup. His attacking style will suit the vastly talented squad at his disposal. It\u2019s widely thought Ronaldo will retire from international football, but with Jesus taking over, could Ronaldo stay around for the Nations League and even Euro 2028 in the United Kingdom and Ireland for the manager who just guided Al Nassr to the Saudi Pro League title?<\/p>\n

Featured Image Credit<\/strong>:<\/p>\n

IMAGO \/ HMB-Media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 2026 World Cup brought much enthusiasm across Portugal that A Sele\u00e7\u00e3o could conquer the world, following their impressive Nations League win in 2025. However, despite boasting a plethora of elite players, Roberto Martinez\u2019s team never really got going. A last-gasp last-16 exit against Spain broke the hearts of Portuguese players and fans alike. Following […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4106,"featured_media":670029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[161,30,2132],"tags":[798,4374,688,2331],"class_list":["post-672225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international-football","category-news","category-world-cup","tag-2026-world-cup","tag-jorge-jesus","tag-portugal","tag-roberto-martinez"],"modified_by":"Ricky Carroll, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=672225"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":672230,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/672225\/revisions\/672230"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/670029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=672225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=672225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/football\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=672225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}