The Portuguese forward Diana Silva acknowledged this Friday that the Netherlands has a great team, but guaranteed that Portugal has been working hard to give a good response at the start of the Women’s Soccer World Cup.
“We are very excited about the start of the competition to be there to fight. We have worked a long time so that it is possible to start in the best way and that is what we are waiting for. We are waiting to do a good game”, guaranteed the Sporting soccer player, from 28 years.
In the hotel where the team is installed in Auckland, before a training session that lasted from morning to afternoon due to the incessant rain, Diana Silva made it clear: “All the games are very important and we want to reach the end depending on solely from us.”
“Holland is a very strong team, very pressing, very aggressive in individual duels, but we also have our strengths and we will try to make them appear on game day,” explained the Portuguese striker.
Portugal have their weapons: “We are a very smart, fast and very organized team, and we have to be able to use those strengths against them.”
The World Cup started on Thursday and soon with a surprise, the victory of co-hosts New Zealand, who had never triumphed in World Cups, against Norway, 1-0, in Auckland.
“Theory is one thing and practice is another, and I don’t think you can go into these games thinking that the result will be this or that. Anything is possible and we are all on a level playing field when we enter the field,” he noted. guaranteed.
The Dutch are ‘old’ known since the formation of the ‘quinas’, after the recent clash in the final phase of the Eurocup in 2022, which ended with a 3-2 victory for the Netherlands, in a match in Portugal that they still recovered from 0-2 to 2-2.
“I think it’s going to be completely different games, the competitions are different too. I hope we can go into the same quality that we went into this game against the Netherlands, which was a very positive game on our part. And we’ll try to do the same. here,” he said.
In that match, played on July 13, 2022, in Leigh, England, Diana Silva scored the second goal for the Portuguese, then the draw (2-2), in the 47th minute.
“For me it’s always special to score goals, it’s my goal as a striker, but the team comes first. It would be as special for me to be the one to score, as it is to be someone else to score. For me, the special thing is to win this match.” , guaranteed.
The ‘leonina’ striker, with 19 goals in 95 international ‘AA’ matches – she could reach a hundred in the 2023 World Cup if Portugal reaches the ‘quarter-finals’ -, however, awaits a different match.
“I think that a football match is always different, it has nothing to do with the rival. Everything, believing that we can get a positive result. And expect the best of our performance,” he said.
A different result is also what the Portuguese expect, given the progress in the formation of the ‘quinas’.
“At this moment, people already expect a little more from us, it’s natural, we also put ourselves in this position. It’s positive pressure, it means we’re on this stage, a bigger stage. I don’t think the team has anything to do with it. feel pressured. As I said, we are going to try the best possible result”, he guaranteed.
And if that result is a tie, it won’t be bad: “I think the tie is a positive result – not losing points (for the Netherlands) is a positive result – but we haven’t looked at the score we can take from this game yet, we’re looking put on a successful exhibition, meet the objectives that they asked us and, in the end, we do the math”.
As for tactics, Diana Silva guarantees a team prepared for various systems, including the three center backs, used in the recent friendly against Ukraine (Portugal’s 2-0 victory).
“I feel just as comfortable. The coach always wants us to understand everything before the game and that we are well organized, and I think this team is prepared to play with this tactic as well”.
The formation of the ‘quinas’ will face the Dutch, runners-up in the world, on Sunday, at 7:30 p.m. local time (08:30 in Lisbon), in Dunedin, New Zealand, in a match on the opening day of the Group AND.
After the clash with the Netherlands, Portugal faces the also rookie Vietnam, in Hamilton, on July 27, at 7:30 p.m. local time (8:30 a.m. in Lisbon), closing Group E against the United States, winner of the last two. World Cups, in Auckland, on August 1, at 7:00 p.m. local time (08:00 a.m.).
The ninth edition of the Women’s World Cup takes place from July 20 to August 20 in Australia and New Zealand.
Source: TSF
