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Radja Nainggolan announces international retirement after being left out
of Belgian football world cup squad
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May 23, 2018
Original URL: https://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Radja_Nainggolan_announces_international_retirement_after_being_left_out_of_Belgian_football_world_cup_squad


On Monday, Belgian midfielder Radja Nainggolan announced his retirement
from international football after he was left out of the national team
squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup upcoming in June.

Radja Nainggolan, who plays for Italian club AS Roma, posted on Twitter
saying, .

Nainggolan announced his decision soon after Roberto Martinez, Belgium
team manager, shortlisted 28 players for the Russia World Cup. Martinez
travelled to Rome to inform Nainggolan about his decision before
announcing the shortlisted players. Nainggolan, who turned 30 earlier
this month, scored two goals for AS Roma against English club Liverpool
FC in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League semi-final. In 2017,
Roma club supporters voted Nainggolan the club's Player of the Season.

Explaining his decision to leave out Nainggolan, manager Martinez said,
"It was a sad and difficult decision. He is a player with a lot of class
and he was voted Roma's best player, but I've made my decision for
purely tactical reasons." The Spaniard added, "We know that Radja has a
very important role in his club and we cannot give him that role in our
squad".

Martinez is to finalise and submit a 23-man squad for the World Cup
tournament on June 4, after his team plays against Portugal in a
friendly scheduled for June 2 in the Belgian capital Brussels. After
Nainggolan was left out of the squad, former Belgian international
Philippe Albert said, "We must be the only country in the world to be
making the trip without one of the best players in the world".

Belgium is in Group G for the World Cup, along with England, Panama, and
Tunisia. Belgium is currently world number three in the FIFA rankings.

== Sources == 

* https://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN1IM0Z1
* http://www.skysports.com/football/news/29908/11380677/radja-nainggolan-announces-international-retirement
* https://twitter.com/OfficialRadja/status/998545950456078336
* https://www.afp.com/en/news/207/belgium-leave-out-nainggolan-world-cup-doc-15802a2
* http://www.asroma.com/en/news/2018/5/happy-birthday-radja-nainggolan-#tag=3EVLuFC7i86eMEWosEgkK0
* http://www.asroma.com/en/news/2017/6/nainggolan-voted-roma-s-player-of-the-season



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