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Ronaldo Is Rested and Returning His Attention to an Asian Champions League Title 

Cristiano Ronaldo. (Reuters)
Cristiano Ronaldo. (Reuters)
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Ronaldo Is Rested and Returning His Attention to an Asian Champions League Title 

Cristiano Ronaldo. (Reuters)
Cristiano Ronaldo. (Reuters)

Cristiano Ronaldo has rested and now is returning his attention to winning his first major trophy in Saudi Arabia.

Despite breaking the Saudi Pro League’s scoring record last season with 35 goals and leading the standings in this campaign, the 40-year-old Ronaldo is yet to collect any silverware since signing for Al-Nassr in December 2022.

On Saturday, he’ll be leading Al-Nassr against Japan-based Yokohama F.Marinos in the Asian Champions League Elite quarterfinals.

The Riyadh club, still yet to win a continental championship, is expected to progress to the last four, particularly after Ronaldo was rested this week for Al-Nassr's domestic league win over Damac.

Even without the five-time Ballon d’Or winner, coach Stefano Pioli has a star-studded roster at his disposal. It includes Jhon Duran, signed from Aston Villa in January for over $100 million, former Liverpool star Sadio Mane and Spanish international defender Aymeric Laporte.

Al-Nassr also has the advantage of not having to travel far, as all playoff games are taking place in Jeddah along the Red Sea coast.

“We're now fully focused on Asia,” Pioli said Tuesday. “We have been working hard to prepare for it and I'm satisfied with the performance of the players.”

Yokohama was a beaten finalist last season but is struggling in last place in Japan's domestic league after collecting just two points from the last seven games. The club last week fired Steve Holland, a former England national team assistant to Gareth Southgate, after just four months as coach.

“To fill the void,” the club said in a statement, Australian “Patrick Kisnorbo will serve as an interim manager for the time being.”

Nassr’s Riyadh rival Al-Hilal has won a record four Asian titles and plays Friday against Gwangju FC, a South Korean club making its first appearance in the tournament.

Hilal was the best performer in the ACL group stage and, as it is unlikely to catch Al-Ittihad at the top of the Saudi Pro League, is focused on its bid for a fifth continental championship.

“The Asian Champions League is a personal dream for me, as I have not yet achieved it with the team,” Hilal coach Jorge Jesus said. “It is also a dream for the fans and the club president, and we will continue to play to win every match.”

Al-Ahli is the third contender from Saudi, and the two-time finalist is determined to lift the trophy in its home stadium in Jeddah on May 3. First, though, it must win a quarterfinal against Thai powerhouse Buriram United.

The only one of the four ties not to feature a Saudi club takes place on Sunday when two-time champion Al-Sadd of Qatar takes on Kawasaki Frontale, a Japanese club looking for a first title.

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A Penalty Shattered Palestinian World Cup Dreams for 2026. The Squad Has Inspired Hope 

Football - World Cup - AFC Qualifiers - Group B - Palestine v Oman - King Abdullah II Stadium, Amman, Jordan - June 10, 2025 Palestine's Oday Dabbagh in action with Oman's Abdulrahman Al-Mushaifri. (Reuters) 
Football - World Cup - AFC Qualifiers - Group B - Palestine v Oman - King Abdullah II Stadium, Amman, Jordan - June 10, 2025 Palestine's Oday Dabbagh in action with Oman's Abdulrahman Al-Mushaifri. (Reuters) 
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A Penalty Shattered Palestinian World Cup Dreams for 2026. The Squad Has Inspired Hope 

Football - World Cup - AFC Qualifiers - Group B - Palestine v Oman - King Abdullah II Stadium, Amman, Jordan - June 10, 2025 Palestine's Oday Dabbagh in action with Oman's Abdulrahman Al-Mushaifri. (Reuters) 
Football - World Cup - AFC Qualifiers - Group B - Palestine v Oman - King Abdullah II Stadium, Amman, Jordan - June 10, 2025 Palestine's Oday Dabbagh in action with Oman's Abdulrahman Al-Mushaifri. (Reuters) 

An engrossing qualifying journey of 16 games and the obstacles of a war came crashing down in an instant for Oday Dabbagh and his Palestinian team.

Their legacy will long continue.

Players left the field in tears in the immediate aftermath at the King Abdullah II Stadium in Amman, Jordan, last Thursday after their quest for a first appearance at a World Cup evaporated on a contentious penalty awarded deep in extra time. Fans looked on, stunned.

"It's very hard," Dabbagh, the team's star striker, told The Associated Press. "It was massive for us to get to the next stage — we prepared well, we had a positive atmosphere, and we had the fans with us. We gave everything, but it was gone in a moment."

Needing to win its last three Group B games to reach the playoffs for the last two of Asia's automatic spots at the World Cup, the No. 101-ranked team in the world beat Iraq in Basra in March, Kuwait in Kuwait City on June 5. Five days later, it was leading 1-0 against Oman in Jordan in the 97th minute.

The Palestinians had never been in a better position in qualifying for a World Cup. Then Oman was awarded, and scored, a penalty to make it 1-1 in the last real act of the game.

Not long after the dejected players had picked themselves up, the Palestine Football Association (PFA) made an official complaint to soccer's world governing body, FIFA, about the penalty. It didn't change the fact, however, that the long road trip was over.

"We tried to put smiles on the faces of Palestinians amid their great pain," head coach Ihab Abujazar said. "The heroic players are our pride and glory, a symbol of all that is beautiful in the Palestinian nation."

Playing Away

It may have been different if the Palestinian team, admitted into FIFA in 1998, was able to play home games in front of its fans in Gaza or the West Bank in the third round of qualifying. The Israel-Hamas war meant that couldn't happen. And so, the many of the team's home games have been taking place in the nearby Jordanian capital of Amman, home to a large community of Palestinians.

"It is easier to play in your home," Dabbagh, who helped Aberdeen win the Scottish Cup last month, said. "But the circumstances there are so difficult so we choose to play in Amman as it is close to Palestine, the people are the same, and we have a lot of fans there."

There's been no domestic soccer in the Palestinian territories since the war started in 2023. Hundreds of athletes are among the more than 55,000 Palestinians killed in the conflict and sports facilities have been destroyed.

"Everything that goes on makes us all sad," Dabbagh said. "As players, we try to focus on football during the games, but we use what is happening as motivation to bring happiness to the people of Palestine."

All but two of the roster of 27 national squad players are contracted to foreign clubs either in the region or in Europe, a change from the start of the conflict when a number of players weren't able to leave the West Bank or Gaza to report for international duty.

Over the past year or so, the Palestinian squad has assembled for training camps in Algeria, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to prepare for World Cup qualifying.

The top two teams in each of three Asian groups in the third round earned direct spots for next year's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The third- and fourth-place teams in each group advanced to a playoff for two more places. A win would have secured fourth spot in the group for the Palestinians. The last-minute draw meant they finished a point behind Oman in fifth.

What's next? Now their focus has to shift to the 2027 Asian Cup, which will take place in Saudi Arabia. The Palestinian team has already qualified for the tournament.

Dabbagh is ready to show that the team is set to remain a force in Asian soccer and continue to be ambassadors for millions of people.

"We will keep using football as a message to show the world that there are other things in Palestine" he said. "We will keep going. The dream is not over, it is just delayed."